Bournemouth this season have looked like a team who have been in the league for many years, competing a lot better against the Premier League regulars than many predicted.

The South Coast club have beaten the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea and West Ham to convince people that they may not be the team destined for the drop. But how much of that is down to manager Eddie Howe?

Howe, the ex-Bournemouth and Portsmouth player, became the Football League’s youngest manager in 2009, and helped lead Bournemouth back to League One after two years in the fourth tier of English football in 2010.

From there, Howe’s profile started to rise, with offers already coming in for the talented young manager with such a bright future.

Howe had already turned down a move to Championship Peterborough in November 2009, before Burnley came in January 2011. His win record was 39.1% at Burnley, seeing Burnley finish 8th in the 2010/2011 season and then 13th in 2011/2012, proving to be a manager who perhaps took the big job too quickly. Howe didn’t do poorly at Burnley, but he didn’t look overly comfortable.

After leaving in October 2012 due to “personal reasons”, Howe returned to the South Coast club. He quickly looked happy to be home by winning the League One Manager of the Month in November after winning three games, drawing two and grabbing an FA Cup win. What followed was more good form, seeing the Cherries finish second, one point behind leaders Doncaster. It illustrated that at the right club, Eddie Howe can really motivate his players to become league beaters.

In their first season in the Championship, many viewed Bournemouth as a team who were just there for the ride, a team nobody expected much from. However, Howe’s team flirted with the play-offs, collecting shock results against good opposition, and showed that this was a team to be reckoned with. Although they finished 10th, they were only six points off the play-offs. This was a team that could produce a shock or two in the coming years. What nobody realised was just how soon this would be.

The following season, Howe’s Bournemouth were involved in direct competition with Watford and Norwich for the league title. After Howe was awarded Football Manager of the decade in the Football League in April 2015, he responded by securing Bournemouth’s promotion to the Premier League eight days later on the 27th April. Bournemouth followed this up with a 3-0 victory over Charlton, which led to Bournemouth winning the title thanks to Watford slipping up.

Howe’s win rate at Bournemouth has been at a good level for a club that has come through League One to the Premier League, with 50% in his first spell and 50.29% in his second. Considering this is a coach that knows Bournemouth so well, he has continued to prove himself at Bournemouth and constantly defied the odds.

He is one of the many managers linked with a move to a bigger club, which is no real surprise give  the success he’s had at Bournemouth..

If Howe continues to have this team perform though and stay up as a consistent Premier League side, there is no reason why he cannot get one of the top jobs in the future.

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