Phil Sumbler
The Swans will be welcoming second place Bournemouth to the Swansea.com stadium on Tuesday evening as we look to extend our current unbeaten run to nine games whilst Bournemouth will be searching for a win that will take them to within touching distance of the Premier league return that they set out to achieve.
But what do we know about Bournemouth? Courtesy of Wikipedia, here is a brief history of our opponents who, much like the Swans, were so close to dropping out of the football league before a rise through the divisions to the Premier League.
AFC Bournemouth is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The team compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1899 as Boscombe, the club adopted their current name in 1971. Nicknamed “The Cherries”, Bournemouth have played their home games at Dean Court since 1910.
Their home colours are red and black striped shirts, with black shorts and socks, inspired by that of Italian club A.C. Milan.
Initially known as Boscombe, the club competed in regional football leagues before going up from the Hampshire League to the Southern League in 1920. Now known as Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic, they were elected into the Football League in 1923. They remained in the Third Division South for 35 years, winning the Third Division South Cup in 1946. Placed in the newly reorganised Third Division in 1958, they suffered relegation in 1970, but would win an immediate promotion in 1970–71. Relegated back into the Fourth Division in 1975, Bournemouth were promoted again in 1981–82 and after lifting the Associate Members’ Cup in 1984 would go on to win the Third Division title in 1986–87. They spent three seasons in the second tier but entered administration in 1997 and ended up back in the fourth tier with relegation in 2002, though immediately gained promotion by winning the play-offs in 2003.
Bournemouth entered administration for a second time and were relegated back into League Two in 2008, but ended the year by appointing Eddie Howe as manager. Under Howe’s stewardship, Bournemouth won three promotions in six years to win a place in the first tier of English football for the first time. This was achieved with a second-place finish in League Two in 2009–10, a second-place finish in League One in 2012–13 and a Championship title in 2014–15. The club remained in the Premier League for five seasons before suffering relegation in 2020.
The club adopted the AFC Bournemouth name in 1971,[7] with the intention that the club would appear first in alphabetical lists of English clubs.[8] A year later, the club adopted a new badge as a symbol of the club’s progress.[9] The stripes in the background were based on the club shirt, while in the foreground is the profile of a player heading the ball, in honour of Dickie Dowsett, a prolific scorer for the club in the 1950s and 1960s.[10]
Their red and black kit, introduced in 1971, was based on the A.C. Milan strip.[11] This was the era of Ted MacDougall, a prolific goalscorer who, in an FA Cup tie in November 1971, scored nine goals in an 11–0 win against Margate.[citation needed]
In February 2008, Bournemouth were forced into administration, suffering a ten-point deduction which put them in relegation trouble. Bournemouth had debts of around £4 million and almost went out of business completely.[16] The off-field uncertainty continued throughout the season, with only one, ultimately unsuccessful, bid for the club accepted,[17] and the club ended the season being relegated to League Two.[citation needed]
Ahead of the 2008–09 season, the team’s future in the Football League was put into doubt when the league threatened to block Bournemouth’s participation in League Two, due to problems with the club’s continuing administration and change in ownership. The league ordered both Bournemouth and Rotherham United to demonstrate that they could fulfil all of their fixtures and find a way out of administration,[18] eventually allowing the club to compete with a 17-point penalty for failing to follow the Football League insolvency rules. The new company was also ordered to pay unsecured creditors the amount offered at the time of the original CVA (around ten pence in the pound) within two years.[19]
Early into the season, manager Bond was sacked and was replaced by former player Jimmy Quinn, who would himself leave the club only a few months later.[20] Former player Eddie Howe took over as manager with the club still ten points adrift at the bottom of the league and initially on a caretaker basis, becoming the youngest manager in the Football League at the age of 31.[21]
At the end of 2008, it was announced that local businessman Adam Murry had completed the purchase of 50% of the club’s shares from previous chairman, Paul Baker. However, in January 2009, Murry missed the deadline to buy Baker’s shares.[22]
In the final home game of the 2008–09 season, the Cherries guaranteed their Football League status by beating Grimsby Town 2–1 with a winning goal ten minutes from time by Bournemouth’s Steve Fletcher, sparking wild celebrations after a fairytale ending to “The Great Escape.” They finished their troubled season with their best away win in 30 years with a 4–0 victory at Morecambe.[citation needed]
In 2016, Bournemouth were found guilty of violating the Football League’s Financial Fair Play regulations during 2014–15, the season it secured promotion to the Premier League. The club’s over-spend broke the ‘maximum deviation’, with a £38.3 million financial loss in 2014–15. This followed a loss of £10.3 million in 2013–2014. The club was originally fined £7.6 million by the Football League, but subsequently negotiated a settlement with a fine of £4.75 million for breaching Financial Fair Play rules. The decision followed months of speculation and investigation about the club breaking Football League regulations.[38][39][40]
Content retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AFC_Bournemouth.
