Eddie Howe’s drive saw him struggle to switch off over the summer as he opens up on the power of fear, the pressure he puts on himself … and how his attempts to escape football on holiday resulted in him watching Iceland face Slovakia!

Eddie Howe was in Reykjavik this summer, educating himself and his eldest son on volcanoes - and trying to escape football, if only for a moment - when a taxi driver let slip that Iceland were playing Slovakia.

‘Every holiday I go on, I naturally morph back to football,’ says the Newcastle boss. ‘So we were in a taxi and the driver said Iceland were playing. I was like, “Ooh, should we go?”. My three sons were like, “We have to go!”. Martin Dubravka was playing for Slovakia, so at least I got to see how he was doing.