Kris Commons has trashed Eddie Howe’s managerial record claiming that he isn’t in the same league as Brendan Rodgers!
The former Celtic midfielder has cut an increasingly bitter figure since he picked up his final pay cheque from the hoops in 2017 after missing a full season- ironically coinciding with Rodgers’ arrival at the club.
By any yardstick Howe has an impressive managerial record, at the age of 43 he has more than a decade of frontline experience covering all four divisions in the English game.
Bournemouth latterly enjoyed the benefits of wealthy owners but it was Howe that made them an attractive investment while the new owners stuck with the home-made boss rather than bring in a Celebrity big name manager with Graeme Souness and Harry Redknapp living on their doorstep.
The possible appointment of Howe is being welcomed much more openly than the grudging acceptance given to Neil Lennon in 2019, during the Irishman’s stint in the English Championship with Bolton he had a record of WON 18, DREW 26, LOST 35.
Picking up on his column in the Daily Mail, the Daily Record reports Commons saying:
Howe’s CV isn’t even in the same league as Rodgers’ when he took the job at Parkhead. Rodgers had come within a whisker of winning a Premier League title at Liverpool. He had managed superstars such as Luis Suarez and Steven Gerrard and got them playing great football.
He had managed in the Champions League. He knew what it felt like to compete at the elite level. Howe has never managed a European game in his life. Admittedly, neither had Gerrard prior to taking the Rangers job. But he knew what it felt like to be immersed in a huge club.
Gerrard carried that weight of expectation on his shoulders for almost 20 years at Liverpool. He drove the club on almost single-handedly to win a Champions League title.
The highlight of Howe’s managerial career to date has been a ninth-placed finish in the Premier League in 2017.
He deserves credit for getting a club of such modest stature into the top flight in the first place and keeping them there for five seasons but spare me the notion it was some sort of miracle. It wasn’t quite the fairy-tale some would have you believe.
Throughout their rise up the leagues, Bournemouth were lavishly funded by a Russian billionaire. In season 2014-15, when promoted to the top flight, they were found to have breached Financial Fair Play rules and were subsequently fined £4.75million.
During five years in the Premier League under Howe, Bournemouth had a net spend of just over £135m. That put them on a par with Chelsea during that same period. Liverpool and Spurs both had a net spend of just over £90m in those same years.
The idea that Howe worked miracles on a tight budget is a myth. He spent a fortune and often squandered it on poor players.
During Lennon’s second spell at Celtic he signed Hatem Abd Elhamed, Vasilis Barkas, Albian Ajeti, and Patryk Klimala, with loan deals bringing Shane Duffy, Diego Laxalt, Moritz Bauer and Jonjo Kenny to the club.