This magic write-up comes from
bmb, a cherries fan, and Admin lady of the Bournemouth forum "
CourtOffside". Ah, and a qualified referee!
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"If I wait for the hangover to totally subside then it's safe to say next season will be well underway! So here goes...
First off a special mention for season 08/09. Sitting with my boss at a press conference prior to the season I watch a rapid exchange between the administrator & our then (and now) Chairman Jeff Mostyn. I couldn't hear what was said but Jeff looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders, I tried to steel myself for bad news. It didn't come, instead it was announced we had the funds to continue trading. Jeff still looked pale & worried & my boss later told me that the administrator had said to him unless you give me a cheque for £100,000 here & now I will be liquidating the club - Jeff handed over the cheque, risking the wrath of his wife! So the season started with us on -17 and with a transfer embargo, it was as grim as it could be, bar being liquidated, of course. Jeff had brought sports 6 in as the directors/board. Kevin Bond was manager, now I love Bondy, absolutely lovely guy but he's not a manager! He's a great coach & the sort of guy that makes a fantastic #2 but... He didn't last long before in came Jimmy Quinn, one of my idols for Northern Ireland as a youngster, gorgeous eyes as well - must admit I was pretty excited. Safe to say his managerial abilities didn't reflect his playing abilities! Come New Year and we were onto manager #3 - my boss was the one who appointed Eddie Howe - we finally started to compete on the pitch, defeats turned into draws, draws into wins. I can't actually remember the exact day we finally hit 0 points but it was an amazing feeling! Come April we were suddenly in with a chance of staying up, it was unreal. Now when you spend all day every day sat 2 feet away from a director of the club, you hear a lot that is confidential, stuff you have to keep to yourself, I knew financially we were in the deep brown runny stuff, I saw it on Adam's face every day, could hear it in his voice - he was honest with me about the situation and I had to keep on my "in public face", politely say I didn't have a clue what the situation was. Try hiding being told that we would 100% be liquidated if we went down from everyone else, it's not easy... So on 18th April 2009 I sat on a coach to Chester, it was by then between us and them who would stay & who would go, my stomach was in knots and I cried the whole way there, I knew it could be our last game. Sports 6 hadn't been paying the bills, Paul Baker had been declared bankrupt (or was about to be). I felt sick to the core. We won & sent Chester down, all we had to do now was beat Grimsby the next week & we were officially mathematically safe. When big'ns shot hit the back of the net, Oh my, I thought nothing could compare to that. We were officially safe and even better we would still have a club.
I'll not bore you with the intervening years but promotion at Burton Albion was absolute magic, we ended up having to stay 2 nights as neither me or my boss were fit to drive home! April 2013 saw the next promotion, this time to the Championship! It was a dream come true. We had the title snatched away from us in the dying seconds, a saved pen at Brentford with Doncaster breaking away and scoring and in doing so nicking the title - we drew 0-0 at Tranmere. We know how Watford feel right now, it's very bittersweet. You have the total ecstacy of promotion but the gloss just taken off it somewhat by having the title taken away from you so cruelly. Promotion was the goal though & it had been achieved. My son would see us in the Championship for the 1st time, I would see us in the 2nd tier for the 2nd time, having been a teen during our 3 previous season there in the early/mid 80's.
At the start of this season I honestly thought that last season couldn't be topped - how wrong was I! I figured we would manage a top 10 finish, a flirt with the play offs every now and then maybe... Look at the clubs in this league - there are some big clubs with big histories. Instead of just holding our own I have seen my club top the table for 112 days - it's so surreal. Utter madness - my little tinpot club that I love with all of my heart at the top of the Championship - it doesn't get any better than that! There is footage on youtube of me being interviewd after a game in early April & I refused to say the P word (no I am not giving you a link!) I think my exact words were "the p word is becoming really rather real isn't it..." - ok understatement of the season! For those who have made it this far and are still awake, well done you - now get a life!
Ha! Dodgy refereeing decisions galore - both for and against, Pitman & Wilson goals disallowed for offsides when they were yards onside, pens not given that should have been, pens that were given that shouldn't have been, goalkeepers wrongly sent off, players not sent off that should have been - both for and against! It all adds to the drama! I will add that no matter how good or poor a game a referee has, they do not dictate a result - ok not a lot you can do about a pen in the 97th min that loses you a game but as a team you had 96 mins before that poor decision to score more, let in less - poor defending and not converting chances are equally as costly as a poor referee mistake but hey it's easy to slate the ref than your star striker who's just missed from 3' out!
