Watford Vs Bournemouth - 20/09/14 12.15pm @ Vicarage Road Full name AFC Bournemouth Nickname(s) The Cherries, Boscombe Founded 1890; 124 years ago (as Boscombe St. John's Institute FC but dissolved in 1899 and reformed in 1899 as Boscombe FC) Ground Dean Court, Boscombe, Bournemouth Capacity 12,000 Owner Maxim Demin Chairman Jeff Mostyn Manager Eddie Howe So here's my first ever preview, hope you go easy on me and allow for a few teething problems. History Bournemouth have spent the majority of their days in the third tier of English football. I know some of you are not a fan of the history, so I have put the following as spoilers for those geeks like me who are interested. Spoiler inception below. Spoiler The Early Years Spoiler The present football club can trace its roots as far back as 1890 when Boscombe St. Johns Institute Football Club were playing in local football. They disbanded in 1899 and from the remains of that club, Boscombe FC were formed at a meeting under the streetlights in Gladstone Road, Boscombe. With their own ground, named Dean Court after the benefactor, the club continued to thrive and dominated the local football scene. It was around this time that the club gained the nickname, 'The Cherries'. There are two main stories on to why the club would be called such a name. Firstly the Cherry Red striped shirts the side wore and secondly, Dean Court was built next to the Cooper-Dean estate which included many Cherry Orchards. The club signed their first professional player in 1910, B.Penton, who signed from Southampton for a £10 fee. Bournemouth and Boscombe Athletic Football Club Spoiler At the public house where the side used to change before matches, The Portman Hotel, a meeting decided that the club would change its name to 'Bournemouth and Boscombe Athletic Football Club', the official registered name still to this day. The first ever league match was at Swindon on 25 August 1923 at Swindon where Bournemouth lost 3-1. Bournemouth struggled initially in the Football League, but firmly established themselves as a Third Division side and they still hold the record for the longest continuous membership of the Division. The Cup Run of 1956-57 Spoiler The Cherries finally hit the headlines in the 1956-57 season after a fabulous run in the FA Cup. After beating Burton Albion, Swindon and Accrington Stanley, they beat Wolves away 1-0, then third in the top flight. A stunning performance saw Bournemouth beat Spurs (second in the tope league) win through 3-1 and only lost to Man Utd following a dodgy penalty decision. Despite the loss, Bournemouth grabbed the nation’s imaginations and were awarded 'The Giant Killers Cup'. Modern AFC Bournemouth, Harry Redknapp and Tony Pulis Spoiler Relegation came in 1975 and a depressing few years followed in Division Four. The appointment of Harry Redknapp was to change the club. His early finest hour came when they defeated cup holders Manchester United in the 3rd round of the FA Cup on 7 January 1984. A man with an eye for a bargain transformed Bournemouth into a decent team and the club had won the Associate Members Cup at Hull and established a 97 point record in the 1986-87 seasons to lift the Division Three Championship. After three dramatic seasons in the higher division, injuries decimated the squad and despite being in play-off contentions in February, a match on the final day against Leeds ensured Leeds promotion and Bournemouth’s relegation. The 1990s: 15 minutes from closing down Spoiler Failure to reach the play-offs during the next two seasons saw Harry Redknapp replaced with Tony Pulis but the club was in a terrible financial mess (surprise surprise) and Pulis had little money to spend. Pulis left just before the start of the 1994-95 season. With no manager and a bare bones squad, the Cherries lost all of their first seven games. Despite just 9 points by Christmas the side survived relegation under the guidance of Mel Machin, who remained at the club for 6 years. Behind the scenes, the financial worries were always there and these came to a head in late 1996, early 1997. The receivers were called in and the future looked bleak as the extent of the mess was revealed. Supporters rallied and a trust fund was set up with thousands pouring in. Despite the support, Bournemouth were 15 minutes from closing down at one stage. Chairman Trevor Watkins announced that the trust fund was going to bid to take the club over and Europe's first ever community Club was formed. The play offs were just missed and Wembley was reached in the Auto Windscreens Shield. 