It's hard to know what to make of our Dutch striker Frank Demogue and his credentials for playing in an AFCB team. Bought by the Cherries from FC Utrecht in a fanfare of enthusiasm by the club as a sign of its intent to be ambitious, under the Paul Groves reign in the summer of 2012, he has only played twice for AFCB. Things just don't seem right about the whole episode, even though AFCB claim that the signing was not a mistake.
If Demogue was brought with the intention of playing a big striker in League One he was perhaps unfortunate that his appearances against Walsall and Crawley are two of the most memorable defeats under Groves. Injured in the Crawley away game, Frank did not seem to impress Eddie Howe enough to ever regain a place in the side and come January this year he was probably very keen to go back to his homeland to play for Roda JC Kerkrade in the Eredivise league. Perhaps surprising to us AFCB fans he played pretty well in a team that finished in the bottom three, scoring 6 goals in just 9 games.
So what now? The Dutchman probably has fairly high wages and he will want to be playing as many games as he can now that he will be 31 this June. Will he look to stay at Roda and sign permanently? I am sure this is the scenario AFCB will be hoping for. While Frank gave all the signals that he wanted to play in England and was happy here, you kind of feel that he was unfancied by Eddie Howe.
If AFCB really wants to cut its wage bill, you would think that Frank will either be loaned out again or will surely be offered to clubs on a permanent deal this summer. Perhaps this will be one of the early announcements as the summer transfer dealings get underway.
This is a fan’s personal view of AFC Bournemouth from the outside looking in. It reports on the daily official activities reported by the club and comments made by individual fans on social media and fanbase websites. Life as an AFCB fan is never dull. As a life-long supporter of the Cherries, it is the friendliness of the staff, fans and my enthusiasm for the club that inspired me to write this blog.
Loving your blog Peter keep up the great work.
ReplyDeleteJim
That's very kind of you. I may well slow down in June as the stories are more difficult to come up as there is less news about. But if you all keep reading I'll do my best.
DeleteI think that Eddie should have a look at him. He is a big guy and could work really well with Pitman, Grabs or Tubbs. It would be madness to get rid of him before pre-season.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy your blogs by the way :)
It's great to get a different opinion. That's what it's all about. We don't really know much about Demouge but Eddie Howe must have seen a fair bit of him in training even if Frank did have some injuries at the end of 2012. Glad you like the blog.
ReplyDelete