IT WAS the chapter in Eddie Howe’s managerial career which understandably gets the fewest column inches.

A sacking on an otherwise highly-decorated CV rocked the club’s favourite son just as he was taking his first steps on the coaching ladder.

Together with boss Kevin Bond and fellow assistant Rob Newman, Howe was relieved of his post 10 years ago tomorrow.

He may allow himself a wry smile when he marks the 10th anniversary by leading out Cherries at Chelsea in a Premier League top-six clash.

Bond, Newman and Howe were shown the door with Cherries languishing second-from-bottom in League Two after just four games – two draws and two defeats.

Just a month earlier, the financially-stricken club had been given a stay of execution to remain in the Football League providing they accepted a 17-point penalty and agreed to pay around £500,000 to unsecured creditors.

Bond had promoted Howe to the position of player-coach in December 2006 and rewarded him with a new contract the following summer after he had been forced to retire due to a persistent knee injury, aged just 29.

To say the least, his introduction to life in football management was an education.

Cherries narrowly avoided relegation in his first season, only for a 10-point deduction for entering administration to ultimately condemn them to the basement division the following season.

Their predicament on the field, however, paled into insignificance compared with the daily soap opera which was being played out behind the scenes.

Sport-6, a Liverpool-based sports marketing company, had recently acquired the club following a drawn-out takeover with the deal allowing the club to finally exit administration.

And one of the first acts of a new board – which comprised owners Paul Baker and Alastair Saverimutto together with chairman Jeff Mostyn and vice-chairman Steve Sly – was to axe the management triumvirate.

Asked today by the Daily Echo whether he felt the decision had been fair, Howe said: “You always feel it is unfair unless you think you have underperformed or not given your best. I didn’t feel that Kevin, Rob and myself had done that.

“We had been put in a really difficult situation with everything that was going on off the pitch and, with it being so early in the season, you think it is unfair.

“But that is the world of football and you know how volatile it can be. You know these things can happen at any time.”

Luckily for Howe – and even more fortunately for Cherries, as it would later transpire – his absence lasted just nine days before he accepted an offer to return to Dean Court to head up the centre of excellence.

“Taking myself back to that day, I wouldn’t have seen anything ahead of me in professional football because, at that moment, I probably saw my future away from the game at that level,” recalled Howe.

“I probably saw it more towards coaching at youth level and developing younger players. If I hadn’t quickly got back in, that is where I would have gone.

“But I got back immediately with the centre of excellence so it looked like that would be where I would stay for a period of time.

“Things like this, which are perceived as negative, are life-defining moments. How do you react to that moment and what do you do?

“I tried to stay very cool, calm and level and to not over-react to the situation. I just tried to figure out what I was going to do next.”

Asked for his recollections of the day, Howe said: “I think we all felt that it was possibly going to be the end.

“We had heard snippets, like you do when your futures are going to be in doubt. I don’t think it was any great surprise that I received a phone call asking me to come to the ground. You know your fate as you are arriving.

“For me and the football club, it felt very sad because of the length of time I had been here and the different roles I had fulfilled.

“But when you take a management or coaching position, you know that day will come at some stage and I remember a mix of emotions. It was very sad to leave.”