How important is promotion from the Championship for AFCB?

We have heard that a lot of the large clubs that have been stuck in the Championship for several years are being hit financially every season with falling revenues and having to compete against those with bigger parachute payments from the Premiership. But for a club like Bournemouth is it imperative that the club gets promoted in the next couple of years if it is to develop and thrive? 

Does greater success mean everything?

I am in two minds about this. In many ways it will clearly be an advantage financially for the club and the owners if it does succeed in winning promotion to the Premiership. Even if the club did badly at that level the financial benefits are huge. But what if AFCB become one of the teams to get stuck in the Championship for the next 10 years? Personally, I would not see it as a failure for a club of 10,000 supporters and having been a mainly League One team for most of its history a prolonged spell in the Championship offers plenty of rewards for some of us long suffering fans.

The thought of relegation though to League One does not worry me so much from a football point of view. I am sure that the football in League One remains good viewing. It is the financial cost of dropping back down that would be my first worry. Having built up the club to have some well paid players and a strong infrastructure there would be a cost-cutting exercise if the unthinkable were to happen in the next couple of years. As it is, the club needs to reduce its losses and yet it is in a higher division that it has been for most of its existence.

That kind of puts the pressure on Eddie Howe and Maxim Demin to deliver something that has never been achieved for this south coast club before. We know it is possible but it may seem somewhat unimaginable to many who have seen the likes of Southampton, Brighton and Portsmouth in the top flight, but never considered that AFC Bournemouth could one day be knocking on that door. Somethings will have to go right in terms of not only results but getting the right players and improving on what has already been achieved, but I think it has to be the club's ambition now.

Willo said the other day that he felt the team will be capable of the play-offs next season and while I don't feel it will be a disappointment if the club falls outside the top 10 next May and survives another season at this level, there will be more onus on the team to hit the levels of consistency it managed in the second half of last season.

World Cup Chimes gives a reaction to battling England coming up short against Italy in Manaus, pus Uruguay's defeat against Costa Rica and Kyle's World Cup Watch  report on Chile v Australia from group B. You can follow Kyle on Twitter @cotter_kyle

There is also a match preview for today's France v Honduras match on World Cup Chimes.