Edward John Frank Howe (born 29 November 1977) is an English professional football manager and former player, who is the manager of Premier League club Newcastle United. A defender during his playing career, Howe spent most of his playing career with AFC Bournemouth, coming up through the youth system and spending eight years with the club, before returning for a second three-year spell to end his career, and retiring from the professional game in 2007. He entered management the following year, taking charge of a Bournemouth side facing relegation to the Conference National in January 2009 as the youngest manager in the Football League. Under his guidance, Bournemouth were able to survive relegation during his first season in charge, having started the season on minus 17 points, and were promoted to League One the following campaign. After a brief spell as manager at Burnley, Howe returned to Bournemouth and led them to two further promotions in three seasons, taking them to the top division of English football. He was subsequently named Football League Manager of the Decade in 2015 following three promotions in a seven-year period. Bournemouth survived in the Premier League for five seasons under Howe, before suffering relegation to the Championship in 2020. He resigned as manager of Bournemouth after the club's relegation. At the time of his departure, Howe was the longest serving manager in the Premier League. After a year away from the game, Howe returned to management in 2021 when he was appointed as head coach of Newcastle United following the takeover of the club in 2021. Playing career Howe was born in Amersham, Buckinghamshire. When very young, he moved to Verwood in Dorset, and later began his footballing career with local youth teams Rossgarth and Parley Sports before starting his professional career at AFC Bournemouth. He made his first-team debut in December 1995 against Hull City. Howe established himself as an important player in AFC Bournemouth's defence and in 1998 he was selected for the England Under-21 team in the Toulon Tournament. In March 2002, Portsmouth signed Howe for £400,000, making him new manager Harry Redknapp's first signing. Shortly after signing, a knee injury on his debut against Preston North End ended his season. He returned for the opening game of the 2002–03 season against Nottingham Forest, but he injured his knee again after only nine minutes and was ruled out for the entire