Motivation has been a big key to Howe's success

Eddie is always looking for his team to be inspired
and life brings up lots of possibilities. We can all learn from that.

I was intrigued to learn that Eddie Howe played a video before the final games of the season to the players to make them clear of the historic nature of what they were about to achieve for the club after many years of sitting in the lower divisions of the football league. Eddie certainly loves AFC Bournemouth and wanted the players to become just as close to it as he is and by understanding what it was going to mean to the fans who have been at Dean Court through the difficult years there was a determination of the players to achieve something that would have been thought of as beyond belief only a couple of years ago.

While the corridors and walls of AFC Bournemouth's Dean Court are used as displays for past players and motivational quotes from winners of the past, there will have to be a few additions after the  success of recent days. Tommy Elphick and his team have now played a legendary part in the history of the club and now that those players truly know that they are winners it is more than possible that greater glories are yet to come. Some of them will have been inspired by different things, but the common feeling of winning something together will give them great strength in the Premier League.

While it might not seem hard to motivate players who are just about to embark on a season in the top league of English football, I am confident that Eddie Howe will not rely on the fact that the club has reached this level to not find new ways of motivating the players. At this level money is perhaps the reward that makes players give that extra few per cent as they are already at a level where their future is secured now. It is the contact with everyday people in the community and learning more about how what they players do on the pitch can make such a difference to those fans who may have troubles themselves in daily life that the club makes special efforts to reach out to.

Eddie Howe himself now is the patron for the Julia's House Children's Hospice and the players are always visiting Poole Hospital as well as helping out in local community projects like the club's own Community Trust and getting more youngsters into sport and the Green Goals project. The importance of the club touching peoples' lives means we can all share in the successes and I expect there will be more such stories in the years to come and perhaps even some international projects with AFC Bournemouth's reach now extended to more of a global footing.

Eddie has said many times that it is the fear of failure that drives him on. He needs winners around him and I think that is why it was hard for him to let Ian Harte leave the club recently.

If I have learnt anything about this fantastic season following the Cherries it is to be inspired and to try and inspire other around you on to greater things. To see people succeed in the thing they love to do most is very rewarding and I believe we have all felt that in the last few days.

Meanwhile, The Championship Run-In has progressed a little further - 'Nothing to choose between Ipswich and Norwich.'