Source: FOOTYMAD
Howe deal moving closer
It's fifteen days since Burnley sacked Brian Laws and in that two weeks we've had Paul Lambert of Norwich and Watford's Malky Mackay as bookies favourites until it was all suspended two days ago with Eddie Howe of Bournemouth at twenty to one on. The talk has all been about Howe since, the 33-year-old who has had nothing but success at Dean Court in his two years in charge. Yesterday their chairman Eddie Mitchell confirmed to the Bournemouth Echo that an official approach had been made by the Clarets but admitted that compensation could be a stumbling block.This morning the same newspaper are claiming that those issues have been resolved and that Howe could manage Bournemouth for the last time tonight when they travel to Colchester in front of the Sky cameras, ironically facing former Burnley assistant manager John Ward.Mitchell said yesterday: "As a club, we can't stop people phoning us, that's the first thing. As much as we would like to, we can't. Somebody phoned us and it was Burnley, and that's as far as it has got at the moment - telephone conversations."Of course I want him to stay. I've spent hours on this and it's becoming a bit of a headache. I can't say any more than I've said and that is that we want him to stay here, and we're going to do our utmost to make sure that happens."Mitchell admitted: "I'm doing my best for the club, I'm in the position I'm in and that's what I'm duty bound to do. But there's only a limited amount you can do with somebody else's life. I certainly don't want to risk being responsible for pushing Eddie in one direction or another."Howe, who landed the Bournemouth job at the end of December 2008, has now been in charge for 92 league games of which 48 have been won including 25 wins last season when they clinched promotion.He guided them to safety by the end of the 2008/09 season despite their 17 point penalty and last May led them to promotion from League Two with Notts County and Rochdale. They currently sit in third place in League One.This latest news should increase the viewing figures for tonight's League One encounter from the Burnley area as it begins to look more and more likely that Eddie Howe could be our next manager.
