Howe to Attract a Manager? A Eddie Mix

In an article written for the People today, Alan Nixon and Tom Hopkinson believe Burnley could now be done to Number 4 on their short-list and that the man they are now after is Bournemouth manager, Eddie Howe.

The reporters suggest we have now failed to land ex-Blackburn boss Sam Allardyce, Watford`s Malky Mackay or Paul Lambert of Norwich. Lambert of course has made it plain that he wishes to stay at Norwich following a failed approach by Burnley to speak to the Scot.

They also seem to think Malky MacKay has now got cold feet as well. Media reports are rife too that Big Sam has also rejected the Clarets and is now biding his time in Dubai waiting to see if any opportunities from the Premier League managerial merry-go-round come his way. He is strongly tipped as the next West Ham manager, should Avram Grant get the boot although Martin O'Neill could also be in the frame for that one.

So who does that leave? Well Nixon & Hopkinson seem to think next on the list is Howe. The impressive up-and-coming manager is now described as being in a tug of war with three clubs vying for his services.

Crystal Palace have been strongly linked with Howe this week following their recent sacking of George Burley but the reporters suggect that Howe met Palace chiefs before secretly dashing off to speak to the Clarets after jumping to the top of their wish list.

League One side, Charlton could now also be in the frame. It is understood new Charlton owner Tony Jimenez also wants to chat with the Cherries gaffer following the sacking of Phil Parkinson on Monday.

There is no doubt Howe has been a successful manager at lower league level. The 33 year old has taken Bournemouth from administration to promotion from League 2.

If Burnley are interested in Howe it would be a kick in the teeth if he opted for a side struggling in the Championship or one a league lower but we shall have to see.

Burnley do seem to have egg on their face after the Lambert debacle although Barry Kilby has now tried to gloss over the embarrassment by saying:

'I would like to stress to supporters that Paul Lambert was only one of a number of targets we would like to interview for the post of Burnley manager,' said Kilby tonight.

'There are other targets, but someone had to be the first and Paul was already in employment, so we acted through the proper channels and made a formal enquiry to speak to Paul.

'Obviously this was refused and we respect Paul and Norwich's decision, and now we move on to the other persons on the shortlist.

'There were half a dozen names on our shortlist and the task starts again tomorrow morning.

'I do think the situation needs to be resolved as quickly as we can, but we cannot let that be the overriding factor.

'It is about appointing the right man for the job to take this club forward.'

Surely it's also about doing your homework first and coming across as professional. With all the competition for managers, getting someone in quickly whilst we still have some time in the transfer window to strengthen the squad becomes a priority. If we don't hurry up we will be seen as simply having to appoint one of the ones that are left not the one we really wanted.

If a manager is not appointed by the time we play QPR on Saturday at Turf Moor, I will begin to worry that we simply don't have enough pulling power to attract the right calibre of manager that this club needs.

You can read more about Eddie Howe by clicking this link to our recent article:

Howe's That, Eddie?

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