UpTheCherries

The arrogance which some accuse you of is actually highlighted in the first part of your rant, yes you came down for a friendly and some may have thrown money into buckets, thanks for that, thanks also goes out to the numerous other teams who did the same, however I haven't heard them bang on about it for weeks after let alone years. That is something that riles me, I know it shouldn't but it does, having lived in your City for a few years the number of times I heard it was amazing, some (I completely understand that one person doesn't represent a whole club) truly believe it was Southampton that saved AFC Bournemouth, when in reality a lot of hard work and years of debt afterwards was what saved us, not the money you refer too...but I could go on. I've thrown money into buckets for other clubs, I can't even remember who or how many, it's just something you do as we all know how much our clubs mean to one another, I didn't do it for a thank you, I did it as I sympathise with all supporters of football clubs. However some Southampton supporters appear to want a letter of thanks for it. I'll skip over the whole "thanking you" part again and concentrate on the other points. Southampton benefited from loaning players to us, just as much (if not more) than we received by having them, they were sent down to us, knowing they'd learn, develop and gain experience, there was no other reason for it, certainly not seen as a favour. As for Lallana, he came through our youth development and was pinched, so not exactly much of a favour there either. Pitch etc, not free, irrelevant, one member of your ground staff also worked at our ground, so what? Meldrum is a Southampton fan. I'm not going to comment on that little tirade, personally I don't care where Southampton have been for 27 years as I'm an AFC Bournemouth fan and concentrate on supporting them no matter what league we're in, it's all irrelevant to me. As for the "Que sera sera, whatever will be, will be", it was banter, as we had won promotion and you had stayed in League One, when we went down to League Two we sang Que sera sera, whatever will be, will be, we're going to Shrewsbury... that wasn't our "Cup Final" either. The banter in the media from the Echo and some of our fans, plays off of what has come from some of your supporters and Adkins comments regarding every game you play being a Cup final, it's banter, smacked with a heap of sarcasm, hence jokes about silver foil cups and Abide with me being sung, it's all done as a laugh. Nice you've done well there. "monkey chicken petting zoo" at least be original. http://www.bournemouth.vitalfootball.co.uk/forum/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=33693

We know Howe turned down Peterborough because Peterborough admitted it at the time and more recently... http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/sport/8329663.Cherries__Fry_backs_Eddie_for_the_Premier_League/

Not ignoring this "fact" at all and have in fact discussed the point during the previous pages, see little point in just repeating my previous posts to be honest. Howe turned down Peterborough while they were in the Championship around this time last year too. If you read his comments from the links above, you'll get a feeling for how much he thinks of AFCB and what the fans think of him too. But as stated before in this thread, AFCB fans are well aware that eventually he will move on when he feels the right offer comes along. Personally I think it's healthy that the Chairman and manager are honest! Why shouldn't Howe be aware of interest in him and for all we know that could be a clause in his contract.

Why bother though? What purpose exactly would it achieve, is it of any benefit to either AFC Bournemouth or Southampton? We have kept our manager and you've appointed your latest incumbent. Below are a variety of Howe's post match comments. http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/sport/8387282.Howe__I_love_Cherries/?ref=rss http://www.afcb.co.uk/page/ManagersComments/0,,10324~2151675,00.html If you click this one you can listen to the full solent interview http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_2/8967767.stm Basically he backed the comments from Eddie Mitchell, while trying to not comment any further (they are his first comments on the subject). Between your chairman, our chairman and Eddie Howe, Howe is the one I'd side with. But obviously with you not knowing him you'll side with your chairman. Either way thankfully the subject is over.

Mark (he has now officially changed the spelling of his name) Jackson was recently connected or associated with a Russian bid for our club over the summer. That part is puzzling, it appeared in our Echo first, then appeared in your Echo, then an hour or so later Mitchell appeared on Sky Sports News. There was no official comment or quotes in the original Echo story and then they and the BBC reproduced what was said on Sky. It could be that it wasn't leaked from either Howe or Mitchell, but Mitchell felt he had to comment once it was public (a bit like your official statement after the claims S****horpe made). It's all just speculation though, I'm not even convinced of the timeline of events in all of this. According to a couple of suggestions on the AFCB forum, Howe was interviewed and offered the job last week...

Oh hum, not sure why I expected anything different to be honest, but seems a shame the thread has to break down into a slagging AFCB off contest, despite a previous poster claiming you don't care about us...if you don't why waste time discussing it...oh well. Back to topic perhaps? 1st or 2nd choice behind Adkins again all speculation. He could have been first choice, but made it obvious he wasn't interested or disliked the Director of Football set-up, so you went to Adkins, then went back for Howe this morning (just in case) when that started to crumble...or he was second choice all along and you went to him once Scunny started being difficult asking for a modest compensation payment...either way if he wanted the job it was his for the taking and he decided against it. However the one thing that is certain is that Eddie Howe doesn't need to save face with the AFCB supporters as the fans wouldn't turn on him. He's an AFCB supporter, he's come through the youth ranks, played for us, coached us and managed us. The fans raised the money to bring him back from your rivals after his injury, he has always had a close attachment to the supporters and that was before the miracles he has performed since becoming manager. There was even a thread on the AFCB forum discussing a chant for Eddie if he was your manager when we visit next month! If we were happy to chant his name as your manager, somehow I don't think he will need to win many over for turning you down.

Some good spin you've got going here! Obviously just speculation, but many people in all walks of life sometimes go to interviews out of interest, with no real thought of taking the job if offered. He could easily have just gone along to take a look at the set up down your way. Or he could have decided against the idea of your Director Of Football set-up, who knows, but he's well within his rights to learn more about the club and position before rejecting it. One thing for sure though, he doesn't need to save face with us.

No credit to me, I just nabbed it from a thread on our board http://www.bournemouth.vitalfootball.co.uk/forum/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=17825&start=81&posts=84

You sure because personally I think that is something that really and honestly will never be answered properly and completely.

It certainly is him and so is this... http://asf.narrowstep.tv/mcp?psid=86165582&ref=0&chid=977&pid=3346&vid=69175095&br=400&tid=1&void=175029&fab=0

:smt041

That Blueprint is copyrighted I'm afraid and can only be viewed on the Bournemouth site. But have no fear, photocopies are available on request as I got a great deal on print cartridges in the summer...

He barely made the training ground let alone the dressing room. He was another of Kevin Bond's inspiring signings...:smt075