Cherries boss discusses how Brendan Rodgers helped him out ahead of showdown at Leicester
Friday 29 March 2019 10:23, UK
Eddie Howe says Bournemouth's financial losses are a short-term problem and will improve when the Cherries move to a bigger ground.
Their 11,464-capacity Vitality Stadium is one of the smallest in top-flight history and the club, who have played in League One and League Two for much of their existence, are on course for their fifth Premier League season.
Bournemouth announced annual losses of £10.9m earlier this week and when quizzed on the matter, Howe explained that there are still "hurdles to overcome" before the club are financially stable.
"I think at this football club we're slightly different to everyone else in the Premier League," Howe said.
"Operating at a financial loss is never something we want to do, but I think there's going to be some short-term pain for the club until we can move to a bigger ground and increase revenue streams in different ways.
"We're still trying to recruit younger players, so the long-term side of the team squad is in a good place. That will cost money at this level.
"There's other costs involved in there as well, but the long-term prospects are very strong. The club has never been in such a strong position but we still have hurdles to overcome.
"The training ground is a big push of mine, we are trying to complete that and of course the stadium too."
Bournemouth were frustrated 2-2 by Newcastle last time out as Matt Ritchie haunted his old club with a 94th-minute equalising volley - and they travel to Leicester on Saturday as Howe faces his old friend Brendan Rodgers.
His long-term friendship with Rodgers began when they were in charge of Burnley and Swansea respectively, as Howe travelled to Wales for a couple of days to watch the Northern Irishman take training.
The pair have traded superlatives ever since and when Rodgers returned to the Premier League to take the reigns at Leicester in February, he admitted that he was looking forward to facing Howe once again.
"Brendan Rodgers has come in and had a real impact on the team, which is no surprise me," Howe added. "He's a forward-thinking coach and outstanding at what he does.
"I'm trying to cast my mind back [to watching him take training] - I think his organisation was first class, his vision of the game was very good and his philosophy was strong.
"The main thing I took from it was the time that he gave me. In a pressured situation, managing a football club, he gave me some really good time to talk to him and bounce things off him.
"That's what I really took from it, the fact he was gracious enough to give me that. I'll never forget it."
