Eddie Howe will be his own man at Burnley FC

EDDIE Howe comes to Turf Moor insisting he will be his own man.

While the legacy of Owen Coyle still hangs over the club, the youngest manager in Burnley’s history hopes to write a new chapter of Clarets success.

And while he would love to emulate Coyle and take the Clarets back into the Premier League, he draws the line at similarities there: “People have made those comparisons. I don’t know Owen very well.

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“I think I’m my own man and I’ll do things my way and be judged on how I do the job.

“The comparisons are that we’re both young managers.

“I know he was very successful and I would love to match his success here for sure.”

This time last year, his old Bournemouth boss Sean O’Driscoll was a frontrunner to replace Coyle, and, in a strange quirk of fate, Howe himself is now charged with reigniting Burnley’s season after a stuttering first half of the campaign.

O’Driscoll had a big bearing on Howe’s philosophy on the game, and he hopes to woo the fans and, more importantly, win games, in a manner pleasing on the eye: “I played under Sean O’Driscoll at Bournemouth for a long time when I was coming through, and then onto management.

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“He’s someone I look up to and respect greatly and I still speak to. He had a huge influence on my career.

“Harry (Redknapp) would be another obvious one with two years at Portsmouth.

“I learned a great deal from him. There are plenty of others as well.

“Ultimately you have to follow your own instincts and your own methods.

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“I was thinking about management early but I fell into it a little bit.

“Kevin Bond gave me the opportunity to manage the reserve team under him, and I’m very thankful to him for that opportunity.

“I got the coaching bug and really enjoyed it.

“I love being on the training pitch with the players, that’s where I get my enjoyment.

“It’s gone great since then and this is another chapter.

“I know the Burnley fans, with their history and tradition, crave good football and hopefully I can bring that here.

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“It matches my own views on the game, so hopefully it’s a good fit.”

To say it has been a hectic time for Howe is a massive understatement, and there’s no sign of things slowing down in the immediate future, with just under a fortnight until the transfer window closes, and something of a baptism of fire on the pitch, with five of the next six league games away from home.

Initially, he will prepare to take on Scunthorpe United at Glanford Park in Saturday’s Sky-televised clash, while also weighing up the strengths and weaknesses of the squad, with a mind to bringing fresh faces in.

He said of the players now at his disposal: “We want to keep everybody here, all our good players you want to keep and make our squad even stronger.

“To be successful you’ve got to keep your best players.”

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Howe has had to work with Bournemouth in administration, and under a transfer embargo, as he cut his teeth in management, and he is looking forward to having a larger fund to bring players in: “It’s been difficult but you sort of adjust and get by. As long as you know what you have to work with you can do it.

“It will be a different scenario here and one we’re prepared for. It will be exciting to be able to look at different types of players.

“The transfer window wasn’t really part of the negotiations.

“I need to assess the squad here quickly, make quick assessments and then look to see where we might need to improve the squad as we go forward.

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“The loan market’s always available to us and it’s something we’ll probably look to use if we need to.”

Players out on loan may remain on loan to further their experience - the likes of Richard Eckersley, Kevin Long and Wes Fletcher - although Leon Cort may fall into a different category: “It’s good for the younger lads especially to be out playing.

“I only know that too well from my time at Bournemouth. League One and League Two are good leagues and the more experience the younger players can get the better so we’ll look to keep them out.

“We’ll make judgements on individual players individually really rather than a group.”