The similarities are startling and soon to be tested in face-to-face combat. Every Geordie is gratefully aware of how Eddie Howe has turned his club from no hopers to full of hope.
Yet it cannot have gone unnoticed that the man who said 'no' to Newcastle is currently working a similar miracle having made a late re-entry into English football.
Unai Emery has gone to Aston Villa and, working under the radar of public scrutiny, has achieved what Howe achieved in his first season.
