campaign. He did not return to full fitness until January 2004 after 18 months out. He was loaned to Swindon Town on transfer deadline day in March, although he did not feature for the club. Portsmouth loaned Howe back to AFC Bournemouth for the first three months of the 2004–05. He proved to be successful on his return to his first club after two injury-ravaged seasons with Portsmouth. With the club in a very poor financial state, supporters joined together to create "Eddieshare" to fund a transfer fee. Within days of creation, £21,000 was raised which funded the required permanent transfer fee. After a further three seasons and over 270 appearances, injuries forced his retirement as a player in 2007 and he then moved into coaching with the reserve squad. Managerial career In December 2006, at the age of 29, Howe was promoted to the position of player-coach by manager Kevin Bond, and handed the task of coaching AFC Bournemouth's reserve team, though he continued to play in the first team. He retired from football in summer 2007, after he was unable to recover from a knee injury. In September 2008, Howe lost his job when Bond was sacked as manager. AFC Bournemouth Howe returned to AFC Bournemouth as a youth coach under Jimmy Quinn and took over as caretaker manager when Quinn was sacked on 31 December 2008. Even though his two games in charge as caretaker manager were away defeats, he was hired as the permanent manager of the club on 19 January 2009 and brought the club out of the relegation zone despite a 17-point deficit. In the start of the 2009–10 season, Howe won eight out of the nine games, a club record. In November 2009, Championship club Peterborough United approached Howe to replace Darren Ferguson as their manager but Howe rejected their approach. Despite the club's transfer embargo remaining in place for the rest of the season, AFC Bournemouth secured promotion to League One after two years in the fourth tier of English football thanks to a 2–0 away win at Burton Albion on 24 April 2010. In early 2011, Howe was approached by several other clubs but on 11 January announced that he was staying at AFC Bournemouth. However, on 14 January 2011, Howe became the new Burnley manager after the club agreed a compensation deal with AFC Bournemouth. He took charge of his