WHO ARE AFC BOURNEMOUTH?

WHO IS KEVIN BOND?

WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING?

AFC Bournemouth are one of those sides that I have a bit of a softspot for. Even though they thrashed City in the Playoff final, they were an integral part of a season that meant a lot of me personally. They are one of the clubs that I like to see do well, but I get the feeling that they won't have that this season.

Bournemouth are a side that have been on the slide in recent seasons. They've gotten into even more financial worries, sold their best players and brought in a manager who's record indicates that he is pretty useless. Any manager who has lost near enough half of his games, winning little over 25% and generally not appearing to have a clue, can't be taken seriously.

The Cherries have struggled over the last two season's and last year was a prime example of that. Despite the fact they would have survived without a points deduction, Bournemouth were down and out virtually all season, only an extremely late winning run gave them any chance of survival and they almost pulled it off.

Bournemouth's new season has certainly not started off well, Neil Moss has had to retire due to injury. He was one of the few players who were still at the club following their promotion 5 calendar years ago. Warren Cummings, another one of the survivors, has requested to leave the club, Sam Vokes has gone and that all that leaves Bournemouth with only two players that you could see as being potentially match winning, Darren Anderton and Jo Kuffour.

One thing that Bournemouth do have that a lot of other clubs in the division don't is a fantastic atmosphere. Granted, we've only been there once in recent seasons, but during that game they were amongst the loudest that we've experienced. This could be a huge difference as they have considerable better atmospheres than Macclesfield, Chester, Accrington and Dagenham (although that's not really saying much is it?).

I don't think Bournemouth have a good enough squad to mount a Playoff challenge, or even top half. However, even with a points deduction pending, they are still miles better than the sides I've previously predicted and that's why I think they'll finish in a decent enough 17th considering recent seasons.

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