Cherry Chimes signing out!

Well, here we are. The final post on Cherry Chimes! I must say I have thoroughly enjoyed writing posts on AFC Bournemouth for the past eight years and it was a hard decision to stop. I have been able to consider departing, unlike Eddie Howe, who left quickly last August or Jason Tindall, who was quickly removed in February. My mind was really made up though when Eddie left the club, as the blog started with Eddie, which led to the Eddie Had A Dream book. I am lucky that I had the Disrupted Season (2019-20) book to promote in the last few months and that gave me a good reason to keep up to date with the happenings at AFCB, even though I didn't renew my season ticket this season.

I'm sure you'll still see me giving out the odd tweet about AFCB

My two boys have grown up and have either gone to University or started their career job and with them both having girlfriends, the weekends were looking very booked up for them. I still hope to make a visit to one or two away games next season, when COVID-19 has hopefully becomes more manageable.

I must give a huge thanks to the advertisers that have been on Cherry Chimes over the years. I couldn't have done as much without that financial support. So, a massive thanks to all of them who supported me. And of course a huge thanks to you the readers who have managed to read through my pieces and for many of the thank you emails I have received about Cherry Chimes stopping and how you feel you will miss it. I hope you don't miss it too much as my aim in starting the blog was to make AFC Bournemouth better known and to help the club see more coverage, and get more people wanting to be fans of the club. I think there are a good number of websites and podcasts now that really help to keep fans captivated on every bit of news about the club.

When we reached the Championship in 2013, the blog took a big step up and to reach the Premier League was amazing. It has been incredible to be writing on the Cherries during this period and I'll not forget the many enthusiastic comments when the club had great results in the past few years.

Now it is time for a new chapter. There will be a new manager again, after Jason Tindall, and I'll follow it all closely. We may even see AFCB get to a semi-final or final of a domestic cup competition, wouldn't that be something! I might have to come back for a day if the club did get to Wembley. My thoughts at the moment are just hoping that AFCB beat Nottingham Forest today.

I have my fingers-crossed that AFCB can still get promoted this season. It would be a great moment for the club to go back up. I think it would cement AFC Bournemouth as a real force in English football if it could then build a strong platform for the second time in the top tier. I am still hoping that one day there is a new stadium that I can get a season ticket for in my old age, but until then UTCIAD!

If you want to recap what Cherry Chimes has been all about, check out the Archive on the blog and pick your way through the posts from 2013. There are, of course, also two books for you to read from Cherry Chimes that are available on Amazon (see below). Fifty per cent of the author proceeds now go to Julia's House Children's Charity. And thank you for those who have already bought a copy of Eddie Had a Dream and/or the Disrupted Season (2019-20) – now £9.99 – a big thank you. You have helped give some children a much better life.

RED ARMY! RED ARMY! RED ARMY! RED ARMY! RED ARMY! RED ARMY! RED ARMY!

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Ebook version of The Disrupted season £9.99

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The Disrupted Season (2019-20) completes the story of Eddie Howe's reign at AFC Bournemouth 

- it's available now for £11.49 as a paperback - visit Amazon to order

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Eddie Had a Dream -now just 9.99!

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Eddie Had a Dream eBook version -£7.99!

An extract from The Disrupted Season: Don't let be the last time we beat Man Utd

Another extract from my new AFCB book, The Disrupted Season (2019-20) looks at the home win against Manchester United in November last year. Bournemouth had just had three games in which they had failed to score in October and Manchester United were looking to climb up the table after a poor start for them. It was a memorable game for me, not just because Bournemouth won, but I was rather busy on the morning of the game.

Beating Man United was a welcome highlight in 2019.

       "Nothing seemed that glamourous about the Premier League when it was pouring down with rain at Dean Court and blowing a gale for the visit of Manchester United. The build-up to the game had been a bit strange for me as well, as it was an early 12:30 kick-off and I had lots on my mind.
      I had been busy driving down from Redhill to see Paul Orchard at In off the Far Post. He had ordered some copies of Eddie Had A Dream, my first book, to sell in his shop in Pokesdown. I had managed to get down for 10 am and waited in the shelter of Paul’s shop and took the opportunity to see England take on South Africa in the Rugby Union World Cup Final. It didn’t go well for Eddie Jones’ team, and I hoped that our Eddie would be more successful and perhaps get a draw in the afternoon.

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The Disrupted Season (2019-20) completes the story of Eddie Howe's reign at AFC Bournemouth 
- it's available now for £11.49 as a paperback - visit Amazon to order

      But I felt more confident that the day could improve when I met up with Sam Davis, of the Back of the Net podcast, in the 1910 Bar. We had a quick conversation about Eddie Had A Dream, which we had an interview about the week before, on Sam’s podcast, and agreed to meet up at half-time to do another quick interview that would go out later in the week. This one would update listeners on the progress of the book’s sales. 

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Ebook version of The Disrupted season £9.99

      Having exited the 1910 Bar, I spotting a past favourite walking into the stadium. It was Sylvain Distin. He was casually striding up to the stadium with nobody else approaching him. So, I stepped right up and asked him to sign a copy of the Eddie Had A Dream book, which he kindly did. I was over the moon, as Sylvain was only at the club for the first Premier League season for AFC Bournemouth, and I hadn’t managed to get his signature before. 

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Eddie Had a Dream -now just 9.99!

      Armed with my signed copy, I felt that perhaps the luck was changing, even if the rain hadn’t stopped. The match went pretty quickly in the first half. United should have scored early on, when their young Welsh attacker, Daniel James, crossed from the right straight into Andreas Pereira’s stride. Pereira had the goal at his mercy, near the penalty spot, but the striker completely missed the ball and the danger passed.

