EDDIE Howe explained how he used to “chat about the team” with owner Maxim Demin during the pair’s time at Cherries, adding: “It was very informal.”

During Demin’s time as owner with Howe in charge of the first team, Cherries rose up into the Premier League for the first time in 2015, staying there for five years.

Howe departed in 2020, Demin then selling the club to Bill Foley in 2022.

Reflecting on his working relationship with Demin, in a conversation with The Overlap, Newcastle United boss Howe said: “The owner that I had at Bournemouth, he’d sometimes want a chat about the team.

“Not the team you’re going to pick, but the squad, how everybody is looking.

“It was very informal and very relaxed.

“I’ve always found that I’ve tried to concentrate on the job and do the job to the best of my ability to help me manage upwards.

“That can alleviate a lot of the problems.

“I think when you do communicate, if you communicate honestly, that’s always been my big thing.”

Howe, 46, a Cherries academy graduate, also had a spell managing Burnley, either side of his two stints at Dean Court.

He is now approaching three years in charge of Newcastle, having finished seventh in the Premier League last season.