AFC Bournemouth Profile

AFC Bournemouth are a football club playing in the Premier League.

The club are based in Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, in England. They were formed in 1899 as Boscombe before adopting their current name in 1971.

In 1899/1900, their first season, Boscombe competed in the District Junior League. The club signed their first professional player, Baven Penton, in 1910.

In the 1913/14 season, Boscombe competed in the FA Cup for the first time. However, their progress was halted by the beginning of the First World War.

In 1920, the Third Division of the Football League was formed and Boscombe were promoted to the Southern League.

To make sure that the club's name reflected the district which it was in, Boscombe's name changed to Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic Football Club in 1923. In the same year, they were elected into the Third Division South.

The club had to wait until after World War Two to win their first trophy, beating Walsall in the Third Division (South) Cup in the final.

In the 1950s and 1960s, the club were graced by Dickie Dowsett, who was a frequent goalscorer for them.

In 1971, the club changed their name to AFC Bournemouth with the goal of appearing at the top of alphabetical lists. The Cherries, as they are nicknamed, also developed a new crest to take into their new era.

In the same year, Bournemouth also introduced their iconic red and black kit, which drew inspiration from AC Milan.

This era is known for the exploits of Ted MacDougall, who was a lethal goalscorer for the Cherries. In a November 1971 FA Cup tie against Margate, he scored nine goals in an astonishing 11-0 victory for Bournemouth.

In 1983, former Bournemouth player Harry Redknapp took over as manager of the club. In January 1984, they picked up a famous victory in the FA Cup over holders Manchester United.

In 1987, Bournemouth won the Third Division title and were promoted to the second tier of the English soccer pyramid for the first time.

In 1988/89, Bournemouth made a serious challenge for promotion to the top flight. However, they fell short of their target after a poor run of form towards the end of the season.

Bournemouth were relegated at the end of the 1989/90 season in a hot-tempered clash against Leeds United. Financial troubles in the early 1990s led to the departure of Redknapp in 1992. He was replaced by Tony Pulis, who guided Bournemouth to successive 17th-place finishes.

Mel Machin's six-year stint as Bournemouth manager was largely unremarkable, although there was a brief push for the 1998/99 playoffs. After a poor start to the 1999/2000 season, Machin was shifted into a director of football position.

Sean O'Driscoll was appointed as Bournemouth's manager in the 2000/01 season and oversaw an impressive campaign, narrowly missing out on the Division Two play-offs. However, the following season, Bournemouth were relegated.

The club put their faith in O'Driscoll's ability to transform the side and they were handsomely rewarded for their trust in the manager they had appointed.

Bournemouth won promotion again in 2003, beating Lincoln City 5-2 in the 2002/03 Division Three play-off final thanks to goals from Steve Fletcher, Carl Fletcher (a brace), Stephen Purches and Garreth O'Connor.

In 2003/04 and 2004/05, Bournemouth narrowly missed out on the playoffs under O'Driscoll's guidance. In 2005/06, they were only narrowly able to avoid relegation.

In this period, James Hayter scored the fastest league hat-trick in English Football League history for Bournemouth against Wrexham in 2003/04. His three goals in two minutes and 17 seconds helped The Cherries to a 6-0 thrashing.

In February 2008, Bournemouth were forced into administration and suffered a 10-point deduction as a result. Their debts of £4million threatened to put the club out of business and they were ultimately relegated to League Two.

During the 2008/09 season, former player Eddie Howe took over as manager with the club 10 points adrift at the bottom of League Two following a 17-point deduction. He was able to bridge the 10-point deficit to the other clubs and subsequently secure Bournemouth's survival in the Football League.

In his first full season, Howe guided Bournemouth to second in League Two and won promotion to League One in 2010. He subsequently left for Burnley.

However, Howe returned to Bournemouth in October 2012 with the club embroiled in a relegation battle and won them promotion to the Championship at the end of the 2012/13 season.

In 2014/15, Bournemouth won the Championship and clinched their first ever promotion to the top flight of English football.

In 2015/16, Bournemouth battled through an injury crisis to finish 16th in the Premier League and guarantee their survival for the following campaign.

Bournemouth continued to improve in the Premier League finishing ninth in 2016/17 the Premier League, then 12th and 14th in the two subsequent campaigns.

But their luck ran out at the end of the Covid-19 hit 2019/20 season. Despite a 3–1 victory over Everton on the final day of the season results elsewhere left Bournemouth in 18th place and their fifth consecutive season in the top flight ended in relegation.

On August 1, 2020, Bournemouth announced that Howe had left the club by mutual consent. He was replaced by his longtime assistant Jason Tindall but he only lasted until February 2021 with the club slipping out of the promotion race.

First team coach Jonathan Woodgate stepped in as caretaker manager and guided Bournemouth to the Championship play-offs where they were beaten by Brentford in the semi-finals.

Scott Parker took the reins for the 2021/22 season and led Bournemouth back to the Premier League, finishing runners-up to his former club Fulham.

Dean Court, known as the Vitality Stadium for sponsorship reasons, has a capacity of 11,364 which is the smallest Premier League stadium in history.

Southampton are generally viewed as Bournemouth's biggest rivals, with Portsmouth, Brighton & Hove Albion and Reading also among their fiercest competitors.

Maxim Demin remains Bournemouth's majority shareholder even after selling a 25% share in the club to Peak 6 Investments in 2015.

For the year ending June 2021, Bournemouth recorded a pre-tax profit of £17.0m, turnover was down by £23.7m to £71.7m.