‘IT’S SO SPECIAL TO GO UP WITH CLUB I LOVE'
Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe on Cherries’ incredible journey to the top
DEEP in the bowels of the Goldsands Stadium, nestled among quotes from Muhammad Ali and Eric Cantona, is a wall emblazoned with the words ‘The Journey’.
Beneath it lie the photographs documenting Bournemouth’s remarkable rise from paupers to Premier League: the ‘Great Escape’ of 2008-09, when a 17point deduction was overcome to secure Football League survival on the final day, promotion to League One, then to the Championship.
Now a new image will need to be etched, the latest magical waypost in a football fairytale. The Cherries, as their fans sang with such cathartic gusto during Tuesday’s 3-0 victory over Bolton, are going up.
Somehow, the Premier League has been gatecrashed by a side with signings from Non-League and a stadium that holds less than Old Trafford’s main stand.
“It doesn’t seem real,” says Eddie Howe, the 37-year-old manager/miracle-worker who has been there (almost) every step of the way. “When you work so hard for something, when you dream of success and want it so much – it’s the strangest feeling to actually cross that line. Until those fixtures come out and our name is there, I don’t think I’ll believe it.”
Terrifying
Howe was just 31 when he took charge in January 2009, a rookie academy coach and former Cherries centre-half whose playing career was ended by injury four years earlier.
What he inherited would have terrified a manager many decades his senior; catastrophic debts, administration, a transfer embargo and a ten-point chasm to League Two survival.
“I wouldn’t say I was appointed just because I was there,” he laughs. “But it wasn’t far off. The club couldn’t afford to go out and recruit a manager. They had to find one who was on relatively low wages and wouldn’t be difficult to attract. That left them with very few options.
“In all honesty, I had no great desire to manage at that time. I didn’t even think I was the right man to do it. But I loved the club and wanted to help.
“That first spell, we had absolutely nothing. You had bailiffs coming in, players not being paid, money coming out of our own bank accounts to pay backroom staff. I remember several occasions when liquidation was minutes away.
“Once, we had a training session where we got a couple of late injuries. We were embargoed so we couldn’t sign anyone – not that it mattered as we didn’t have any money.
“All we could do was go to the youth team. We wanted to use Jayden Stockley, just 15 years old and still in school. I remember calling up his head teacher to ask if he could postpone a maths exam to come and play with us.
“We were always down to the bare bones. But the one thing we did have was a work ethic and a talented group of players who would do anything to see the club grow. That is the core principle behind success, whether you’ve got nothing in the bank or £130m.”
Which, of course, is what Bournemouth – now backed by Russian petrochemical magnate Max Demin – will earn for a single season in the top flight.
Not that Howe will be spending much of it, with the likes of top-scorer Callum Wilson and winger Matt Ritchie preferred to any marquee signings.
Philosophy
“We’ve always made subtle changes,” he says. “We’ve never gone for huge overhauls in any transfer window.That philosophy isn’t about to change now – we’re very loyal to players who want to improve.
“There will be some natural evolution as one or two move on. But I believe in this squad and I believe they can improve again. This team has never been about superstar individuals and I would hate that to change now.”
The same goes for Bournemouth’s swashbuckling style which has seen the easy-oneye Cherries rack up a Championship-best tally of 95 goals on their way to the title.