TOMMY Elphick has credited Cherries boss Eddie Howe for “taking my game to a new level”.

Elphick, appointed captain by Howe during Cherries’ League One promotion-winning season, also skippered the club to the Premier League.

He told the Daily Echo: “The gaffer has done everything for me. He has been the inspiration and the one who has led everything from top to bottom.

“I know you can’t do it without finances and the power of the owner but everything you see is driven by the gaffer. Whatever the future holds for him, what he has achieved for this club is beyond words.

“There are simply no superlatives which do him the justice he deserves. You can’t put into words what he has done and what has given every player he has touched since he has been at the club.

“I was at a massive crossroads when I first signed here. I had worked with an unbelievable manager in Gus Poyet at Brighton and he had opened my eyes to football and the way it should be played.

“I owe him so much but Eddie just took it to a new level. He gave me confidence, he gave me the captaincy and I can’t thank him enough.”

Elphick also had words of thanks for his team-mates and said: “You can’t lead a team without support and backing. They are the best I have ever played with. They will be friends for life and I will never forget the past four years, the memories will stay with me forever.”

Meanwhile, Elphick admitted "so many different factors” had been behind his decision to leave Cherries and also confirmed the club had offered him a new contract.

He said: “I sat down with the gaffer at the end of what had been a frustrating season for me. He was honest and up front and said the club would be making me an offer. He told me to draw a line under the season and to come back to stake my claim again.

“A lot changes when you are injured and I was out for a lot longer than expected. I missed huge highlights of last season when I wasn’t as involved as I would like to have been.

“The way I am and the best I can be, I need to be settled in my mind. At my age, I felt it was time to take on a new challenge and try to re-establish myself.

“It is something which has weighed heavily on my mind and my heart and it was not a quick or easy decision.”