The AFC Bournemouth story

There are a lot of things you won’t know about AFC Bournemouth. Some of you may not know that they once held the longest name in the Football League – Bournemouth and Boscombe Athletic Football Club Limited. Perhaps you don’t know that their red and black kit, introduced in 1971, was based on the old AC Milan strip. The 1970’s was also the era that Ted McDougall (I have a picture of him scoring a diving header against Aston Villa on my wall – that’s how good he was) scored 9 goals in an 11-0 victory against Margate. These are all things of the past, but it’s the present that the Cherries’ fans will be most happy about.

At the beginning of the last League 2 season Bournemouth were deducted 17 points for entering administration by the authorities. It was a bleak time for the club, who already had a very small squad, made up of seasoned veterans and raw schoolboys with not much inbetween, and it was clear that it’d be a big struggle for a club who have not lost their Football League status in 85 years.

Kevin Bond was the manager at the start of the 08/09 season, but was a man under pressure. Having been assistant to Harry Redknapp at Portsmouth, and then Martin Jol’s first-team coach at Spurs, Bond came with a big reputation, but failed to deliver the goods. On the 1st September 2008, Bond and his management were sacked. Jimmy Quinn, another big Footballing name, was named as his replacement but only lasted until early December. A 2-0 defeat at fellow strugglers Barnet confirmed his dismissal. It was after this latest event in an episode of awful affairs for the Southerners, that their blessing in disguise appeared.

The sacking of Quinn allowed Eddie Howe to be named as caretaker manager, and despite losing his first two games, Howe was pronounced Bournemouth’s permanent manager until the end of the season, with a view to extending his contract. This made Howe the youngest manager in the Football League, at just 31 years of age. It was the first good decision the Bournemouth board had made in a very long time.

From when Howe was given the permanent job at the Fitness First Stadium, Bournemouth won 8 of their 13 games that season. That record was enough to keep them in the division, a remarkable feit for a club who were very close to completely folding just 12 months earlier.

In the Summer of 2009 a consortium, including former vice-chairman Steve Sly, completed their takeover of AFC Bournemouth. This backing has given them great stability, perhaps not financially but at least as a Football League Club and now, as the new season is well under way, the memories of last year’s trials and tribulations seem very distant indeed.

However, any club who have been through what Bournemouth have been through recently would struggle to rebuild in any quick time, as Bournemouth have found out. Despite securing their status as a League Club, and entering the new campaign with no burden or penalty against their name, no money has been available to purchase players, not since January this year. The situation has got so bad recently, that in their last home League match, amongst the Bournemouth substitutes was assistant manager Jason Tindall, 15-year old Jayden Stockley, and only one other player – Alan Connell. Bournemouth still won the game 1-0, but one has to wonder whether they can keep up such performances with such lack of squad depth. It’s doubtful.

For the time being all people associated with the seaside club will be thrilled to see them top the League 2 table, and to have put all the problems behind them. None more so than my Father, who’s an avid Bournemouth fan, and even I, as a neutral, am delighted to see such a turn around in fortunes for a real community club.

A dozen or so years ago each of my family registered themselves to have a brick engraved, with a word/phrase of our choice. My choice was ‘calcio’ (Italian for ‘Football’), perhaps ironic in the face of such unfootballing matters. Unfortunately I’m yet to re-visit the stadium to see my brick in the flesh. I get the feeling it’d be a great day out, to visit a club so many people hold in high regard, and to see the improvements made in the past decade.

Things are at a high right now, and there’s even talk amongst fans and pundits that in the not-so-distant future Harry Redknapp will attempt a takeover of the club he once played for, and managed in his younger days. Harry still holds residence near Bournemouth, in the seaside town of Poole, and has never fallen out of love with the club he grew up supporting. Such a takeover would rival that of Sven-Goran Eriksson’s at Notts County, but for differing reasons. Pride and joy would be the motivation for Redknapp, whereas money has spurred Sven and the guys in Nottingham to press for Premier League status within 5 years. A shame really. There’s no romance in that.

It’s stories such as these that puts the growing wealth of Football into perspective. A club with no money has managed to survive and rise to the top of it’s division due to a tightly-knit community and bunch of players, passionate support and real drive for success. If only we had more AFC Bournemouth’s in this world.

If any of you get the chance to visit Bournemouth this season, I’d be very grateful if you could report back with your feelings, opinions, and views about the club.