Bournemouth

History of AFC Bournemouth

While it is unclear when the actual date of its founding isn't known however, there is evidence that it was established in the fall of 1899 from the remains of the former Boscombe Saint. John's College Football Club. The club was initially called Boscombe Football Club. First president of the club was. J. C. Nutt.

In their debut season from 1899 to 1900, Boscombe competed in the Bournemouth and District Junior League. They also participated for the Hants Junior Cup. The first two seasons they were playing on a football field located in Castlemain Avenue, Pokesdown. In their third season, they played at a football field located in King's Park. The 1905-06 season was the year that Boscombe was promoted into senior football.

In 1910 the club was awarded an extended lease on vacant land next to Kings Park as the club's football field by the local businessman J.E. Cooper-Dean. Their own stadium was known as Dean Court after the benefactor The club continued to prosper and dominate the local soccer scene. The following year, the club signed their debut professional athlete Baven Penton.

About at this point, the team was given the name "The Cherries". There are two main explanations of how the club earned the name: it is due to those striped cherry-red jerseys the team donned and, not as plausible, the fact that Dean Court was built adjacent to the Cooper-Dean estate that was believed to could have been home to many cherry trees.

First time during the season 1913-14, the team participated at the FA Cup. However, the progress of the club was cut short during 1914, following the start of World War I, and Boscombe was relegated in Hampshire League. Hampshire League.

In 1920, the Third Division of the Football League was created and Boscombe was promoted up to Southern League, finding moderate successes.

To ensure that the club was better representative of its district the title was changed from Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic Football Club in 1923. In the same year the club was selected as a member of the recently expanded Third Division South. The first league match was at Swindon Town F.C. on August 25, 1923, in which Bournemouth defeated 3-1. The first game of the league held at Dean Court was also against Swindon in which Bournemouth won their first league point following the game ended in a draw.

At first, Bournemouth struggled in the Football League but eventually established themselves as an official Third Division club. Bournemouth is still on record as being the longest continuously active member in the Third Division.

As a league team, Bournemouth had to wait until the end of their participation in the Second World War before winning their first trophy. This was accomplished as they beatWalsall F.C. at winning the Third Division (South) Cup in the final match at Stamford Bridge.

This club took on the AFC Bournemouth name in 1971 with the idea to have the team be listed first in the alphabetical listings for English clubs. The following year the club introduced an entirely new badge, as a sign of the club's growth. The stripes on the background are based on the shirt of the club, and in the foreground, you can see the silhouette of a player who is directing the ball in the honor of Dickie Dowsett who was a prolific player for the club in the 1950s and the 1960s.

Their black and red strip first appeared in 1971. It was modelled on the A.C. Milan strip. 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.

Bournemouth scored a memorable win against holders Manchester United in the FA Cup in January 1984 when they were directed by Harry Redknapp. The club earned its second silverware, winning an Associate Members' Cup during its first season. They beat Hull City 2-1 at Boothferry Park on the 24th of May, 1984, in the championship.

Redknapp was the one to lead Bournemouth to the second division in the English league for the first time in their history. They were Third Division champions in 1987. After a comfortable win during their debut season in the Second Division, Bournemouth made an impressive attempt to be promoted to the top tier of the league during the 1988-89 season. they eventually fell out of the top flight following a disappointing run later in the season, however their final 12th was their best ever finish for the Football League until the 2013-14 season.

5 May 1990, which was the day that ended of the 1989-90 season Leeds United had the chance to take home the Second Division and gain promotion to the First Division by beating Bournemouth at Dean Court. A few United fans had made a mess in the town earlier in the morning, and the atmosphere was extremely tense, when Leeds took the game with a single goal. Together with the outcomes of other games it means that Leeds were promoted, while Bournemouth were dropped. The destruction and violence caused by fans visiting Bournemouth continued during the Christmas weekend, inflicting more than £1 millions worth of injuries and damage to the opposing crowd and police officers. According to the town's Daily Echo newspaper reported that "spectators who were there, including a lot of young youngsters, had to sprint away from danger as the missiles were hurled at them and riot police were swarmed into the fray to stop the crowds. The issue was brought up in parliament by the MP for town. Financially the Leeds troubles caused the club to be in financial trouble for more than a decade since Bournemouth were barred by the local police from playing matches at home on bank holidays (traditionally an important day for football) until the game against Shrewsbury Town on 21 April 2003.

