Win a copy of Dean Court Days - Harry Redknapp's Bournemouth story

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I was lucky enough to own one of the early copies of Dean Court Days, written by AFC Bournemouth supporter and podcaster Michael Dunne. It is a great read and a book that I couldn't put down this summer, as a relived Harry's playing career at Dean Court and the Cherries charge to League Two with a momentous FA Cup win over Manchester United along the way. You can own a copy of the book as well thanks to Pitch Publishing that have kindly offered three copies as prizes to readers of Cherry Chimes.

The inspiration for the book came from Michael Dunne's own disappointment that Harry Redknapp’s days at Dean Court have featured only fleetingly in his biographies. While Harry is well documented for his managerial career at West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur it seemed only right that there should be a more detailed account of his years at Dean Court. Now, with the cooperation of Harry himself, the tale of his rise from barely remembered player to the country’s brightest young manager is told for the first time.

Harry Redknapp learnt his transfer craft at AFC Bournemouth, as finances were always tight and you soon see what a sharp operator Harry is in the transfer market. The book also follows how Harry took the Cherries out of the Third tier for the first time and how he bounced back from relegation and from almost losing his life to nurture his son, Jamie, from schoolboy sensation into one of Britain’s most expensive teenage footballers.

Featuring interviews with team-mates, colleagues and friends, and painstakingly researched archive material, this is an inside account of Redknapp’s years at Dean Court, as well as a history of two decades in the life the Cherries. You will find out:

· How Redknapp’s playing career in England fizzled out before he reached 30, in the shadowlands of reserve team football and the treatment table
· What Harry did when his Bournemouth team-mates plotted to oust their unpopular manager
· How Redknapp almost quit the game at the end of his playing days to become a taxi driver after he lost all his money to an American con man
· What happened at AFC Bournemouth when George Best signed for the club and comedian Jim Davidson joined the board of directors
· How Bournemouth’s persistent financial problems saw Harry rapidly hone his skills in the transfer market to build a winning team
· How Redknapp wrestled with his dual roles as a father and manager when guiding his son Jamie to football stardom
· How Harry resolved to temper his obsessive work rate after almost losing his life in Rome – only to return to management and repeat his mistakes
· Why Redknapp incurred the wrath of his devoted following at Dean Court when he left the Cherries after nine years at the helm

Free to Enter Competition
We have three books to give away. To be in with a chance of winning is send an email to cherrychimesblog@gmail.com with the answer to this question - Which Bournemouth manager signed Harry Redknapp in June 1972?

Send in your answers by 12pm on Wednesday 10 October 2018.

Good Luck!


Thanks to Pitch Publishing for sponsoring this competition on Cherry Chimes.

Signings aplenty for Dean Court Days!

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I ventured down to the In off the post shop on Old Christchurch Road yesterday, to see how Michael Dunne's Dean Court Days was drawing the AFCB fans to the area. The book signing had a couple of ex-Cherry players in attendance with Paul Morrell and Richard Cooke happy to sign a few copies and get snapped next to the pages that told the story of Harry Redknapp's colourful years at Dean Court.

Richard Cooke, Michael Dunne and Paul Morrell.

The loveable ex-West Ham and Portsmouth manager could not make it in person, but there was plenty of talk about the good old days and some anecdotes that I had not heard of about what the players got up to on one of their pre-season tournament trips. I won't enlighten you here, but Paul Morrell might share such tales and a hapless Willo on another occasion if he holds another player's Forum.

Michael Dunne with a shelf of Dean Court Days.

I had previously been up to the stadium itself and was pleased to find out that the Dean Court Days had completely sold out at Bournemouth's club shop. Fathers Day had no doubt stripped the shelves bare. So I was glad to see a few copies still  on display at In Off the Post.

Michael Dunne told me that he chatted to Harry Redknapp on at least three occasions when compiling the book and had to trawl through hours of microfilm to research some of the details for the book, but some of his best insights came from interviewing the likes of Paul Morrell, Richard Cooke and Shaun Teale who could pick out some of the highlights of the Redknapp years.

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It was good to see that a few young Bournemouth fans had also come into the shop to see what was going on and Paul Morrell could at least explain that he played in what was Charlie Daniels' place in today's modern squad. Most of us though were old enough to remember the days when Richard Cooke would storm down the wing and leave Man Utd's Arthur Albiston far behind. Michael Dunne even suggested that United kept changing their full backs to give someone else a go at trying to stop the flying Richard Cooke who eventually left Dean Court to join Luton Town before returning to the Cherries in 1991.

The In off the Post Shop front window display.

Richard Cooke said it was sad that Willo could not be at the event yesterday, but that he was out of the country. Willo and Morrell were certainly at the heart of practical jokes in the Redknapp years and I know there are still a few more tales that you will find out about if you pick up your copy of Dean Court Days.

Dean Court Days is available on Amazon and is published by Pitch Publishing.

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Dean Court Days - Boro game set new attendance record for Cherries

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Carrying on our selection of exerts from Michael Dunne's Dean Court Days, our next item takes us up to 1987 when Bournemouth had a top of the table clash with Middlesbrough - it was an all or nothing contest for Harry Redknapp.

Redknapp's side bounced back from a bruising defeat at Bristol City winning their next five games to consolidate their position at the summit of the Third Division. The undoubted highlight of this run of victories came in the game on Tuesday 3 March 1987 against second-placed Middlesbrough. The heavyweight clash pitted the side with the best home record against the team with the best away record and, despite almost a third of the season’s fixtures still to play, it felt like a winner- takes-all encounter.

