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What does Eddie Howe share with Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp and Kevin Keegan that even Thomas Tuchel, Carlo Ancelotti and Jose Mourinho cannot claim?

Last week, Eddie Howe brought his spell at Newcastle United to an end — a privilege very few managers are afforded in the modern game.

Even the very best can be dismissed: since Sir Alex Ferguson walked away from football at the summit with a Premier League title, five title-winning managers have been sacked, among them Claudio Ranieri, who achieved the unthinkable by winning the league, and Arne Slot, who was working for a club renowned for giving its managers plenty of time.

Even figures such as Sir Bobby Robson, Jose Mourinho and Marcelo Bielsa were deeply loved in English football by supporters of Newcastle United, Chelsea and Leeds United respectively, yet all three were ultimately forced out.

When you are among the very best, you often get the chance to leave on your own terms — and there is perhaps no better example than Pep Guardiola, who stepped away from Manchester City by his own choice earlier this summer.

The Catalan, of course, had done the same at Bayern Munich in order to take the City job, and he was also a rare Barcelona manager who chose his own exit after four years of winning everything there was to win at Camp Nou.

Jurgen Klopp, meanwhile, has technically walked away from each of his last four roles, most recently exchanging his advisory position at Red Bull for the Germany national team job, only a couple of years after parting amicably with Anfield.

Despite a difficult final season at Borussia Dortmund, he had built up enough goodwill to decide his own departure, while back in 2008, a 40-year-old Klopp resigned from Mainz 05 after failing to win promotion.

Howe’s career tells a similar story, with his departure from Newcastle echoing his exit from Bournemouth in 2020, when the Cherries were unable to secure survival on the final day of the lockdown season.

More remarkably still, Howe has never been sacked. In 2012, he spoke of the “personal reasons” that led him to resign from Burnley and return to Dean Court, less than two years after the Clarets had paid compensation to bring him to Turf Moor.

It is also apt to remember the late Kevin Keegan when discussing high-profile managers who were never dismissed.

In 1997, Keegan made the bold decision to say that he had taken Newcastle as far as he possibly could, before later accepting the Fulham job that same year.

Keegan remained in charge in West London for two years, eventually stepping aside when the England job became available in 1999. But even after the Euro 2000 disaster, he still resigned of his own accord, famously quitting in the tunnel months later after a 1-0 defeat to Germany.

He brought his managerial career to a close at Manchester City in 2005, and in 2008 he resigned during a second spell at St James’ Park because of disagreements with his employers. In the modern game, that makes him a genuine anomaly.

One reader’s view on Howe’s record, however, offered a caveat: “Left by mutual consent” when Bournemouth were relegated. He was surely going to be sacked from there otherwise!