Can the Cherries really defy the odds and get promoted?

I was looking on Odds Checker to see whether the signings of Junior Stanislas and Dan Gosling had moved AFCB up the prediction table for next year's Championship. The Cherries are currently placed with most bookies at about 8/1 or 13/2 but this puts them way down the pecking order in about 14 favourites to go up which makes them a bit of a long shot, but I don't think that will matter one bit to the players or the club as they know that they can cause upsets as they did last season.

Above the Cherries are newly promoted Wolves, as well as the fallen Cardiff, Norwich and Fulham but more notable to me is that well supported clubs like Leeds Utd, Birmingham and Ipswich Town are not expected to have as good a season as the Cherries. The upheaval at Leeds in terms of ownership and manager is clearly making the bookies wary of their chances and there is real doubt whether their hot shot striker and captain Ross McCormack will be there next season having put in a transfer request with Fulham putting in a second offer for the prolific Scottish forward.

At Birmingham, it is probably because there is limited funds for new players and the lack of managerial change that has made their challenge look less powerful than Bournemouth's. They have the oh so popular Wes Thomas among their ranks and have signed, Clayton Donaldson, Stephen Gleeson and Mark Duffy among others. So it will be a very different looking Blues at St Andrews and Lee Clark says he is not done yet in the transfer market. I think Birmingham will do better than many people think.

As for Ipswich Town, you have to wonder what Mick McCarthy has done wrong to be so unfancied this time around. They were keen to hold on to Aaron Creswell but West Ham have managed to sign him and this will weaken Ipswich, but apart from a few loans there has been no big spending yet by the Tractor boys and that is surprising considering they did so well last season and only need a few signings to make them more competitive.

You might be wondering who are current favourites to depart the Championship through the trap door? Well, take your pick from Sheffield Wednesday, Charlton, Millwall and Blackpool. It looks like the memory of last season is expected to linger over these clubs but I think the Championship will work out a bit differently. What do you think?

World Cup Chimes has match previews by Kyle Cotter on the first two quarter finals of Germany v France and Brazil v Chile.  

We have also uploaded the pictures from the two home matches against Burnley and Doncaster Rovers from last season. Just visit Cherry Chimes' page on Facebook to see them.

Also check out Eddie Howe speaking to BBC Radio Solent about Steve cook's new contract on our side bar.