Farewell, Eddie

The problem with books is that they always have to end.

On August 1, the fairytale voyage between Eddie Howe and Bournemouth came to its own natural conclusion. Two weeks on, the ripple effects of the departure of Bournemouth’s most iconic figure are still being felt.

In this piece, Prost International spoke to three Bournemouth fans, all keen to pay homage and share their memories of a man who will be forever ingrained within Bournemouth folklore.

“Relegation was sad but this felt like a whole other blow,” said Shiv Meaker, supporter of the club for over 30 years. “I felt so sad it ended on this note – if he had to go I really wanted him to go out on a high and to something like the England role. To not be able to be at the ground and cheer these last games have been an awful wrench. He deserved to hear us sing his name again.”

In their pursuit of his successor, the Bournemouth board seeked an internal replacement, and appointed Howe’s number two as first team boss. Essentially, it was a move that indicated they wanted Howe, but not Howe, so decided on the next best thing to him. They wanted to retain all that was good about the club. The small matter being, everything that was good, stemmed from Howe.

Jason Tindall now steps up to become Sergeant Major, but the shadow of his long term colleague and friend will loom long and large. There is no disguising or shying away from it, one of Tindall’s key remits is to preserve the legacy and hallmarks of his predecessor. And who knows, perhaps add fresh impetus into Howe’s ready-made success manual.

Recent memories are always the most vivid and those of whom watched from afar will tend to forget the operatic levels of performance Howe regularly extracted from his side and those that worked at the club. They may view Howe through the prism of the darker, more recent times.

But the seaside town will instead reminisce of how a precociously-gifted young man and former player of the club negotiated through the stormy seas of the football league and went on to become one world football’s perennial overachievers.

It would be impossible to describe how much Eddie Howe means to Bournemouth, and how much Bournemouth mean to Eddie Howe. This is a relationship that extends far beyond football.

It’s still hard to fathom Howe is only 42 years of age, somewhat an adolescent in managerial years, despite all what he’s achieved. Surviving a 17-point deficit in League Two to then go onto record three promotions and five years in the top-flight, there is a case to be heard a manager’s impact on a club has been no greater since the turn of the century.

There certainly won’t be another like him, someone who gets the town, the culture, the people. He was AFC Bournemouth’s Wenger, Paisley, Clough and Ferguson rolled into one. Best of all? He was Bournemouth’s own.

Meaker, who is also a member of the Proud Cherries Supporters group, continued: “Being a Bournemouth fan was something few people did – even if you lived in Bournemouth! I’m the same school year as Eddie and I remember him as a youth team player that my mate used to have a crush on! 

“I think he’s synonymous with the town now – in the way blue rinses and beaches were when I was a kid. I think back to the Premier League promotion party on the beach where thousands and thousands of fans cheered the players’ bus along. So many kids growing up wanting Bournemouth shirts – and thinking that you can achieve in spite of adversity.”

If you wanted a quick snapshot of how the profound, cavernous connection between the pair transcends beyond the football pitch, just take a glance below at the outpouring of emotion in the club’s recent Twitter thread.

More than a manager…

(A thread) ?#ThankYouEddie ❤️ pic.twitter.com/EejaptaycF

— AFC Bournemouth ? (@afcbournemouth) August 2, 2020

Bradley Mapstone, 18, began going to games in the 2017/18 season, and all he’s ever known is Eddie Howe. Now a season ticket holder and follower of the team up and down the country, Bradley will remember Howe for his caring affection towards the community.

“Not only has he seen the players at their highest and especially recently at their lowest, but also a lot of the town. From numerous charity events to visiting those less fortunate, he has not only affected the footballing side of the town but the general public too and he’ll not only be remembered for his footballing and managerial skills but as a man who is a vital part of Bournemouth.”

Perhaps the distinctive warmth between Howe and supporters goes back beyond his time in the dugout and to his playing career. In 2004, Howe returned for a loan spell at Bournemouth from his parent club Portsmouth. Such was his form and relationship with Dean Court supporters, it prompted a transfer fund to be set-up called ‘Eddieshare,” which aimed to get their favourite son back on a permanent basis. Eddieshare raised £21,000 which facilitated the requisite transfer. 

Steven Wright, a long-time Bournemouth fan, has been fortunate enough to watch and share Howe’s acts of heroics along with his son over the past 11 years. For Steve, the way in which Howe transcended a town and was able to put it on a worldwide stage, will always be something he holds dearly.

