Bournemouth Football Club - The Cherries

2006-07 Season

19th in League One
League Cup: 1st round; Southend United h. 1-3
FA Cup: 2nd round replay; Bristol Rovers h. 0-1
JP Trophy: 2nd round; Millwall a. 0-2

Highlight:
2-0 win over Nottingham Forest, 5/12/06

Low Spot:
0-3 home defeat to Chesterfield, 5/8/06

Good:
Darren Anderton
Old sicknote washed up on the south coast and provided a few touches of class for the long suffering Bournemouth faithful.
His six goals included a hat trick in a 5-0 win and goals in a 1-1 draw and two 1-0 wins. A crucial contribution by the end of the season.
Six yellow cards and one red also suggest that Dazza might be getting a mean streak as his career reaches its' twilight zone. Good stuff.
Neil Young
Another season of solid service from this dependable defender. More consistent than anyone else at the club.

In Brief:
1 win in the first 5 games gave notice of a trying season ahead and although Oldham and Crewe were then despatched at home the next 12 games brought no wins at all.
Spirits were raised at the start of December with a fine win over Nottingham Forest but this was another false dawn and 2 points from the next 5 games saw the club languishing in 23rd place.
There were critical wins against Brighton and Brentford before a good February and March, culminating in a vital victory at Rotherham, lifted the club into 16th spot.
This was just as well as only 2 points were gained in the last 6 games and although safety was no longer a problem this scarcely lifted optimism ahead of next season.

Todays AFC Bournemouth evolved from the humble beginnings of the Boscombe St. Johns club which was formed in 1890. In 1899 the club changed its' name to Boscombe FC and moved to the Dean Court ground in 1910.

In 1923 the club was elected to Division Three South and changed its' name again to Bournemouth and Boscombe AFC.

Having secured a league place the club proceeded to display a remarkable inertia, remaining in the same division until the north and south sections were merged into divisions' three and four in 1958.

Bournemouth were placed into the third division and remained locked there until 1970 when relegation finally caused a change in their status.

Shaken from their settled ways the Cherries responded by immediately winning promotion back to the third division and have since experienced the more changable existence led by most habitual occupants of the lower divisions, although an apparent preference for the third tier of English football remains.

In 1987 the Cherries claimed the third division championship and earned its only ever spell in the second division as was, a stay that lasted three seasons.

A degree of success was achieved in 1984 when the club defeated Hull City 2-1 at Boothferry Park to claim the Associate Members Cup and in 1998 they managed to reach Wembley in the Auto Windscreen Shield only to lose to Grimsby Town.

In 1984 Bournemouth shot to national prominence when they knocked the FA Cup holders, Manchester United, out of the competition with a 2-0 victory at Dean Court but the clubs' greatest achievement probably remains reaching the quarter finals of that competition in 1957.

Having despatched Accrington Stanley in the third round the club were handed a plumb draw away at Wolverhampton Wanderers, one of the true giants of English football at the time.

A good day out and a handy pay day were expected, the 1-0 win with which Bournemouth returned to the south coast was not.

Another giant came out of the hat with them in the fifth round, Tottenham Hotspur being drawn to play at Dean Court.

Incredibly another shock ensued, a memorable 3-1 victory being fought out before the biggest fish of them all was hooked in the quarter final draw.

Once more Bournemouth would be at home, this time to Manchester United, the Busby Babes, the reigning league champions who were careering towards another title and a possible double.

Could the Cherries claim another scalp, the biggest of them all?

The answer, in front of the clubs' biggest ever crowd of 28,799, was not quite. After a stirring battle United prevailed 2-1 but all the plaudits on this famous day were for the gallant losers.

The publics' attention was also caught in the early 1970's by the goalscoring exploits of the clubs centre forward, Ted MacDougall.

In the promotion season of 1971 MacDougall smacked in a club record 42 league goals and the following season he put nine of his teams eleven goals past Margate in an FA Cup first round game.

These deeds also caught the attention of Manchester United who paid Bournemouth £195,000 for his services in September 1972, the clubs record fee for over a decade.