Redknapp continued to work in the team for two seasons both of which ended in the club finishing three points off the play-offs. But, increasing financial pressures led Redknapp to quit his job towards the end of the 1991-92 season and he then returned to his the club he had previously played for West Ham United as a coach. His replacement was Tony Pulis, who built an unaffordable team which could only manage two straight 17th-place finishes prior to Pulis quit the club and blamed financial pressures.

Bournemouth experienced the opening seasons of this season with any permanent manager The team had a terrible start and was their lowest point on the table for a large portion of the beginning of season. Even though they had a slight improvement in their performance when Mel Machin was appointed as manager, they seemed likely to fail, considering the fact that they had five relegation places in Division Two during that time due to the league's reconstruction. But a run of form, accompanied by a collapse of relegation competitors Cambridge United and Plymouth Argyle made them a success on the final game of the year, by two points.

Machin eventually remained in charge for six years the majority of them marred by mediocre mid-table results. The 1998-99 season was to be the best of Machin's time in charge, with the club facing a significant playoff push for the majority of the year, but eventually failing to make it through and finishing seventh. But a fall to 16th during the 1999-2000 season, and a slow start to the season that followed was the reason for Machin dismissed from his post and appointed Director of Football.

Sean O'Driscoll was promoted from the coaching team in lieu the former coach Mel Machin at the start of the 2000-01 season. In his first year in charge, Bournemouth barely missed missing out in winning the Division Two playoffs but were removed from the league a year later at their new venue (in the beginning of the 2001-02 season they played home games at Dorchester Town's grounds as their stadium was being built). The board remained confident in O'Driscoll's management and were promoted via their Division Three playoffs in 2002-03. The club became the first club to score five goals in the Millennium Stadium when they beat Lincoln City 5-2 in the 2002-03 Division Three play-off final with goals scored by Steve Fletcher, Carl Fletcher (2), Stephen Purches and Garreth O'Connor. Under O'Driscoll's leadership, Bournemouth narrowly missed out in play-offs during the 2004-05 and 2003-04 seasons and barely kept themselves from relegation during the 2005-06 season.

A player who has been in the game for a long time James Hayter scored the fastest league hat-trick in English Football League history during the 2003-04 season. The Cherries were ahead 3-0 against Wrexham because of goals from Stephen Purches, Warren Cummings and Warren Feeney. Hayter was introduced to the field on a sub. In the final 86 minutes, Hayter managed to net three goals within the space of just two minutes and 17 seconds, which made an impressive 6-0 in favor of Bournemouth.

In September of 2006, with the team finishing eighth place in the League, Sean O'Driscoll left to become the manager at Doncaster Rovers. The team was then replaced with Kevin Bond

On February 28, 2008 Bournemouth went into administration. They were hit with a ten point deduction that put the company in relegation troubles. Bournemouth was in debt of PS4 million and had the potential of going out of business entirely. The on-field uncertainty lasted throughout the entire season, with one, but ultimately unsuccessful, offer for the club's acceptance, and the club finished the season in League Two.

In the lead-up to the season of 2008-09 the future of the team as a member of the Football League was put into doubt after the league threatened to stop Bournemouth's participation League Two, due to issues with the club's ongoing management and the changing ownership. The league demanded Bournemouth along with Rotherham United to demonstrate that they are able to fulfill all their obligations and come to stay out of bankruptcy, eventually permitting the club to play with a penalty of 17 points for not following rules of the Football League insolvency rules. The new business was required to pay creditors who were not unsecured in the amount they were offered in the CVA's initial filing (around 10 pence per pounds) after two years.

In the early stages of the season, manager Bond was dismissed and substituted by ex-player Jimmy Quinn, who would himself quit the club two months after. A former teammate Eddie Howe took over as manager when the club was just ten points off the lowest level of the league. The manager was initially on a temporary basis. He became the most youthful director of the Football League at the age of 31.

At the close in 2008, the club revealed the local businessman Adam Murry had completed the purchase of 50 percent of shares in the club from former chairman Paul Baker. However, in the month of January, Murry missed the deadline to purchase Baker's shares.

In the last home game of the 2008-09 campaign, the Cherries ensured the team's Football League status by beating Grimsby Town 2-1 with a winning goal just ten minutes after time, scored by the Bournemouth's Steve Fletcher, sparking wild celebrations following a fairytale conclusion in "The The Great Escape." They ended their rocky season with their biggest away victory in the last 30 years when they won 4-0 at Morecambe.

