IT SEEMS hard to believe, but is it only nine weeks ago since I first wrote in this column there was something special about Eddie Howe?

Well, it seems I was right as Cherries’ new manager has swiftly turned their on-field fortunes around and led them out of the League Two drop zone.

Deep down, we probably all knew Howe was the right man for the job after his predecessor Jimmy Quinn had been given the boot from the hotseat in late December.

But even I have been surprised at how quickly he has been able to re-introduce something like a ‘feel good’ factor to Dean Court following the mainly ‘downbeat’ spells overseen by Quinn and Kevin Bond.

Howe, who, it has to be remembered, had no previous Football League managerial experience before he was appointed on a caretaker basis on New Year’s Eve, has succeeded in galvanising a previously ailing squad.

By bringing back club cult hero Steve Fletcher from non-league obscurity at Crawley, the young manager has also shown he’s his own man.

Plenty of Cherries fans thought that was a backward step, the wrong move. They thought Big Fletch was a has-been who was too slow.

But the towering frontman, who has been playing with the renewed enthusiasm of a young gazelle, has taken great pride in proving those doubters wrong.

Howe weighed up the situation well.

He was so right to bank on a player discarded by Cherries at the end of the 2006-07 campaign returning to the fold and giving everyone, including the player himself, a much-needed boost.

More than that, Fletcher has become the glue that has held together a squad that is battling against all the odds to avoid the drop into non-league football.

The big man, with his endearing happy-go-lucky nature and special bond with fans and team-mates alike, may be influential in helping to pull the strings on the pitch.

But it’s 31-year-old Howe, who was quickly given the job on a permanent basis, who is undoubtedly pulling all the strings off it.

Despite his inexperience in the job, his league record as Cherries manager is more than steady, if not impressive for one so young...

Howe’s figures compare more than favourably, with both bosses working under the same severely restricting financial conditions.

You can see the improvement in results since Howe took over.

Even better, Cherries are unbeaten at home, where they have strung together a strong run of W 4 D 1 L 0 F 8 A 2 Pts 13.

It’s away where Howe’s boys have to improve. Their poor record on the road since he took charge is W 1 D 1 L 4 F 5 A 8 Pts 4.

No worse than Quinn’s, but not good enough to instill the required confidence to definitely stave off the threat of relegation.

So Howe is doing a great job, and if he can get the away form right, Cherries fans ought to be celebrating come May – that’s if their club is still alive.

He has given Cherries every chance of achieving an escape to rival that of the club’s original ‘Great Escape’ pulled off in a memorable 1994-95 season when Mel Machin first took charge.

Now, let’s hope Cherries’ owners can come up with the goods in the next few days to give the club the major financial boost it desperately needs before facing a winding-up petition in the High Court on Wednesday.

Otherwise, all Howe’s devotion and hard work, and that of his players, over the past 10 weeks could yet still come to nothing.

That would be sad, especially for the Dean Court ‘Special One’ – Fletcher.