Dubai: In just six years, highly rated Eddie Howe has taken AFC Bournemouth from the brink of extinction to the cusp of the English Premier League (EPL).
Having seen his playing career with the Cherries cut short through injury at the age of 30, the former defensive stalwart took over as coach in January 2009, when the minnows were in administration, unable to sign players and with a 17-point deduction.
Despite this, the 37-year-old Englishman — who made 271 appearances for the club between 1994 and 2007 — managed to avoid relegation from English football’s fourth tier (League Two) and went about a rebuild that included two promotions either side of a brief but unsuccessful managerial spell at Burnley.
Now the sleepy seaside town — more renowned for its pensioners and parasols than its football — boasts a club one point clear at the top of the second-tier Championship with three games remaining. If they do ultimately earn promotion to the EPL, next season would be their first in the top flight in their 125-year history.
To the uninitiated, this meteoric rise could be attributed to their Russian billionaire co-owner Maxim Demin, who invested in the club in 2011. But Trevor Watkins, Cherries’ chairman from 1997 to 2001 and who led a campaign among supporters to save the club from its first brush with bankruptcy in 1997, said it wasn’t just about money.
Money matters
“It’s easy to get confused and look at this and say: ‘You know what? This is a club that has spent its way out of trouble’. But the facts are somewhat different. The team I see today have risen through the ranks and a number of them plied their trade with us in League Two as well as League One. Only two players have commanded low seven-figure sums.
“We now have additional finance, but that money hasn’t gone into paying exorbitant transfer fees to bring success. What it has done is allowed a little bit of leeway around the edges, rather than having to rely on free transfers or a £25,000 (Dh136,584) buy from the Conference South — it’s given the club the flexibility to act wisely. What it needed was a team ethic and team ethos that is inspired by the management and led by Eddie Howe.”
This spirit, Watkins says, is born out of the adversity that Howe and his back room staff — most of whom are his former teammates — had played under at the club during the mid to late 1990s and early 2000s.
“What you see over the last 18 years is a fight, a spirit that is now demonstrated on the pitch through the leadership of Eddie, which exemplifies the way he was back in 1997 as a young player. He, like the squad as a whole, were thrown into a situation where the club was dead on its feet and, if it hadn’t have been for the supporters, it would have died.”
Former Bournemouth captain Neil Young, who played in defence alongside Howe, agreed.
“Eddie has worked hard to find players that meet his footballing criteria and has been wise with his signings,” said Young, who represented the club between 1994 and 2008. “Obviously the club is in a lot better position financially now than it has ever been, but still you have to hand credit to Eddie and his back room staff on the players and the success they have brought to the club.
Special relationship
“What Eddie has now is special. As we know, managers have to feel comfortable with the staff they have around them. And those around him are not only old teammates but good friends and have been for a long time.”
Asked if this first-hand insight into the club’s historic troubles would make Howe’s staff more sensitive to the risk of further financial crisis, Young replied: “The coaching staff that are there are Bournemouth through-and-through and have seen the ups and downs, but the worry of the club having [future] financial problems is out of their hands. The only people that know what’s there and what isn’t is the chairman and the board.
“But, believe me, knowing Eddie and the relationship he has with the chairman, he will have an idea of what he can and can’t spend and would be the first person to question anything that could possibly put the club in any [future] financial difficulties.”
Watkins added that they are keen to avoid another Leeds United or Portsmouth situation, where those clubs spent money they didn’t have in order to chase success, only to ultimately fail and go into administration.
“I have every faith that the club is going in the most sensible direction,” he said. “All parts are planning for the future and are in very good hands. You’ve also got to remember that football is different now with the dawn of Financial Fair Play rules.”
With what Howe has achieved, his name will inevitably come up in conversation when the next low to mid-level EPL managerial vacancy arises, but can he replicate the environment he has at Bournemouth elsewhere?
Move too soon
“I believe Eddie’s move to Burnley came too soon and was a bad move for him, but in saying that I bet he learnt a lot from the experience and is a lot wiser as a person and coach,” said Young. “What he has done at Bournemouth is unbelievable and, from the experiences he has had and the coaching knowledge he has picked up over the last six years, he should easily be in the mix for an EPL team. “I would love nothing better than to see Eddie in the EPL next year with the mighty Cherries, but if that doesn’t happen you still have to realise that he is one of the best young coaches in the country.”
Watkins added that Howe would rather make the transition with Bournemouth, saying: “This story has got a long way left to run. There’s no surprise that whenever a vacancy at a Premier League club crops up Eddie’s name is mentioned. But I think he’s already demonstrated that there’s far more to this than just money for managing what may appear to be a slightly bigger club.
“When you look at the opportunity he has, who wouldn’t want to be with their hometown club getting them to their highest level and taking them onto the next stage of the adventure? I still believe he’s got a huge amount to achieve here and the desire to do just that.”