A group comprising Adam Murry finally took over Bournemouth. The group included Jeff Mostyn, former vice-chairman Steve Sly, Neill Blake and the former Dorchester Town chair Eddie Mitchell.

The first full season under Howe's charge of the club brought success when Bournemouth placed third at the top of League Two to be promoted with two games remaining. Howe later left the club to join Burnley in the following season. His successor, a previous Bournemouth players, Lee Bradbury, led Bournemouth to the League One play-offs. The semi-final game, played over two legs, against Huddersfield Town was decided 3-3 in extra time but Huddersfield made it to the final after winning the penalty shootout, 4-2. Bradbury failed to guide Bournemouth towards a second promotion attempt for the year 2010-12 Football League One, placing 11th following a season with mixed results. He was replaced by the youth team manager Paul Groves for the final games of the season.

Groves was in charge until the beginning of the 2012-13 season until he was fired in October 2012, following an early start that put the club in their lowest position on the list. Eddie Howe returned as manager and, Not only was he able to manage to pull the club out of the relegation fight in the early season, but they also made it to the Championship and returned to the second division in English football , for only the second time since. The club also announced the new club crest. After an exciting start in the Championship The club was given a fourth-round FA Cup tie with Premier League club Liverpool that was a 2-0 defeat. Bournemouth completed their first year back in the Championship with a tenth-place finish which is their highest position ever on the Football League.

On October 25, 2014 Bournemouth defeated 8-0 in a home game in St. Andrew's, against Birmingham City. This is the very first time the Cherries have ever scored 8 goals during a league match and they also had their highest margin of winning during the season (not including a 10-0 victory against Northampton Town in September 1939 and later discarded when the league was canceled because of World War II). Second World War). The club followed up on this triumph with a win of 2-1 against Premier League side West Bromwich Albion in the League Cup, reaching the quarter-finals in the very first time. Bournemouth were once again drawn against Liverpool but fell 3-1. The club spent the majority of 2014-15 at in the middle of the league and a 3-0 victory to Charlton Athletic on the final day of the season was enough for them to win the Championship title as well as a first-ever advancement to the top tier in English football.

In the first season of Bournemouth's participation in the Premier League, the team was plagued by a series of serious injuries, one of which was injuries to Callum Wilson, star striker in the previous season. The team was struggling for the majority of the first part of the season, but a turnaround in performance during the second part of the season brought an improvement in fortunes. Bournemouth was eventually ranked at 16th position in the table, and avoided being relegated.

The club was widely believed to experience second season syndrome, however this season proved mostly productive. Despite a slow start that saw them in the zone of relegation for the initial 3 weeks of the season, they swiftly recovered and managed to place 9th. A star Loan player Nathan Ake was signed permanently from Chelsea for a club record price in June 2017 according to reports, it was in the range to PS20 million. Despite a slow start to 2017-18, a period of form throughout December and into January helped them avoid the zone of relegation, and also earn Howe an additional Premier League Manager of the Month award. Bournemouth continued to earn 19 points from the loss of places in the second part of the season, an all-time Premier League record - helping to finish at 12th.

This season, the team surpass their transfer record with Jefferson Lerma during the summer in contrast to the previous year, the team was in good form and was ranked 6th after 12 games. But, their form began to deteriorate through the rest of the season due to numerous injuries. At the end of the day, Bournemouth finished in 14th position, and secured a fifth year within the Premier League.

A promising beginning to the 2019-20 season was the result of the team being 7th at the start of November. But, ongoing injuries and poor performances followed, and the team was forced to drop into the relegation area in the month of January. The poor performances continued after the COVID-19 outbreak had ended the season, and key defeats against Manchester City and Southampton putting the club in danger of losing its place. Despite a 3-1 win against Everton away from Goodison Park on the final day of the season, the club's demotion was confirmed by the outcomes elsewhere. On August 1, 2020, Howe left the club by mutual agreement, ending his eight-year tenure as manager.

