Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe is undoubtedly a man whose glass is half full.

He had just three outfield substitutes on the bench for last weekend's draw at Bradford but the Cherries boss chose to focus on the fringe benefits rather than his debilitating lack of options.

"There were only 15 players on the coach travelling to the match so we had a lot of room to stretch out," Howe told me.

In conversation he comes across as composed, considered, mature and ever so slightly wary when discussing his team's promotion prospects. In other words, it really is staggering that Howe is just 31 - by some distance the youngest manager in the Football League.

His team are second in League Two, with only goal difference denying them the top spot they have occupied for much of this season.



Howe is keen to play down his successful first year in management

It is a tremendous achievement when you consider that Bournemouth have a squad of just 19 senior professionals that cannot be easily supplemented by loan signings. In February the club's horrific financial problems resulted in the Football League imposing a transfer embargo that remains in place.

Anthony Edgar is the only player to arrive since then - and his one-month loan from West Ham was sanctioned only after it became apparent that injury problems at the club could seriously undermine their ability to put out a team.

"It has been a problem," acknowledges Howe when discussing the size of his squad.

"Eventually we will have to give some players a rest. We have had players who have picked up niggles but had to play through them.

"The attitude of the players has been first-class - no-one has hesitated to do things that we would not normally ask them to."

Time and again Howe manoeuvres our conversation away from what he has achieved by praising his players.

Howe will acknowledge that his team are "playing football that is easy on the eye" but shrewdly plays down a start to the campaign that saw his team win nine of their opening 10 League Two fixtures. He repeatedly stresses how long there is left in the current season and uses the words "so far" to underline that he is far from satisfied with what has been achieved.

He has been scouting players along with assistant Jason Tindall but there is no immediate sign that the embargo is about to be lifted.

"The frustrating thing is that a lot of players we like will end up going to other clubs," added Howe. "We have a couple of targets in mind but things can change."

Howe's half-brother Steve Lovell, once of Aberdeen, trained with the club during the summer and was prepared to sign as an amateur but the embargo prevented him from doing so. Tindall, twice retired, has been forced into action this season.

Promising youngster Jayden Stockley made two substitute appearances for the club in October but school issues complicate his availability.

"Jayden has his GCSEs coming up and we have to be aware that his schoolwork takes priority," said Howe. I do not imagine many Football League managers experience this type of problem.

Howe's caution is understandable. There are only so many sticking plasters with which to paper over the cracks.

But whatever happens, his first year in management has been sensational.

He took over after Jimmy Quinn was sacked on the final day of last year.

Brought up in nearby Verwood, and a former Cherries player before injury cut short his career, Howe had been in charge of the reserve team for the previous two years. In this regard he had already made the transition from team-mate to coach.

"I was a player when Sean O'Driscoll was in charge and I knew how hard he worked, I knew the job was his life. It has to be if you want to make a success of it," he said.

Financial problems ultimately resulted in Bournemouth starting the 2008-09 season on minus 17 points and when Howe became the Cherries' third manager of that troubled campaign his team were still 10 adrift of safety. To many on the outside his appointment reeked of desperation and, perhaps, a club resigned to the inevitable.

Then-chief executive Alastair Saverimutto even felt the need in January to publicly insist that Howe's appointment was not a money-saving exercise.

Yet Howe pulled off what Bournemouth fans describe as a miracle, keeping their team up by five points.

Ask Howe how he did it and, typically, he will talk about his players, how receptive they were to his ideas and the guts and determination that they showed under intense pressure.

But Howe must take huge credit for ensuring his squad all worked for each other and had the self-belief to prevail. Howe broke the season down into blocks of four games, setting his players targets for each one.

"That can be a problem if you start badly and it becomes an unrealistic target, it can have a demoralising effect," added Howe. "But it really helped us."

Howe reckons he did not have the time to reflect of the challenge of being a manager at such a young age. His focus was almost exclusively on the next game.

At the end of the season he took his wife on holiday and finally had the chance to take stock. What he didn't have was much opportunity to relax.

"Most of the time I was on the phone," said Howe. "You are never away from the job, even in the summer. You are always thinking of things that you have to prepare and plan.

Howe has been impressed with the team spirit at Bournemouth

"But I am thoroughly enjoying it and would not want to do anything else."

Even so, what impact does the labour-intensive job of being a manager in the Football League have on your social life?

"I don't have any mates anymore, all my friends have gone," said Howe before breaking into his easy laugh. "Honestly, you don't have a social life, but in one sense I don't want one because football is the sole focus."

Any spare time is spent with his wife, who Howe describes as "very understanding".



With resources at a premium Howe and Tindall are in charge of all footballing matters at the club, from scouting and assessing the opposition to the conditioning and dietary requirements of the playing staff.

I think a good illustration of Howe's level-headedness came when he said: "I'd imagine that is pretty standard at most League Two clubs. It is great experience for a young man to run a club at this level."

Howe might not have been a League Two manager any more if he had responded to a recent approach from Championship side Peterborough.

"I haven't been here all that long and there is so much I want to do here," he said. "I feel like I have only just started.

"Bournemouth is a club that has run through my life and there is a bond and an emotional attachment. It wasn't very difficult to decide to stay here."

Howe has now been in charge for almost 11 months. I had a look a list on the League Managers Association website of the longest-serving managers in all four divisions. Howe is already up to 51 out of the 92 clubs.

It speaks volumes about the volatility of the profession that Howe, who turns 32 on 29 November, is now in.



Somehow, though, I suspect he will make his way a lot higher up the list.

You can follow me throughout the season at twitter.com/Paul__Fletcher

