GREAT ESCAPE
Eddie Howe kept Cherries in the Football League 11 years ago against the odds... now he must pull off survival miracle
EDDIE HOWE will draw on the lessons he learned 11 years ago as he attempts to steer Bournemouth clear of the choppy waters they are swimming in down on the south coast.
Back in 2008-09, the Cherries were on the brink of sinking into an abyss far greater than the one they face now.
They had suffered a 17-point deduction and were 10 points adrift at the bottom of League Two when Howe arrived.
And it took three wins from three at the end of the season to keep the club’s head above water and their position in the Football League.
The decade that followed saw the Cherries rise to the Premier League, but, after five seasons in the top flight, they now have two games to prevent a return to the Championship. Relegation from any division is heartbreaking, of course, but Howe knows there is a perspective to it all, considering where the club has been in recent years and the world in recent months.
He said: “We have at times looked back and used certain things from that period.
“This is a new situation and I don’t think the players necessarily want to hear too much about the past. But, for us as coaches, having experienced that definitely helps us and still can help us in the next two games.
“That’s because you just never know in football.
“It often has such a way of swinging things around in a very short time.
“History has told us to never believe anything is final until it is done – we are in there fighting and we believe it’s still possible to stay in the division.
“The situation has definitely driven me mad. Football just has a way of sinking into you, your whole psyche, everything is around the job and around trying to achieve.
“I’ve been absolutely committed this season to try to achieve success for the club.
“It has been a really testing time personally because it hasn’t always gone as I’d have wished it to go.
“But when you do look back at the other situation – when we were fighting for our whole existence – that’s a healthy thing to put into perspective. Because I still sort of feel that way anyway in this situation – that we are fighting for our existence in a different way.”
The coronavirus pandemic has reminded fans of football’s importance in the grand scheme of things.
But Howe, whose side face Southampton today and then Everton next Sunday, added: “When you are in it, it is the most important thing.
“And you have to act that way and feel that way because it is your life.
“We understand that it is not life and death and that there are bigger and more important things going on in the world in the sense that people’s lives have been at risk with the virus – and it’s had a massive effect around the world.
“But this is our world, this is football, and the importance of it will never be diminished.”