Tuesday, 14 April 2015

LIFE'S A BEACH

The original club in Bournemouth was at Boscombe St John's Institute in 1890. This became Boscombe FC, joining the local county league and by 1902 the team played at King's Park next to present ground at Dean Court. Mr Cooper-Dean gave the club some waste ground on which to develop their home and because it was neighbouring a field of cherry orchards, the club adopted the Cherries as a nickname. They named the ground after their benefactor and wore cherry red.
Joining the Southern League in 1920 and then the Third Division South in 1923-4, Bournemouth and Boscombe Athletic FC won their first league point in a 1-1 draw with Swindon on 25th August 1923. The club holds the record for the longest continuous membership of the Third Division, now of course they are top of the Championship.
With Reading away tonight, AFC Bournemouth hopes to maintain their place at the top of the Division with promotion to the Premier League in its sight.
The club began the 2008-9 season 17 points adrift and were a day within liquidation three times in six months. Chairman, Jeff Mostyn, saved the club and now hopes to see his investment bring the small south coast team into the top league in the country. 
Ed Howe the manager at 37 is young and has been at the club since he was 10 years old. He kept the club in the Football League in 2009 when they had only 7 points after 22 games. Promotions followed in 2010 and 2013 and now end of season matches against Reading, Sheffield Wednesday (h), Bolton (h) and Charlton (a) have to be overcome to reach the pinnacle. 

Backed now by a Russian, Max Demin, there is financial stability, the club has met the FL Financial Fair Play requirements with a loss of no more than £8 million last year. QPR's was nearly £70 m last season to gain promotion. With Ed Howe at the helm and a positive feeling through out the seaside town, what could go wrong?

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