The Ian Harte transfer was looking a bit rocky yesterday with news that he had turned down AFCB's offer and was then receiving attention from Middlesbrough. However, the news that the Irish international has now signed for the Cherries, on a one-tear deal, will mean that Charlie Daniels and Stephen Purches will have a very experienced left back who will be competing for a place in the team. My only hope is that AFCB did not pay out too much on Harte's wages when they went back in for him.
At 35, Ian has had a distinguished career at Leeds Utd and Reading in particular. His Premiership experience should really help the Cherries and he has got a devastating free kick on him. While he is coming to the final few years of his career there is no doubt that he has the kind of quality that will give AFCB players confidence when they set about their Championship campaign. Even if Ian does not start the majority of games his presence around the team is bound to be a big help.
AFCB was really caught out at the end of last season with a shortage of defenders in my opinion. Dan Seaborne had to come in as cover as well as Marcos Painter. We still had Purches, Daniels and Addisson out for many games, Partington was injured in training, while Zubar was injured on loan at Bury. Such a bad run of injuries may not happen next season but at least the club will have more cover in the Championship.
Early opinion from Cherry Chimes' readers is that this is a positive signing but that Daniels is most likely to keep the starting shirt at left back.
With one or two more signings on the cards, according to Eddie Howe, the interest in Simeon Jackson is now mounting. Simeon is believed to be in the USA having flown to Toronto, Canada yesterday.
Still no news of players heading out of AFCB, but it will be interesting who does not travel to Switzerland.
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.
He'll be a good signing. Very experienced, should be a good influence on the younger members of the squad, and hopefully some goals from free kicks!
ReplyDeleteIt will be extremely interesting to see how Eddie will use both Ward and Harte. Both quality signings, in particular Harte. We now have cover should the worst happen and we lose players through injury or suspension, and over the course of a season that's more than likely to happen. We won't be bringing in players who have to integrate from the off, but will have people to slot in where necessary...
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