Bournemouth

L'Association Football Club Bournemouth est un club de football anglais fondé en 1899. Le club, basé à Bournemouth, évolue en Premier League.

Le 27 avril 2015, les joueurs de Bournemouth font entrer le club dans une nouvelle ère ; en effet grâce à leur victoire contre Bolton 3-0 à domicile, le club est promu, une journée avant la fin du championnat, pour la Premier League pour la première fois de son histoire2.

History

Boscombe F.C.

Although the exact date of the club's foundation is not known, there is proof that it was formed in the autumn of 1899 out of the remains of the older Boscombe St. John's Institute F.C.^[3] The club was originally known as Boscombe F.C. The first president was Mr. J. C. Nutt.^[4]

In their first season, 1899–1900, Boscombe F.C. competed in the Bournemouth and District Junior League. They also played in the Hants Junior Cup. During the first two seasons, they played on a football pitch in Castlemain Avenue, Pokesdown. From their third season, the team played on a pitch in King's Park. In the 1905–06 season, Boscombe F.C. graduated to senior amateur football.^[5]

In 1910, the club was granted a long lease over some wasteland next to Kings Park as the club's football ground by local businessman J.E. Cooper-Dean. With their own ground, named Dean Court after the benefactor, the club continued to thrive and dominated the local football scene. The same year the club signed its first professional player Baven Penton.^[6]

Around about this time, the club obtained their nickname "The Cherries". There are two leading explanations of how the club gained the nickname: from the cherry-red striped shirts that the team played in, and, perhaps less plausible, because Dean Court was built adjacent to the Cooper-Dean estate, which, it is believed, may have contained many cherry trees.

For the first time, during the 1913–14 season, the club competed in the FA Cup. The club's progress, however, was halted in 1914 with the outbreak of World War I, and Boscombe F.C. returned to the Hampshire League.

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

Repères historiques

• 1899 : fondation du club sous le nom de Boscombe FC.
• 1912 : adoption du statut professionnel.
• 1923 : le club est renommé Bournemouth & Boscombe AFC et rejoint la League (Division 3-Sud).
• 1971 : le club est renommé AFC Bournemouth.
• 1987 : le club accède à la troisième division.
• 2001 : rénovation du stade (Fitness First Stadium).
• 2003 : le club remporte le trophée des barrages contre Lincoln City et passe en division supérieure.
• 2013 : le club accède pour la première fois de son histoire à la deuxième division.
• 2015 : le club accède pour la première fois de son histoire à la Premier League et s'octroie le titre de champion d'Angleterre de D22.

Palmarès et records

• Championnat d'Angleterre D2 :
  • Champion : 2015

• Championnat d'Angleterre D3 :
  • Champion : 1987
  • Vice-champion : 1948, 2013

• Championnat d'Angleterre D4 :
  • Vice-champion : 1971 et 2010

• Southern League :
  • Vice-champion : 1923

• Football League Trophy :
• Vainqueur : 1984
• Finaliste : 1998

Joueurs emblématiques

•  Jimmy Blair
•  John Archer
•   Gerry Peyton
•  Gavin Peacock
•  Jermain Defoe
•  Jamie Redknapp
•  Warren Cummings
•  Warren Feeney
•  Jimmy Glass

•  Stephen Purches
•  James Hayter
•  Darren Anderton
•  Sam Vokes
•  Danny Ings
•  Keith Rowland

Decline and administration (2008–2009)

In February 2008, Bournemouth were forced into administration, suffering a ten-point deduction which put them in relegation trouble. Bournemouth had debts of around £4 million and almost went out of business completely.^[12] The off-field uncertainty continued throughout the season, with only one, ultimately unsuccessful, bid for the club accepted,^[13] and the club ended the season being relegated to League Two.

Ahead of the 2008–09 season, the team's future in the Football League was put into doubt when the league threatened to block Bournemouth's participation in League Two, due to problems with the team's continuing administration and change in ownership. It ordered both Bournemouth and Rotherham United to demonstrate that they could fulfil all of their fixtures and find a way out of administration,^[14] eventually allowing the club to compete with a 17-point penalty for failing to follow the Football League insolvency rules. The new company was also ordered to pay unsecured creditors the amount offered at the time of the original CVA (around ten pence in the pound) within two years.^[15]

Early into the season, manager Bond was sacked and was replaced by former player Jimmy Quinn, who would himself leave the club only a few months later.^[16] Former player Eddie Howe took over as manager with the club still ten points adrift at the bottom of the league and initially on a caretaker basis, becoming the youngest manager in the Football League at the age of 31.^[17]

At the end of 2008, it was announced that local businessman Adam Murry had completed the purchase of 50% of the club's shares from previous chairman, Paul Baker. However, in January 2009, Murry missed the deadline to buy Baker's shares.^[18]

In the final home game of the 2008–09 season, the Cherries guaranteed their Football League status by beating Grimsby Town 2–1 with a winning goal ten minutes from time by Bournemouth's Steve Fletcher, sparking wild celebrations after a fairytale ending to "The Great Escape." They finished their troubled season with their best away win in 30 years with a 4–0 victory at Morecambe.

In June 2009, a consortium including Adam Murry finally took over A.F.C. Bournemouth. The consortium included Jeff Mostyn, former vice-chairman Steve Sly, Neill Blake and former Dorchester Town chairman Eddie Mitchell.