34,000 Bournemouth supporters travelled to Wembley - an incredible achievement for a club so close to closing down just a year before. Noughtie O'Driscoll era Spoiler Record appearance maker Sean O'Driscoll took over as first team manager in 2000. They narrowly missed out on the Division 2 play-offs with just two minutes left despite not spending a penny. In November 10th 2001, Bournemouth returned to their brand new Fitness First Stadium, rebuilt at Dean Court. Despite winning their opening game in the new stadium, the youngest Cherries side in history was relegated to the old third division on the final day at Wrexham. Cherries kept faith with Sean O'Driscoll and he led the team to promotion at the first attempt. Sean O'Driscoll left the Cherries after twenty-two years service to the club and became Manager of Doncaster Rovers. Kevin Bond took charge late in 2006 and steered the club to League One survival. Points deductions, Eddie Howe, bla bla bla, Eddie Howe & today Spoiler The 07-08 season though saw the club struggle from the start and were foot of the table. Financial problems saw the club enter administration and receive a ten point deduction. With a handful of games left and 14 points from safety, only a draw on the final day confined them to relegation. The club finally came out of administration at the start of the 2008-09 season under the new ownership of Paul Baker and Sport-6. They were saddled with another points deduction, this time 17. After struggling up until Christmas, Eddie Howe was handed the job, initially as a caretaker role, before being given the job until the end of the season, after keeping the club up. He was the youngest manager ever in the FL at the age of 31. The 2009-10 season started with Eddie Mitchell coming in as the new Chairman at the club. Eddie Howe had to work under the constraints of a player embargo. With a squad of just 19 players and no loan players, apart from the returning Rhoys Wiggins, the side gained promotion to League 1, finishing in second place against all the odds. Eddie Howe and Jason Tindall left for Burnley in January 2011 with Lee Bradbury and Steve Fletcher taking over, and they took the side in to the League 1 Play Offs for the first time after finishing 6th, losing on penalties after a 4-4 aggregate. Bradbury was unable to lead Bournemouth to another promotion challenge in the 2011-12 Football League One, placing eleventh. Subsequently, Bradbury paid the price 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 disastrous 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. Their first season was promising, and led ultimately to a tenth place finish. WFC vs Bournemouth's last 5 and next 5 games As you can see, both teams have been fairly inconsistent this season. Bournemouth won their opening matches against Huddersfield and Brentford, and many assumed that they would shoot up the table like the previous year. A run of very difficult fixtures however (Forest and then Blackburn and Norwich away) have left the side a bit short of confidence, and that showed with their hard earned 1-1 draw at Rotherham. Nobody really knows what state of mind we will be in. Taskmaster but great-start Sannino, has now been replaced by (what is going on with that beard stroking) Oscar Garcia. After only working with the full squad for a couple of days, he has suffered terrifying chest pains (please get better soon!) which have taken him away from the squad, leaving us managerless again. It is too early to tell if he will be managing us at the game, but if he is, I am sure he will get a great reception (Meldrew aside) . H2H We have had some quite nice times against Bournemouth in recent years, with the 6-1 victory a particular highlight. This certainly does not mean we will not be wary though; they have tested us on every occasion and the 6-1 was certainly an over exaggeration of the actual play that day. Oppostions lineup: This is how they lined up against Rotherham on Saturday, a flexible formation with Pugh and especially Richie pulling the strings and O'Kane sitting deep. Personally I think they will pack the middle a lot more against us, and so I think we will possibly play a 442/433 to stretch the game and expose the flanks. But hey, who knows... OG has had one game and changed the formation 3/4 times. I am going to go for a similar lineup as Tuesday, with a bit of rotation to allow for tiredness. EDIT AFTER TEAMNEWS. ..................Gomes; .....Ekstrand, Angella, Hoban; Paredes, Tozser, Munari, Abdi, Pudil; .................Vydra Fessi Other stats We score lots of goals at home. They score a decent amount of goals away. All set up for a 0-0 then :naughty: We certainly have to watch out after half time, where I think we often switch off and where they seem to be pretty prolific. I am pleased by our goals towards the end of the match this season, with the addition of pace and quality substitutes meaning that we are (hopefully) no longer a sitting duck as we enter the final minutes. If we deal with Richie and stop the supply to Wilson, we largely deal with AFCB. I am going for a 2-1 home win. We will score after about 15 minutes, they will equalise around half time and we will win it with 15 minutes to go. Stats are great eh. Oh, and of course, essential views of Bournemouth's architecture! Enjoy...
