EDDIE Howe has hit back at suggestions Cherries have bought success and insists there is a “total misconception” about how the club operates.

Manager Howe was speaking after Cherries’ annual accounts – covering their debut season in the Premier League – had been published yesterday.

The figures showed turnover had risen £75m on the previous year to £87.9m, a profit after tax of £3.4m compared with a loss of £39.4m and a £60m wage bill, the second lowest in the top flight.

Cherries last recorded a profit in 2011 when the sale of Danny Ings to Burnley and compensation for Howe and Jason Tindall joining the Clarets helped the club make around £1m.

Income for the year was significantly boosted by Cherries’ share of television money which will increase after the league cashed in to the tune of more than £8bn on selling its domestic and foreign rights for the three years from 2016.

In an exclusive interview with the Daily Echo, Howe said: “There has been a total misconception towards this club and how we run things.

“I have heard differing comments about how much money we have spent and how we have gone about what we have done.

“I have heard people say we have bought success. I was really passionate about that in the Championship and we didn’t do it then either.

“It is all relative to your turnover and ours is minimal compared with most clubs because of the size of the stadium so we are always at a slight handicap.

“But we haven’t just bought success, we have tried to do it in different ways.

“We have recruited mainly young players, tried to develop them and make them better.

“And with the players we inherited, we have tried to make them better and added bits and pieces along the way.

“It is very unfair to the players to suggest money has been the big factor behind our rise.

"It has been down to such a committed group of individuals who have wanted to get the best out of themselves and that is what I am passion about to defend.”

A need to compete with the country's elite clubs saw Cherries’ wage bill climb £30.4m, from £29.6m to £60m – a sum which included Premier League retention bonuses.

Howe says Cherries will face a “huge challenge” to continue to improve while being among the lowest payers, should they preserve their top-flight status.

He added: “The Premier League is at a totally different level. The top teams have such outstanding players and you are trying to compete with them on a level footing. It is incredibly difficult but our players have done superbly to do that.

“In the future, who knows where we will go with the club?

“A new stadium will be vital to increase our revenue to enable us to be a little more competitive on the wages. But that is down the line and not for now.

“Our biggest challenge is to try to keep the players we have, keep everyone together and try to improve the squad with astute signings.”