“My son and I are proud to support our local club and what it represents. To the town, he put Bournemouth on the map in a global way, reaching the Premier League and the media coverage that entails. We were getting known for our rags to riches story, the way we played, our tiny stadium and limited resources. 

“Through the town, usually the kids could be seen in replica Man United or Liverpool shirts, but now it was Bournemouth shirts, and they were proud to support their local club. His impact on the club and town will always be remembered despite the relegation. It hasn’t tainted anything.”

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Howe defined a culture, a county. He brought untold riches into the football club and into the local economy. Year on year, people began to know who Bournemouth were, able to stop being hidden away or fleeced off as a place “near Southampton.” For five seasons, they were an established side, in the biggest, most lucrative league of them all.

Howe put Bournemouth, front and centre, on a global stage. He spearheaded the arrival of Russian business owner, Maxim Denim, who without Howe’s glittering achievements, probably wouldn’t even know the club existed. Denim brought the club in 2011 and nine years later, has gone on to invest £130 million of his own money into it.

“The legacy Howe leaves behind is unmeasurable,” said Bradley. “From taking us from the bottom of League Two to ninth in the Premier League, it really is unimaginable.” 

While Howe’s boyish features and relatively introverted manner can often bring certain stereotypes regarding his character, all three supporters are in agreement that beneath the surface, there lies a relentless, fierce person, incessantly determined to prove skeptics wrong. The drive to do better has been unmistakeable during the club’s decade of ascension.

“His influence on the club is from top to bottom,” described Steve, whose earliest memory stretches back to the first Great Escape when Mel Machin was manager. “He is the first one in of a morning, the last one out. He coaches players to improve not only as a player, but a person.” 

Shiv echoed similar sentiments: “For the club I think he has imprinted his belief in togetherness and humble hard work. And although we were now in the Premier League with Eddie, there it felt just as much my club as it did while we were losing at home to Barnet in the 90s. There was a sense of remembering where we came from and a journey shared.”

While Bournemouth will now embark on a new, albeit quite similar journey under Jason Tindall, each fan has their own special, unique memories of Bournemouth’s greatest figurehead. 

Steve Wright: “Favourite standout memory of Eddie? That’s a difficult one. I think it’s a visual one. We beat Man United one season at home. It was Harry Arter’s first game since the sad loss of his daughter. Harry was substituted in the second half, an emotionally charged Harry played amazingly. After walking to the touchline Eddie put his arm round him, and could be seen talking to him, it wasn’t known what was said, but it just summed up Eddie.

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Bradley Mapstone: “There are so many things that will be missed about Howe. Too many to name but if I was to pinpoint one it would be him celebrating and high-fiving JT (Jason Tindall) after every goal not only showing how much every goal meant to him and the players, but how closely knit the whole of his staff are.”

Eddie Howe will always be the erudite former player-turned managerial rookie, who was given the job during the club’s nadir in the football league basement. He pulled off the Great Escape the same year and followed it with a promotion while under a transfer embargo. He will always be the man who refused to shake off the love he had for Bournemouth, even when he headed to Burnley for a brief spell.

He subsequently returned and began to work his mercurial managerial ways once again, transforming a side withering in 21st place in League One to win promotion that same season. He fought off doubters, neigh-sayers, critics who attempted to put Bournemouth back into its little box. He was a leader who against all odds, lofted Bournemouth into the greatest league in the world, and kept them there, until he physically and mentally couldn’t no more.

It’s almost insulting to call Eddie Howe Bournemouth’s manager. He was far more than that. He was a man, a legend, who had the ability to make every single Bournemouth fan daring to dream again.

As we wrapped up our conversations with the three supporters, Shiv’s final tribute tribute to Howe was the telling of her own personal experience with him. It was a poignant, fitting end that flawlessly summed up what the man means to the town. 

“Something that means a lot to me was meeting him at the Real Madrid match in 2013. I’d undergone cancer treatment throughout 2012 and had to take a season off watching matches and so I treated myself to a sponsorship at this game and brought my Mum and best friend with me.

“He handed me my shirt and with genuine warmth and told me he was so pleased I was now well. The result that night didn’t matter.

“Here I was, alive, watching my little team play multiple European Champions in my squad shirt Eddie handed me.”

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