TO THE Cherries Faithful he’s ‘Steady Eddie’, the boy who joined the club from Parley Sports and who went on to play 237 games for Bournemouth, before joining Harry Redknapp’s Portsmouth.

Howe’s legend-sealing return to the club ‘saved us from oblivion’, as one grateful fan puts it and his managerial style has been much admired – and not just by the folk who run Crystal Palace, Charlton and Burnley.

Awarding him their ‘Football Man of the Year Award’ for 2010, the Twofootedtackle blog praised him thus: “If Howe were to step off Bournemouth’s beaches and into the English Channel, nobody would be surprised to see him walk over the water to France.”

He wouldn’t say that, of course. Howe’s modesty and unwillingness to hog the limelight are two of the attributes which have endeared him to the fans. As one put it: “I don’t know much about him but he comes across as someone who’s very cool, calm and collected and who is there to do his job properly.”

“Industrious, hard-working, cool under pressure,” is how another describes him.

Unlike his managerial counterparts, Howe isn’t famous for ferocious gum-chewing, dodgy sheepskin coats, wearing gold medallions, Ian Holloway-style ramblings and for giving players the hairdryer.

By his own admission he is ‘not a ranter and a raver’, despite a 24/7 approach to the game.

“The only thing that’s surprised me is that, mentally, you never switch off,” he revealed.

“There’s a lot of planning involved if you want to do the job properly and you do have to think ahead. You can’t enjoy any win because you’re thinking about the next game. That’s the reality of it.”

Off the park there are no scandals, tawdry tales, or allegations that he’s rude to people in restaurants. There are no stories of flash motors, red-carpet events, vulgar shopping sprees, or, come to think of it, bungs, tapping up and peculiar tax arrangements.

“Approachable” is how one fan described him.

“If you go up and speak about the club, he’ll talk back.”

One Bournemouth councillor tells the story of a planning meeting to which a number of residents turned up, one of whom turned out to be the Cherries’ manager. Other fans fondly recall seeing him walk his dog.

Howe is married to Vicky, a hair stylist and the couple live quietly in Poole. Again, Howe’s private life remains just that, although he is happy to acknowledge his debt to his wife.

He said: “You need to have an understanding family behind you and this is where both myself and Jason (Tindall, his assistant) are extremely fortunate.”

If Eddie Howe does choose to go to Burnley there are questions how this south coast boy – he was raised in Verwood – would cope with the change of area.

But, more than anything, there will be wholesale sadness at losing such a capable, likeable and successful manager.

“I would be gutted,” admitted one lifelong Cherries fan. “But he’s done so much for the club I would always wish him well.”