The former West Ham United striker was speaking to Talksport on Monday afternoon.
Former West Ham United striker Dean Ashton would have gone ‘all out’ to appoint Bournemouth’s Eddie Howe as manager, if he was the Hammers board.
David Moyes’ old job went to Manuel Pellegrini – the experienced former Real Madrid and Manchester City boss – who has signed a three-year deal at the London Stadium.
But speaking to Talksport on Monday afternoon, Ashton revealed he would have favoured a more youthful candidate, such as Howe.
“I suppose I wasn’t (that excited about Pellegrini), because personally I was thinking I really wanna see maybe a younger manager,” he said.
“If I was the West Ham board, I’d have gone all out to get Eddie Howe. Just because I like the way that he plays at Bournemouth, I like the fact that he can mould certain players – certainly if you don’t want do go out and spent the big cash.
“I could see him promoting youth players, which again is important at a club like West Ham. And I think you could say to him we wanna give you five years, give you a project. And you feel like you can really invest in Eddie Howe.”
Nevertheless Ashton – who spent three years at West Ham before being forced to retire at the age of 26 – proceeded to acknowledge Pellegrini’s past achievements, but stressed: “It doesn’t really matter which manager comes in if he doesn’t get backed. Whether they like it or not the board are going to have to spend some big money to bring in some quality players to strengthen the squad, because they just weren’t strong enough last season.”
It was Howe who led Bournemouth from League Two to the Premier League across two spells between 2009 and 2015, and kept them up in three consecutive campaigns.
Former West Ham manager Harry Redknapp is another who cut his teeth at Bournemouth, leading the south coast club to the Third Division title in 1987.
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