STAN COLLYMORE Nice-guy Eddie is great... but he must move on to prove it
COLLY
Follow us on Twitter: @peoplesport AS ‘long-ball merchants’ Sam Allardyce and Tony Pulis well know, it’s easy to acquire a tag in football and not so easy to shake it off.
And if Eddie Howe isn’t careful then he could be branded a ‘one-club man’ rather than a manager who is destined for the top.
When things didn’t work out for him at Burnley, there was a suggestion that he was a ‘ home boy’, that Bournemouth was the only club with whom he’d be successful. I never bought into that. But eventually everyone has to spread their wings and I’d like to see Howe, in no more than two years, seeking a new challenge away from the Vitality Stadium.
He has already been a coach for a good chunk of time despite only just turning 40.
And even though he is still baby-faced, and will probably tell you he’s still very much in the learning phase of his managerial career, a couple more campaigns down on the South Coast ought to be enough. He needs to guide Bournemouth to another top-half finish to go with last season’s and maybe, just maybe, push them into the Europa League.
Then, beyond that, find or pick a job that helps take him to the next level. Being perfectly honest, I don’t think he’s going to be on the radars of any of the English clubs threatening Europe at the moment.
Layer
So I’d love to see him go abroad and add another layer or two to his talents. The more English coaches who go abroad the better and Howe could be one of the first really modern-thinking of our coaches who could get a gig in one of the continent’s top leagues.
I was in Serbia last week to see my old Aston Villa team- mate Savo Milosevic, a man who has played in England, Spain, Russia and Italy, and is now the vice- president of the Serbian FA.
I asked him what were the main things he learnt during his time here I HAVE never experienced experiencedpenced an anything hi like the atmosphere at tthee Belgradeg derby between Partizan PPartizan and Red Star last week. k There TThere were werere fights fights, sorts sortsr flares and d all ll going on.We were objects j s pelted with ih at pitchside afterwards. they even had A And on- duty firemen, wearingwearing wearingg yellow outfits looked with what h like cattle prods h hhands,ndsnds,s, nds, in their in the standstands stands rereadyd ready putp t to outt fires. It was mental. l and he said: “Discipline, physicality and organisation.”
Savo’s on the UEFA technical panel these days as well and he told me the respect for English football is as high as ever thanks to the Premier League.
So if Howe went overseas to add creative footballing nous to the discipline, physicality and organisation he has in his armoury, then I can’t see for the life of me why he would not be a success.
I mean he is more qualified to coach a Valencia than Gary Neville was, right?
Howe has another test of his coaching credentials when Liverpool visit Bournemouth today and it will be interesting to see if Jermain Defoe, who has largely been used as a sub in recent weeks, gets the nod against the Reds’ defence.
The fact Defoe isn’t starting games hasn’t stopped Gareth Southgate telling him the door to the World Cup is still open.
Although, still being in contention at 35, demonstrates that this is the poorest pool of English strikers in a generation. And that’s not being unkind to Harry Kane, who has been exceptional over the last three years.
But beyond the Tottenham star, the cupboard isn’t exactly full of options as it was in my day when Alan Shearer, Chris Sutton, Robbie Fowler, Michael Owen and Ian Wright all offered different options.
That said, I’d never close the door on Defoe as he is a great pro and always looks after himself.
Tourist
He would be a great tourist, he is great around the dressing room, he is humble, polite and all those things that supporters don’t necessarily see.
But it’s a little bit of a sad state of affairs where we could go to a World Cup with more than one striker, including Leicester’s Jamie Vardy, who is in his 30s.
And that doesn’t bode well for the likes of youngster Tammy Abraham, who should be banging the door down and demanding that he gets the nod ahead of a veteran like Defoe.