BRETT Pitman says Cherries are “very lucky” to have Eddie Howe as their boss as he prepares to lead the club into a fifth successive Premier League season.

Pitman, who came through the Cherries academy, scored 83 goals in 177 appearances under Howe across two spells at the club between 2009 and 2015.

Having left Cherries for a 21-month stay at Burnley, Howe’s success since his return to Dorset has seen him linked with a host of managerial roles elsewhere.

But there were also some question marks raised last season during Cherries’ run of just five wins in 25 matches between November and April, with talkSPORT host Jim White claiming Howe’s “star has fallen”.

However, Pitman insists there should be no doubts about the Cherries boss.

He told the Daily Echo: “I would say for anyone to criticise him is strange considering you look where the club has come from and what he has done for them.

“I don’t think anyone that knows football would really be criticising him too much to be honest.

“I think he’s obviously a top-class manager and Bournemouth are very lucky to have him.”

In the nine seasons Pitman featured for Cherries, seven were spent competing in either Leagues One or Two, before his final two years at the club in the Championship.

Pitman’s 13 league goals in 2014-15 helped Cherries seal an historic promotion to the Premier League, but he admits the club staying there for five years is hard to believe.

He said: “I think if you would’ve said that back then (10 years ago), people would’ve probably thought you were mad.

“But I think it’s credit to the players now, the staff and obviously the owners.

“They’ve done a fantastic job and you’d probably say now they’re an established Premier League club.”

Many of Pitman’s teammates from his first spell at Cherries are now back at the club coaching in the club’s academy with Shaun Cooper, Alan Connell, Mark Molesley and Warren Cummings all among those occupying roles within the set-up.

And the Portsmouth striker says the link to the past is only going to help the next crop of youngsters coming through the system.

Pitman said: “A few of my mates, Coops, Al and Woz (Cummings) are working here now.

“I’m close to them and I live down in Bournemouth, so when I’ve got some time off I come down and watch them coach and watch the games.

“I think that’s something the club’s pretty good at. I think they want their ex-players to work and that can only help young lads.

“I think if you see you’ve got an ex-player who has been there and done it, it probably gives you a little bit more of an incentive than maybe somebody else.”

And Pitman is passing on the the footballing bug himself, with six-year-old son Harlow already making his way into the game.

Pitman said: “Because we live down here he trains with Bournemouth sometimes.

“He loves it.”