I admit after Lee Mason's baffling decision to rule out Callum Wilson's winning goal in March at Cardiff, I did think that's it - it's the play offs. I still believed we could go up automatically but we were surrounded by so many good teams - could we dig deep enough. I'd have been happy with that - it's been an an amazing season & I felt we were worthy of competing in the play offs. After a spell of about 3 months on top of the league with no change, all of a sudden the top of the table changed more often than a teen boy changes his socks... Ok not the best of comparisons as they never change their socks but as this is a family friendly site... :P
3 games to go & the belief was starting to feel real, we needed 2 wins & 1 draw, the impossible dream was on. A draw with Sheff Weds felt like a loss, we had a stonewalled pen denied and a (correct) pen against us in the 90th min. It felt horrible, many thought that we had blown it - the reality was we had our draw, we just needed the 2 wins, nothing had changed, not really. The Saturday before the Bolton game was mad, a whole range of emotions as the table changed before you'd even finished refreshing the page. I was laughing, crying, singing, banging my head in despair in ever increasing extremes, I was totally exhausted come final whistle & we weren't even playing!! Monday couldn't come soon enough - a win would secure promotion to the premier league for the 1st time in our history. Madness - we are still talking about my little tinpot club, I've not switched allegiance! When the first goal went in v Bolton - oh my, reality really kicked in. Not only were my club in the auto promotion spots in the Championship but we were going to stay there. One of my lads friends handed me a tissue - I hadn't even realised the tears had started. 4 mins later when that 2nd goal went in, I can't even begin to describe that feeling - joy, ecstacy, disbelief, relief, more joy! The MOTD theme tune started being sung around the ground as we sat or stood stunned by what we were seeing, interupted only by "we're AFC Bournemouth, we're premier league". The 3rd goal was academic, Bolton were mere spectators in the match by then. Credit to their fans, they applauded us & were just superb after the game. Who knew how much JD was needed to counteract the adrenaline - about 50cl in case you are wondering! About 4.30am the absolute delight disappeared & the JD & tireness hit with a vengeance!! Good job my boss, although no longer a director at the club, understands these things. He didn't however get the best of responses as he strolled into my house at 7am with a fried egg sandwich & 4 large coffees!
Thank goodness there were only 5 more days until the final game! Those 5 days were spent joyously realising all the little things you don't necessarily think of - OMG we're going to be in the panini album, Can't believe there will be a 3D Dean Court in FIFA 16, Awesome - we can have our own players in our fantasy football teams, OMG we're going to get goal line technology! Yep all the important things in the life of us football fans!! :bouncy: :applause: Not a single thought about who or where we will be playing next season - we weren't quite ready to face up to that particular reality!
I went into the Charlton game not caring if we went up 1st or 2nd, the game v Tranmere 2 years previously had taught me what a bitter pill it was to swallow so instead I went in just intending to party & to enjoy our last game in the Championship, for at least a season! We were genuinely happy with 2nd spot, it did seem a bit unfair after 111 days in top spot but we were going up whatever. Time we were 3-0 up I was singing, dancing & as happy as I have ever been at football. We were being promoted, nothing just nothing could top that feeling. Ok wrong again - someone said Sheff Weds had equalised at Watford - no way... It started as a whisper & grew into a roar. By this point, those of us in home seats had given up trying to be discreet & a seat of red and black was bouncing up & down singing a ditty about being top of the league - grown men & women with tears streaming down their faces, not caring one hoot how rediculous we probably looked! The players glanced at the fans and began to break into smiles - they had heard, they knew. Champions - we were actually the champions, the icing on the cake with the Cherry firmly placed on top. Let the party commence!
One special mention for Charlton, they were the most wonderful hosts. They had moved ST holders to give us extra seats. Their staff/stewards etc were congratulating us & many of their fans remained behind to applaud our players during the presentation. I'm glad our fans had also shown some respect & had stood and applauded the Charlton players during their lap of honour. What a wonderful club. Thank you Charlton. :applause:
Another mention for Watford - congratulations on being promoted, I look forward to both of our teams showing the big boys what we can do next year but you know we are going to pip you to that Europa League spot don't you... ^_^ Troy Deeney is probably my fav non AFCB player - I think he's absolute quality, look forward to seeing him tear some defences apart - just not ours ok!
Good Luck to Middlesbrough, Brentford, Ipswich & Norwich in the play offs. Personally I would love it to be Brentford who win them. Can you imagine the PL when they realise there is a proper tinpot tour heading their way next season - us & the Bees would be just magic! We've spent many a year in the same league as them, they are a similar size to us & we have a great relationship with them born from years of history together. Any of the clubs would be worthy winners but the Bees will just continue the magic for the small, unfashionable club & be rather ace!
Not sure it has really sunk in yet, so many new grounds to visit, so many huge teams to play and I have a feeling we will learn to empathise with how Birmingham felt after we trounced them 8-0! Realistically 17th spot is our aim, with anything above a massive bonus. If we come straight back down as most think we will then sobeit, I will enjoy every single second of it. 47 years I have waited for this moment, premier league FGS - it's unreal!
Sorry - blame David/daib0, he wanted an essay & got one!"
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