Jason Tindall: Who is the 'Mad Dog' taking on Crystal Palace as Newcastle United caretaker manager

Crystal Palace make the long trip to the North East on Wednesday evening to take on Newcastle United at St James’ Park, but the hosts will be without Eddie Howe in the dugout.

The Magpies manager was ill and unable to lead his side in their 4-1 win over Manchester United on Tyneside over the weekend with assistant Jason Tindall taking on the caretaker manager role. Newcastle United looked confident even without their manager, sailing past the Red Devils with relative ease.

Despite being shaken by the health news around Howe, Newcastle United will go into the rearranged midweek clash confident against a Crystal Palace side looking to bounce back having thrown away a 2-0 lead against Manchester City last time out.

Why is Eddie Howe not in charge of Newcastle United against Crystal Palace?

Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe is not in charge of the team for the match against Crystal Palace this week as he has been diagnosed with pneumonia. The former AFC Bournemouth head coach is recovering in hospital.

A statement from the Tyneside club this week read: “Newcastle United can announce that Eddie Howe is recovering in hospital after being diagnosed with pneumonia.

“The club continues to extend its best wishes and support to Eddie and his family as he continues his recovery. “Jason Tindall and Graeme Jones will lead the team against Crystal Palace and Aston Villa this week, with further updates to be communicated in due course.

“Eddie said: ‘A huge thank you to everyone connected with Newcastle United and the wider football community for your messages and warm wishes. They have meant a lot to me and my family. I also want to pay tribute to our incredible NHS and the hospital staff who have treated me. I'm immensely grateful for the specialist care I'm receiving and, after a period of recovery, I look forward to being back as soon as possible’.”

Why is Jason Tindall known as ‘Mad Dog’?

Newcastle United coach Jason Tindall has become known as ‘Mad Dog’ for his character in the dugout alongside Eddie Howe. The Magpies manager is known for his cool head but his second in command boasts the opposite type of personality.

The 47-year-old is the bad cop to Howe’s good cop and has clashed with Aston Villa manager Unai Emery and Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola in the past. Tindall was even shown a red card for his antics in a 20-man tunnel melee against Aston Villa in December.

Tindall has defended his character and recently told The Telegraph: “It’s not my intention to attract attention if that makes sense. People say I’ve got too high a profile for an assistant manager, how that has come about, but again, I don’t take any notice of it or think I’m going to do this to gain more attention.

“It’s part of my character, I don’t care what people think [including opposition managers]. I know who I am, the job I do and the influence I have over a lot of things. And the only thing I care about is doing my job the best I can for Newcastle United.

“I don’t care if I’m upsetting people along the way. People will probably judge the way I look, what I wear and how I behave. None of this is new to me. The reality is I do not give a s*** what people think and what people say because I’m confident in my own skin, I’m confident in what I do. If you don’t know me, what you think doesn’t matter in the slightest.”

Eddie Howe defends ‘serious’ assistant Jason Tindall

Howe has also defended Tindall in the past, in particular after his assistant went viral in 2023 having become the subject of a joke on social media. The assistant has a tendency to find himself front and centre of club photos. Reacting to that joke, Howe joked: “He’s a good looking guy.

“So when people take pictures of him he gives off a bit of a smile. He is an energetic personality – he’s definitely more of an extrovert than I am, but that’s why we work. But he’s a serious coach – he wants to help the players and the team to be successful.

“We’re both very active on the sidelines. I’ve encouraged Jason to be that way. We were very much a partnership when we started in management and we try to do everything we can to help the players out. We’re situated at the front at the end of the games and he naturally makes his way over because he’s usually to my left.”

In other news, this is why Oliver Glasner took Jean-Philippe Mateta off early against Manchester City and whether he has an injury for Newcastle United.