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Eddie Howe has guided Bournemouth to the Premier League for the first time in the club's history

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All hail Howe, the man of the moment



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Another fascinating season of the Championship has concluded and Bournemouth, for the first time in their history, are on their way to the pinnacle of English football after finishing as champions of the second tier. The mastermind behind the success is Eddie Howe, the young English manager whose name is on everyone's lips at the minute.

For good reason as well: Howe is 37, and has taken Bournemouth from the bottom of League Two to the Premier League between his two spells at the helm of the Cherries. His remarkable work has recently led the Football League to name him their manager of the decade ahead of much more experienced and exalted coaches. When looked at in isolation, Howe's feats are impressive; look at them as a whole and it is clear that this is a coach heading to special places.

Howe was first appointed Bournemouth coach back in 2009 when the club were languishing at the bottom of League Two, 17 points from safety. He was just 31. The club survived relegation from the Football League and in Howe's first full season they were promoted back into League One in the 2010. In January of 2011, Howe left Bournemouth to become manager of Burnley, whom he led to respectable positions in his one-and-a-half seasons in charge, before leaving for personal reasons in October 2012.

The call of Bournemouth was too strong to resist, and Howe was back in the South-coast hotseat that same month. Since then, promotions to the Championship and the Premier League have been achieved, but it is not just this that marks Howe out as an impressive talent. His teams over the six year spell at the Cherries have regularly been lauded as progressive, attacking, and excellent to watch. This team that has just won promotion are no different: they scored a remarkable 98 goals en route to the Championship title, including a relentless 8-0 mauling of Birmingham City, while conceding the second-least amount of goals in the league, just 45, meaning their goal-difference finished at an impressive 53. The team amassed a phenomenal 90 points as well.

The hope is that Howe will be able to keep his stellar performers together, and that he himself will at least stay (or be kept, if the decision isn't his to make) to see how this team can do in the Premier League. Callum Wilson, scorer of 22 goals this season, has been targeted by a few Premier League clubs including Tottenham, but keeping him would boost the Cherries' first campaign in the Premier League no end.

While the draw of Bournemouth has kept him in the south-coast for much of his short career, in the future there should be no mistake: with respect to Bournemouth, Eddie Howe is heading for bigger and better things (he is 10/1 with Bet365 to become England manager). His will be a fascinating career to watch.

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Sam publishes regular feature and tips pieces for Howtobet4free. He has a blog, crackingjabulanis.blogspot.co.uk, and can be found on Twitter by following @Gaytski.

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