Redknapp was in no mood to play down the fixture, his raw emotion seeing him encourage the Dean Court crowd to spur their heroes on to greater heights. ‘I want the place to erupt when we run out on to the field,’ he said. ‘We want noise for all the 90 minutes; we want to raise the roof.’

He was not to be disappointed. In the days when few matches were all ticket, Brian Tiler predicted a crowd of around 10,000. Come the kick-off, upwards of 14,000 fans arrived to set a new record for an evening fixture at Dean Court. With car parks full, King’s Park became an impromptu car park, fans abandoning their cars on grass playing fields in what proved to be the correct assumption that everyday regulations would be waived as a matter of crowd control.

With his rallying cry emphatically answered by the faithful, Redknapp guided his team to a thrilling victory to match the sense of occasion. Towards the end of a frantic first half, future England and Manchester United centre-half Gary Pallister sustained a nasty gash on his leg in a challenge with Trevor Aylott. Pallister was replaced by winger Stuart Ripley, meaning the key defensive partnership of Pallister and Tony Mowbray was broken, giving the Cherries an opportunity to strike for all three points.

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Seven minutes after the break, Mark Newson headed the opener following a well-worked set piece. Benignly chaotic celebrations on the terraces had barely died down when Boro equalised from the kick-off. Hesitation between Newson and Gerry Peyton allowed the prolific Bernie Slaven to latch on to a through ball and slot home from two yards. The away side’s tails were up, but Redknapp’s team rode the storm for almost 20 minutes before taking a lead they would not relinquish. A sweeping move from defence saw Trevor Aylott delicately lay the ball into the path of the onrushing Sean O’Driscoll who fired home off the underside of the crossbar from 15 yards. Bournemouth made it three just five minutes later when Aylott converted the penalty he had won after referee Keith Cooper adjudged Boro captain Mowbray to have pushed the powerful target man.

Once the ecstatic scenes at the final whistle had abated, the league table made very happy reading indeed for Harry. His team were now six points clear going into the business end of the

season, and the Bournemouth manager heaped praise upon the supporters’ impact on the result. ‘The ground is still buzzing,' he enthused. 'Things like that happen when you get a crowd like that, and it made a huge difference to the players. We are looking for the top spot. The players believe they can do it. They believe they are as good as anyone in the division.’

Even today, Harry looks back on the victory proudly. 'Look at that Middlesbrough team that year,' he says. 'What a strong team that was. They had Gary Pallister, Tony Mowbray, Bernie Slaven. We did fantastic to beat them.'

It wasn't just points the players stood to gain from beating Middlesbrough. Paul Morrell, who spent the evening keeping the likes of Ripley and Slaven at bay, recalls Redknapp motivating his squad with the prospect of modest material gains. 'The guy who owned Simone's, a leather shop in Bournemouth, was at a sportsman's dinner a few days before the Middlesbrough game,' says Morrell. 'He went up to Harry and he said, "Your boys aren't going to go up this year." Harry said, "You want a bet?" The guy was so confident he bet a leather bomber jacket for each player if we went up. At the end of the season, he had to fork out for 16 of them.'

You can order a copy of Dean Court Days on Amazon

Dean Court Days- get a signed copy!
I other news, Michael Dunne is holding a signing day for Dean Court Days on Saturday 23 June between 1-3pm at In off the far post, 901 Old Christchurch Road, in Pokesdown BH7 6AX. Richard Cooke and Paul Morrell are also popping in to sign a few copies of the book.

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Dean Court Days - coach crash memories

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The next episode from Dean Court Days, published by Pitch Publishing, that Michael Dunne has kindly provided recalls the period when Harry Redknapp and the Bournemouth team managed by John Bond were involved in a coach crash in Yorkshire!

Harry Redknapp had a few close scrapes when in charge of AFCB.

After exiting the FA Cup at Newcastle in January 1973, the Cherries returned to league action with a 1-1 draw at Scunthorpe’s Old Show Ground. John Bond’s frustration with his team’s inability to take a return of maximum points from a fixture they dominated was soon forgotten when the team coach skidded off the road as heavy snow fell across Yorkshire. Redknapp recalls the frightening incident in which the vehicle he was travelling in was written off. ‘The coach was a mess,' he says. 'We were coming down the road and suddenly the coach just took off and kept going. The road turned one way and the coach just started to skid the other way. We knew we weren’t going to stop. We went straight into the wall of a garage. Kenny Brown, who was the first-team coach, got all mangled up in the wreckage and broke his thigh.’

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Brown was taken to hospital in Doncaster for the night. Redknapp, who was sitting across the aisle of the coach from Brown, was fortunate to escape relatively unscathed, a happy circumstance that would not be repeated outside Rome 17 years later. The rest of the passengers were equally blessed, although captain Keith Miller lost two teeth as a result of the impact.

The front end of the coach, where Redknapp, Brown and the rest of the card school were playing, was wrecked, with not a window left intact. Despite the shock, Bond and his staff considered themselves lucky:

‘I just don’t know how we came out of it so lightly,’ said Bond. ‘There could have been five or six players badly injured considering the state of the vehicle afterwards.’

Stranded in freezing conditions, Redknapp says that little help was forthcoming for the uninjured players and staff to continue their journey south. ‘We ended up getting a train home. Nowadays another coach would come and pick you up, but not back then. We had to get taxis from where the accident happened, wait in a station, catch the milk train home, change trains and we got back about four o’clock in the morning.’

To get a signed copy of the book Dean Court Days, visit In off the Post, 901 Old Christchurch Road, Pokesdown, Bournemouth BH7 6AX on Saturday 23 June 2018, between 1-3pm when author Michael Dunne will be there to sign copies.