In the year 2016, Bournemouth were accused of violating the Football League's Financial Fair Play regulations during the 2014-15 season, which was when they gained promotion into the Premier League. The club's excessive spending exceeded the maximum deviation, and resulted in the club suffering a £38.3 million financial loss during 2014-2015. It was a reversal of £10.3 million during 2013-2014. The club was initially penalized £7.6 million from the Football League, but subsequently came to a deal with the fine in the amount of £4.75 million for breaking Financial Fair Play rules. The decision was made after months of speculation and investigations concerning the club's infringement of Football League regulations.

On the 8th of August, Jason Tindall, a former Bournemouth player who was also Howe's longest-running assistant, was appointed manager. Nathan Ake also left the club, signing with Manchester City for a reported club record PS41 million. Despite being second in the middle of December, Tindall was sacked on 3 February 2021 following only one win in eight games which saw the team slide to sixth place in the league table. Tindall was replaced by the first-team manager Jonathan Woodgate, initially as interim coach. The club finished their season 6th place and was in the playoffs but lost 3-1 to Brentford in the aggregate semi-final. On the 28th of June in 2021 the ex- Fulham director Scott Parker was appointed as manager for the start of the season.

The 3rd May 2022 was the day that Bournemouth was promoted into the Premier League by defeating promotion opponents Nottingham Forest 1-0, with Kieffer Moore scoring on the free kick by Philip Billing in the second period of the match.

The colours of the team have changed in the course of time throughout the club's history. Beginning with stripes of white and red, Bournemouth have also played in all-red shirts, with red and white sleeves and, most notably since 1990, black and red stripes. A predominantly red shirt was selected for the seasons 2004-05 and 2005-06 before returning to the stripes for the season 2006-07 due to demand from fans.

Since 2017 , the kit of Bournemouth is manufactured by Umbro. The previous versions were made from Umbro (1974-78 and 1983 to 1986), Adidas (1978-81), Osca (1982-83), Henson (1986-87), Scoreline (1987-90), Ellgren (1990-92), Matchwinner (1993-95), Le Coq Sportif (1995-96), Patrick (1996-2000), Super League (200-01), TFG Sportswear (2001-03), Bourne Red (2003-08), Carbrini Sportswear (2008-11, 2014-15), Fila (2011-14) and JD Sports (2015-17).

The shirts are now supported by MSP Capital. Beginning in the 2017-2018 football season until the 2019-20 season the Mansion logo was featured on the left sleeves of the shirts worn by Bournemouth. Prior to this it was sponsors Reg Heynes Toyota (1980-82, 1983-85), Coopers Beers (1985-87), Canberra Homes (1987-88), Nolan (1988-89), A1 Windscreens (1990-92), Exchange & Mart (1992-93), Frizzell (1993-97), Seward (1997-2006), Focal Point (2006-08 the 2011-12 season), Carbrini Sportswear (2008-11) as well as Energy Consulting (2012-15).

According to a recent poll named 'The League of Love and Hate' in August 2019, Bournemouth supporters named near neighbours Southampton to be their biggest rivals, with Portsmouth, Brighton & Hove Albion and Reading following.

Steve Fletcher holds the record for Bournemouth appearances He played 726 matches for the first team between 1992 and 2013. The record also includes the the most League appearances with 628. Ron Eyre holds the record for scoring the most goals (229) in the Bournemouth shirt, having played 337 games for the first team between 1924 until 1933. Ted MacDougall holds the record for scoring the most goals in one season, 42 goals in the 1970-71 campaign within the Fourth Division.

The most expensive transfer fee paid for the Bournemouth player has been PS41 million, which was paid by Manchester City for Nathan Ake in August 2020. However, the highest transfer fee ever paid by the club has been the one paid to Jefferson Lerma from Levante in August of 2018, at PS25 million.

The club's most successful league result to date is 9th within the Premier League, achieved in the 2016-17 season.

AFC Bournemouth transfer records

• Football League Championship (level two)
  • Champions: 2014–15
  • Runners-up: 2021–22
• Football League Third Division South/Football League Third Division/Football League One (level three)
  • Champions: 1986–87
  • Runners-up: 1947–48, 2012–13
• Football League Fourth Division/Football League Third Division/Football League Two (level four)
  • Runners-up: 1970–71, 2009–10
  • Play-off winners: 2003
  • Promoted: 1981–82
• Southern Football League
  • Runners-up: 1922–23
• Associate Members' Cup/Football League Trophy
  • Winners: 1983–84
  • Runners-up: 1997–98
• Football League Third Division South Cup
  • Winners: 1945–46