HIS Newcastle United side are on the verge of qualifying for next season's Champions League but Eddie Howe still insists he isn't allowing himself to get excited.
And while the players might well be talking about the competition that the Magpies look destined to be playing in next season, it still isn't being discussed in meetings involving the staff and the squad.
Newcastle will qualify for the Champions League if Liverpool lose to Aston Villa on Saturday but even if Jurgen Klopp's side get the job done, the Magpies can secure a top four finish with a victory over struggling Leicester at St James' Park on Monday night.
Howe showed just how much the 4-1 win over Brighton means when he emotionally celebrated the final goal in stoppage time - but he still can't allow himself to get excited at what his side on the verge of achieving, he said.
"Honestly I don't (get excited)," he said.
"I take great pride in the performance tonight. I'll go back home, watch the game and I'll be, I hope, really proud of what I see, really enthused by the players delivering a brilliant product to watch for our supporters.
"The excitement stuff doesn't really exist in this job because you know there's just another game and another challenge and it won't stop even if we hit our goal. There'll just be another challenge and it will hit us in the face next season."
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That doesn't mean he isn't aware of just what this season's success means to Newcastle's fans.
He said: "It means everything to be where we are and playing as we are. It means everything to be playing in front of that atmosphere and in that occasion tonight, but it only feels good if you perform like we did and execute everything. We had to get every detail right to be a very good Brighton team.
"The scenes tonight, just to see people so happy and celebrating, to feel that togetherness and be so united with the supporters means everything. I'm not downplaying the emotion of the supporters, I'm just downplaying my part and the team's part because we have more work to do."
Newcastle defender Kieran Trippier knows the Champions League well having reached the final with Tottenham, but if the defender is talking to his teammates about the prospect of playing in the competition, it's not when Howe is around.
"He might well have done without me being present," said the head coach.
"We've tried not to talk in open meetings with each other about outcomes because outcomes can change your thought process, so we've been very focused on the detail, the training, the game-plan, what we need to do to win. Talk like that has been out of my earshot."
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