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A former Bournemouth recruitment analyst has revealed the ‘remarkable’ thing Eddie Howe used to do when scouting a player for the Cherries.
During his time as manager at the Vitality Stadium, Howe guided Bournemouth from the bottom of League Two to the Premier League, with the Cherries now building on that legacy to solidify themselves as top-flight regulars. Howe has continued to establish his legacy as well, becoming the first Newcastle United manager in 70 years to guide the club to a major domestic trophy.
Howe joined Newcastle less than a month after the takeover of the club was completed and had a major job, albeit not a complete overhaul like he was faced with on the south coast, in transforming a Magpies side staring down the barrel of relegation. That first winter transfer window, where the club signed Kieran Trippier, Chris Wood, Dan Burn, Bruno Guimaraes and Matt Targett, is viewed as one of the very best pieces of business the club has ever completed with Howe at the forefront of those signings.
A threadbare backroom staff worked day-and-night to get those signings over the line with three of those players playing key roles in their win at Wembley. Targett was on the bench on that day whilst Wood is scoring goals for fun at Nottingham Forest.
Whilst is has been a quiet 18-months on the transfer front on Tyneside in recent times as the Premier League’s financial rules continue to blunt their ambitions, this summer could be a transformational one, with Paul Mitchell set for his first full summer window as sporting director. Howe, though, still has a big role to play on that front and, if comments from Thomas Spring, a recruitment analyst at Bournemouth during Howe’s time at the club, are anything to go by, then Howe will certainly be front and centre of any transfer business.
Bournemouth man blown away by Eddie Howe
Speaking on the Overlap Breakdown, Spring, who currently works as Head of Scouting at Saudi Pro League side Al-Ettifaq, spoke about his time at the Vitality Stadium and what impressed him about Howe’s hugely detailed approach to player recruitment: “I would say the process that we had was extremely detailed and a lot of skilled people were involved in the player decision process.
“From Richard Hughes, to Des Taylor, Andy Howe, Eddie Howe. He [Eddie Howe] probably did more work than a scout on a player. He was truly remarkable in the work he did on players.
He continued: “He would go to games live to scout a player. I think most managers are like that because they are the ones investing time into that player.
“They’re going to be with them on the training pitch everyday, they’re the ones that are going to be investing their time, effort and skillset into that player so they go to these games, watch these players and assess them thoroughly to ensure that they can work with them and they can be a success.”