Football
Dan Kilpatrick, Tottenham Correspondent 7y

Eddie Howe not too young to be England boss - Mauricio Pochettino

LONDON -- Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino has dismissed the suggestion that Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe is too young to take the England job, saying younger coaches can relate better to players.

Howe, 38, has been mooted as a permanent successor to Sam Allardyce after helping Bournemouth from League Two to the Premier League over two spells and keeping the Cherries in the top flight last season.

Ahead of his side's match at Bournemouth on Saturday, Tottenham boss Pochettino, 44, rejected the notion that it is premature for Howe to be appointed Three Lions boss.

"Never it is too soon, if you want it," Pochettino told reporters. "One day if it's in his mind to be manager of the national team and he has the offer it will be great for England. I like him a lot but that's a question for him. Every manager has his ideas but he is great. All I saw from him is fantastic. I can repeat I like him a lot."

Pochettino began his managerial career with Espanyol aged 36, while Howe took over Bournemouth aged 30.

Both managers' success is based on a strict philosophy and they command loyalty from their players, in spite of their physically demanding tactics.

Asked if young managers were more able to relate to modern players, Pochettino said: "It's true, it's true. For me, to start later is impossible because you lose your feeling of when you were a player. That's my experience.

"It was important to start very soon after I stopped my career but, at the same time, to cross the line and be on the other side is a very different job. When you're a player, you never realise you can become a manager until you start to work as a manager.

"Sometimes a player believes, 'Oh I want to be a manager,' and sometimes players are talking about the job like it's easy to select 11 [players] or play like this or do some exercises on the pitch. It's not easy.

"It's a very difficult job to be a manager and you only realise when you're in front of the players, on the other side, and you need to take a decision. I think it helped me a lot to start very soon after my career because my feeling was very fresh."

Bournemouth and Liverpool were the only teams to routinely run further than Tottenham last season, and Pochettino and Howe both demand a similar style of high-intensity, passing football.

Spurs beat Bournemouth 5-1 and 3-0 last season but Pochettino says he shares "principles" with Howe and likes the Cherries boss as a person.

"Personally I like Howe and his staff a lot," he said. "It is difficult to be objective with him because I like him but it's always great to share principles, the philosophy and the job he has done in Bournemouth is fantastic.

"The time I met him I liked him on the human side, and then his philosophy, how he works. You can see how they play and you get a feeling about his job. For that, I like him a lot."

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