AFC Bournemouth is an English professional football/soccer team from the south-coast holiday resort town known as Bournemouth that have spent most of the club’s history in either League One or in the championship but have been playing in the premier league between 2015-2020 and since 2022 after successful results in the championship.
They currently play at the Vitality Stadium and have been there since 1910, the stadium can also be referred to as Dean court. The stadium has a capacity of 11,364 making it the smallest stadium in the Premier League being below Luton Town that play in a stadium with a 11,500 capacity.
History[]
Starting out[]
The club was founded on 1899 under the name Bournemouth and Boscombe athletic. In 1971, the club was renamed to AFC Bournemouth so the club will be at the top when sorting the English clubs from alphabetical order. 1971 was also the year when the club recorded it’s heaviest ever win after an 11-0 win against Margate FC in a FA Cup tie with Ted McDougall scoring 9 in the game.
Success in the 80s[]
In 1984, AFC Bournemouth won a FA Cup tie against Manchester United whilst being managed by Harry Redknapp along with winning the 1984 EFL trophy against Hull city.
Decline and relegation to League Two[]
During the 2008/09 season, things were not going well for the club as the club was struggling with finances plus a 17-point penalty for the start of the league. The first 4 games they played that season they only got 2 points from a 1-1 draw from both, Gillingham and Aldershot, as a result for the terrible results, Kevin Bond got sacked who was replaced by Jimmy Quinn, the club had to wait until a 3-1 win against Bradford City on September 20, 2008 before the club can get 3 points in a game. Unfortunately, even after positive results against Darlington, Dag & Red and Chester city they lost games against Lincoln, Accrington, Shrewsbury, Brentford & Barnet along with losing an FA Cup tie vs Blyth Spartans (who were in the Conference North at the time) saw Jimmy Quinn get sacked on New Year’s Eve with Eddie Howe replacing him. When Howe took over, results started to improve when Bournemouth won against Wycombe Wanderers 3-1 after Brett Pitman scored a free-kick from 30 yds out along with a lot of other wins against Exeter, Aldershot, Bradford and Rochdale.
The final 3 games of the season were against Chester, Grimsby and Morecambe, a win against Chester and Grimsby would mean Bournemouth will avoid relegation from League Two. The cherries won the Chester game 2-0 after Brett Pitman scoring a free kick within 3 minutes of the game along with Anton Robinson scoring his first ever goal for the cherries from a rebound 79 minutes in the game. The game against Grimsby on April 25, 2009 was a must-win for the cherries and the cherries recorded a record attendance of the season of 9008 which meant the stadium was near it’s full capacity when the game started. Despite Bournemouth being 1-0 down at Half Time after a header from Nathan Jarman, Bournemouth got an equaliser within seconds from half time after a rebound from Liam Feeney and on the 80th minute of the game, Steve Fletcher scored for Bournemouth which meant that Bournemouth’s survival in the Football League was confirmed and a massive pitch invasion occurred as soon as the final whistle blew for Full Time. At the end of the season, Bournemouth finished 21st out of 24th and won promotion back to League One the next season
On the rise[]
During their time in League One, Bournemouth had to go through a few managerial changes as Eddie Howe left Bournemouth to go and manage Burnley. Bournemouth eventually appointed Lee Bradbury as manager on January 16, 2011 who was one of the members of the 2008/09 squad. Despite Bournemouth being second in League One throughout Bradbury’s first 9 games in charge, a few poor results happened which made Bournemouth fall to 6th of League One and ended up losing to Huddersfield in the play-offs by a penalty shootout[1].
During the 2012/13 season, despite it being a rough start, they were a lot of important changes to the staff with the notable changes being a new owner along with Eddie Howe having his job back at the club which helped the club finish second in League One and got promoted to the Championship ready for the 2013/14 season[2].
Success in the championship[]
The club finished 10th in the championship during the 2013/14 season and would stay in the Championship for the next season. During the 2014/15 season, the biggest moments for the club at the time happened as new players such as Callum Wilson joined the club which will have a massive impact for the club and a lot of positive results were made.
The cherries managed to get results such as an 8-0 win against Birmingham City[3] as well as making it to the Quarter Finals of the EFL Cup.
After a 3-0 win against Bolton Wonderers on April 27, 2015, it was confirmed that Bournemouth would play in the Premier League in the 2015/16 season, the first time in the club's history[4]. The week after, Bournemouth won 3-0 against Charlton Athletic and Sheffield Wednesday scored a last minute equaliser against Watford making AFC Bournemouth champions of the championship[5].
Subscriber milestones[]
Note: The following dates are according to Social Blade. Dates may vary by one or two days due to differences in time zones.
- 100,000 subscribers: March 12, 2023
Trivia[]
- The channel reached 100,000 subscribers a day after their 1-0 win vs Liverpool.
- AFC Bournemouth is the only premier league team to be set in the South West of England.
- Hollywood actor, Michael B. Jordan is one of the owners for AFC Bournemouth.[6]
- George Best and Rio Ferdinand are the most notable people to play for Bournemouth.
References[]
- ↑ https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/13356811
- ↑ https://www.skysports.com/league-1-table/2012
- ↑ https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/29669693
- ↑ https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/32377069
- ↑ https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/32459759
- ↑ https://www.espn.co.uk/football/afc-bournemouth/story/4831435/hollywood-star-michael-b-jordan-becomes-bournemouth-part-owner-as-us-businessman-takes-over
