Not the new boys next time around

Having now completed a season in the Championship, AFCB will not of course be the new boys anymore. The benefit is that our players have now been to most of the grounds and their feelings about those places should be fairly positive after last season. At home there will not be much change and the South stand is something that they will also be used to playing in front of now. In many ways I believe the most difficult games will come against Wolves, Brentford and Rotherham Utd.

It's not that the Cherries have not played these teams for a while but more due to the fact that the new arrivals will be buzzing having got back into the Championship and we know what a lift it is for players and supporters. For teams coming up, every game has to be viewed as a potential three points if you are going to survive and they will see AFCB as one of the teams that they can hurt on their day. I actually hope that the Cherries do not draw one of these teams until September at the earliest when perhaps they have got over the euphoria of getting into the Championship. I also fear that our fans may be less loud than they have been last season if the club does not get odd to a good start. But the Cherries need a good atmosphere to compete against so many excellent teams in the division. Just because AFCB have survived one season in the Championship does not mean they need less help from the fans next time around.

A second season in the Championship will bring fresh demands for the Cherries.

Every team does their homework and even last season managers would have known how the Cherries like to play, so I don't see the 2014/15 season as one where Eddie Howe has to come up with lots of new ways of playing. It's more a case of doing what the team does well a bit better. Eddie knows we have the game to beat teams like QPR, Nottingham Forest and Wigan so there should not be a major overhaul in what the team sets out to do, but reducing the number of mistakes will go along way to making it a better season. Whether the new arrivals of Wolves, Brentford and Rotherham are able to play without making the kind of mistakes that AFCB made last season remains to be seen, but I already see this as being an even more competitive season coming up.

You can now join the World Cup Fantasy Mini League I have set up on McDonald's FIFA World Cup fantasy League. It is free to play. The league is called Chimes Fans which you will need to put ion the search after you have built your squad. The website is found on this link - World Cup Fantasy League.