This is a game that we should want to win, for sure. Whether or not we win is just a question for another day in the future, but if we win then that's 3 points for us and 0 points for Bournemouth, and you can't argue with that.
oooh I like Bournemouths architecture. I had previously thought that 'Gods Waiting Room' was only full of Bingo Halls and Funeral Parlours. Still you live and learn
Good to see Bournemouths positive early start has now gone right off the boil. Am hoping that Garcia realises Sannino had our home performances spot on and leaves well alone. 4-1 to the GBs
Not very good for the Bournemouth lads though. Unless you meant a win for them. Which isn't so good for our lads at all.
Then how come all the shop Windows in Bournemouth are fitted with bi-focal glass? I heard they're renaming the town soon. The new full name will be "Bournemouth.......YES DEAR!....BOURNEMOUTH!"
You are thinking of Eastbourne. Bournemouth is a mixture of the young trendy Brighton and the stale, grey Eastbourne.
Great write up, really impressed with Eddie Howe as a manager think he will have a chance higher up in the future
With Deeney probably out for a few weeks with a pulled hamstring (On stream physio immediately indicated for sub), who'll be played up front? FF and Vydra? Or another pair?
In my eyes they re all the same, those bleeding south coasters, coming over here, nicking our southern sea side towns
Excellent preview Miked. Missed this game last year and hoping for a repeat result and while that is very unlikely I still feel we will win this 2 or 3-1. With OG still currently in hospital I would think it's unlikely we will see him Saturday even if he is released. Hope we stick to 4 at the back but with Deeney doubtful maybe 4-3-3 instead of 4-4-2. Would like to see Ighalo given a chance but if we played 4-3-3 I would think it would be Dyer, Vydra, Anya as a front 3. Dyer certainly deserves a start as whenever he comes on he makes things happen. 4-3-3 or this might end up as 4-1-2-3 with Tozser holding Gomez Paredes Ekstrand Angella Pudil Tozser Abdi McGugan Anya Vydra Dyer Might go 4-4-2 Gomez Paredes Ekstrand Angella Pudil Anya Tozser Abdi Dyer Vydra Ighalo Both these obviously based on FF, Munari and Deeney not being available
My FIFA Predicts... Watford 3 - 0 Bournemouth 4' - Anya - Runs onto a long ball from midfield and scuffs his shot but it goes past the keeper 8' - Dyer - A defence splitting pass from Abdi sends Dyer through who finishes at the near post 18' - McGugan - Great build up play in the opposition half finishes with a shot to the bottom right corner from inside the box Watford substitutions: 75' - Vydra off/Fabbrini on 78' - Tozser off/Murray on Man of the match: Almen Abdi Odds: Anya FGS and 3-0 @90/1 --------------------------------- P8 W6 D1 L1 GD7 Pts19 We would be 1st in the table Top scorers: Vydra (3) McGugan (2) Abdi (1) Most assists: Abdi (3) Angella (1) Dyer (1)
I was in Bournemouth last month, gone down hill big time; shame. Any news on Deeney? Assuming he's unfit... Gomes Ekstrand Tamas Angella Paredes Abdi Tozser McGugan Pudil Vydra Dyer Yes Dyer up front, Ighalo just isn't doing it for me and from what I saw of a Vydra and Ighalo partnership against Doncaster it's a non-starter. Although if Forest is fit I'd start him over Dyer.
I've liked the look of Ighalo on his cameos IMO its key we get either Andrews or Munari back, there is a big hole in the midfield at the moment
We had a ready made replacement for Deeney at the club, but we let him go for peanuts and he scored a hat trick yesterday for Forest.
Deeney to miss Saturday. FF and Munari back. Usual lack of clarity from Watford in regards to how long TD is out for. Can only assume a 'matter of weeks ' means a few weeks' . Apparently Igloo is 6 ft 2. Doesnt seem that big on the pitch and has played with skill rather than physicality. Lets hope he can put himself about a bit on Saturday to fill Deeneys shoes http://www.watfordfc.com/news/article/140920-bournemouth-injury-news-1927041.aspx
