‘Exceptional’ Eddie Howe and the coaching course teaching set pieces and sleep patterns

Eddie Howe would have smiled knowingly: on a lush, green Queen’s University pitch in south Belfast, Wilfred Bouma was delivering instructions about a 4-3-3 attacking formation creating space against a 4-4-2 defence. As Bouma spoke, assessors from the Irish Football Association observed and made notes. This is the UEFA A Licence coaching course. Fifteen years ago, it was Howe covering this territory, this grass.

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Howe completed his A diploma with the Irish FA and returned to Belfast in 2011 to study for his Pro Licence. On each occasion, Howe impressed both his peers on the course and his assessors.

As Kieran Harding, one of the IFA tutors then and now, says: “All I can tell you is Eddie was the same man then that he is today: quiet, thoughtful, always respectful. When there were sessions on, he would ask more questions than others. He wouldn’t do it in front of the group but in a quiet way to the side.

“And when he put on his own sessions, they were exceptional.”

That last word — exceptional — was heard repeatedly regarding Howe during two days of watching the latest A Licence candidates in Belfast recently.

Michael Carvill agrees. Then doing his B badge while Howe was on his A course — and now an IFA tutor — Carvill says: “Eddie just stood out. No arrogance, keen to learn and there was something about him that was really infectious. He was inquisitive and we say it now — you can tell who’ll be top coaches because they always want more. It’s an addiction; it’s like they almost need their hit of football.

“I remember a set-piece drill. The tutors would have put on a session and it would have been detailed — these were coaches from a coach education background. But when Eddie did his, the level of detail went up