Rise to the Premier League (2009–2015)

Howe's first full season in charge brought success as Bournemouth finished second in League Two to earn promotion with two games to spare. Howe subsequently left the club for Burnley during the following season; his successor, another former Bournemouth player, Lee Bradbury, led Bournemouth to the League One play-offs. The two-legged semi-final against Huddersfield Town finished 3–3 after extra time, and Huddersfield went through the final by winning the penalty shoot-out 4–2. Bradbury was unable to lead Bournemouth to another promotion challenge in the 2011–12 Football League One, placing 11th after a season of indifferent results, and was replaced by youth team coach Paul Groves for the final games of the season.

Groves remained in charge at the start of the 2012–13 season, only to be sacked in October 2012 following a start which left the club near the bottom of the table. Eddie Howe returned as manager, and not only did he pull the club away from their early-season relegation battle, they achieved promotion to the Championship, returning to the second-tier of English football for the first time since 1990. The club also revealed a new club crest.^[19] After a promising start to life in the Championship, the club was handed a fourth Round FA Cup tie with Premier League club Liverpool which ended in a 2–0 loss. Bournemouth finished their first season back in the Championship in tenth place, their highest ever position in the Football League.

On 25 October 2014, Bournemouth won 8–0 away at St. Andrew's against Birmingham City. It was the first time that the Cherries had ever scored eight goals in a league game and their largest winning margin in the league (barring a 10–0 win over Northampton Town in September 1939, which was discounted after the league was abandoned due to the Second World War).^[20] The club followed up this success with a 2–1 victory over Premier League side West Bromwich Albion in the League Cup, reaching the quarter-finals of the competition for the first time. Bournemouth were again drawn against Liverpool but lost 3–1. The club spent most of the 2014–15 season near the top of the table, and a 3-0 win away at Charlton Athletic on the final day of the season was enough to clinch the Championship title and a first-ever promotion to the top flight of English football.^[21]

Premier League era (2015–present)

Bournemouth's first ever game in the top flight of English football was a 1–0 defeat home to Aston Villa played on 8 August 2015. Early on in the 2015–16 season the team was beset by a number of crippling injuries, including to their captain, Tommy Elphick, and their star striker from the previous season, Callum Wilson, who was injured for the majority of the season. The team struggled for most of the first half of the season until a turning point was reached during a game at Dean Court against Everton in which Junior Stanislas scored a goal in the seventh minute of stoppage time to tie the game. From there, Bournemouth defeated Chelsea and Manchester United in back-to-back wins. The team eventually finished 16th in the league, securing their Premier League status for another year.

Their second season, despite being largely tipped to suffer second season syndrome, they defied all odds to finish in 9th place. Their squad was largely defined by the highly publicized loans of Jack Wilshere from Arsenal and Nathan Aké from Chelsea, but also by the strong form of Josh King, who scored 16 goals in 36 appearances, and the £15 million pound move of Jordon Ibe from Liverpool. A weak start to the season saw them in the relegation zone for the first three weeks, but after a 1–0 victory against West Bromwich Albion, they never again dropped below 16th place in the table.^[22] Key points of the season occurred when they soundly defeated Hull City 6–1 and defeated Liverpool 4–3, both of which helped their survival push at the end of the season, when they went unbeaten in the last five matches and earned 11 points from 15.

In preparation for the following season, Howe signed Aké permanently for a club-record fee,^[23] while Asmir Begović^[24] and Jermain Defoe^[25] The season began poorly, with the team losing their first 4 matches.^[26] However, a run of good form through late December and January saw them steer clear the relegation zone, and saw Howe earn his second Premier League Manager of the Month award.^[27] They won 2–1 at home against Arsenal,^[28] had a 3–0 victory at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea^[29] and gained 19 points from losing positions in the second half of the season; a Premier League Record.^[30] The team battled inconsistent form the rest of the season, but still managed a 12th-place finish.^[31]

The 2018–19 season saw Howe sign David Brooks, Diego Rico, and Jefferson Lerma during the summer, the latter joining for a club-record fee.^[32][33] Contrasting with the previous season, the club had a strong start, sitting in 6th place after the first 12 rounds. However, their form regressed for the remainder of the season and the club battles injury problems, with Lewis Cook, Simon Francis shelved amongst others. Dominic Solanke, Chris Mepham and Nathaniel Clyne all joined the club during the winter, Solanke and Mepham permanently and Clyne on loan. In the end, Bournemouth finished in 14th place, securing a 5th season in the Premier League.

Financial Fair Play violation and punishment

In 2016, Bournemouth were found guilty of violating the Football League's Financial Fair Play regulations during 2014–2015, the season it secured promotion to the Premier League. The club's over-spend broke the ‘maximum deviation’, with a £38.3 million financial loss in 2014–2015. This followed a loss of £10.3 million in 2013–2014. The club was originally fined £7.6 million by the Football League, but subsequently negotiated a settlement with a fine of £4.75 million for breaching Financial Fair Play rules. The decision followed months of speculation and investigation about the club breaking Football League regulations

Colours

The team's colours have varied slightly throughout the club's history. Starting off playing in red and white stripes, Bournemouth have also played in all-red shirts, red with white sleeves, and mostly, since 1990, in red and black stripes, similar to that of Milan.^[41] A predominantly red shirt was chosen for the 2004–05 and 2005–06 seasons before a return to the stripes for the 2006–07 season due to fan demand.^[42]

Since 2017 Bournemouth's kit has been manufactured by Umbro. Previously it has been made by Umbro (1974–78, 1983–86), 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).

Their shirts are currently sponsored by Mansion.com. On 2017–2018 season, the Mansion.com logo will appear on the left shirt sleeve of Bournemouth's home and third shirts. In addition, Casino.com, which is a subsidiary of Mansion, will feature on the sleeve of the club's away shirt.^[43] Before this, sponsors have been 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, 2011–12), Carbrini Sportswear (2008–11), and Energy Consulting (2012–15).