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      The biggest turning point of the half perhaps came, not when Ryan Fraser went over in the box and VAR was called into play, but rather when Martial went down with Lerma in close attendance in Bournemouth’s box. All hell let loose with accusations of diving and Fred getting more than a bit involved, pushing Lerma, who needed Aaron Ramsdale to help shepherd the Colombian away from the incident. It was too late for Lerma, who was booked and would be suspended for the next game. At least he didn’t do anything more serious in retaliation.
      Once rattled though, Bournemouth upped their game. The defining moment of the match came right on half-time. I was speaking into my voice recorder on my phone at the time, summing up the first half, when Adam Smith put in a high ball that Josh King chested down. Josh King allowed the ball to bounce before accepting the challenge from Aaron Wan-Bissaka and swivelled to his left to fire an unstoppable shot down and past David de Gea in goal. Like most Bournemouth fans, I didn’t wait to hear a VAR check. I was pumping the air and shouting, ‘King has scored! Josh has scored!’ Bournemouth now had United just where they wanted them.
      I duly did my half-time interview with Back of the Net and admitted that I’d got the score wrong – it wouldn’t be a 0-0 result. But I hung on to the hope that the Cherries would keep their clean sheet and end the game 1-0, which is exactly what happened.

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      I summed up the match on the blog, feeling rather jubilant. ‘In the end, the 1-0 win is pleasing in that Bournemouth took their best chance and kept United at bay for another clean sheet. Eddie Howe won't have much to grumble at after that performance, and the home crowd got fully behind the team which made it a great game to be at."

If you haven't yet bought a copy of Eddie Had A Dream yet, it is still available on Amazon for £9.99 in paperback and £7.99 as an ebook download.

The Disrupted Season (2019-2020), from where this Manchester United game extract is taken, is also available for £11.49 as a paperback and £9.99 as an ebook download. If you are looking for birthday or Christmas presents for AFCB fans you can get them nice and early and the paperbacks only take a few days to arrive in the post with 15 per cent being donated to Julia's House Children's Charity.

Previous posts on Cherry Chimes - Why is Lerma thriving in the Championship

TalkSporting – Eddie Had A Dream

I had a busy afternoon yesterday. TalkSport had invited me onto their sofa to answer some questions about Eddie Had A Dream. The Hawksbee and Jacobs' Show was my destination, although Max Rushden was filling in for Paul Hawksbee.

Outside the News Building at London Bridge.

The newspapers are big around here.

I walked past the News Building first, to get an idea of where I had to go and through the glass walls I could see Westlife clearly getting ready to do an interview - star stuck already. Ever feel that you don't belong in this world, and in these glamorous surroundings?

Any way, I had to go in and get my security pass before being taken up to the 17th floor the TalkSport studio. I made my way through the reception and main lobby which had a selection of Sun newspaper headlines all lit up on six foot tall plaques - impressive!

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Once I reached the right floor, I was escorted to the green room where I was told I had a few minutes before going live on air. I quickly took in my surroundings - a couple of sofas and some pictures on the wall and the coffee machine. No evidence of all night parties!

Not a busy green room - just me and my tea and a couple of cushions.

Five minutes to go - no backing out now!

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While you prepare for these things as best you can nothing ever takes you breath away than going into the studio and meeting celebrities. Max Rushden offered a handshake before Andy Jacobs and with the greetings done, Max got to work. How long did it take you to write this book? "Too long," I replied honestly! That kind of broke the ice and Andy Jacobs started one of his infectious laughs.

I wondered how hard the questions might be to answer, but I needn't have worried. Max and Jason were interested in whether Eddie Howe would stay at AFCB or jump ship to a Tottenham or Everton? They also quizzed me on why I wanted to write the book on such a Mr Nice guy? I hadn't expected the question to be put that way, but got around to finding an answer as best I could.

Jason Cundy has a beloved Chelsea shirt on the wall and Alan Brazil has his signed Ipswich top. In between the sign reads, "Don't just appear... You have to perform. No pressure then!

I was pleased that Andy Jacobs asked me about Julia's House Children's Charity which will receive 15 per cent of my earnings of Eddie Had A Dream and soon found myself responding to how I manage to write for a magazine title called International Cement Review? Max said that would be a good Have I good News for You item - I told him similar titles had been on the show, but I stopped short of telling him the name of one of our competition titles - as I think I might have lost direction of the interview by then. Just between you and me, an opposition magazine is called 'Global Slag!'

Any way, if you missed me on air you can catch it here on this link. One phrase I'll have to master is a leaf out of his book! - perhaps I was nervous LoL.

The Who's Who wall.. If you look carefully you can see me in the image - mirrors you know.

Also I have a snippet from the book here with AFCB's first Premier League win.

Please order a copy of Eddie Had A Dream if you can - we want to get the donation up for Julia's House Children's Hospice as high as we can.

In other news, Josh King scored last night for Norway in their win 1-2 over Malta.

Eddie Had A Dream: A move to Portsmouth should have been the start of something big for Eddie Howe

There was little doubting that Eddie Howe was one of the star players in a Cherries' team that was bumping along in League Two in 2001-02. It wasn't long before other clubs were looking to see if they could take Eddie and play him at a higher level, and on 28 March 2002, Eddie Howe left AFC Bournemouth to join former AFC Bournemouth manager Harry Redknapp at Portsmouth FC. It should have been the transfer move that made Eddie Howe's career take-off, but the fact that it didn't turn out that way wasn't a opportunity to be wasted.

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Here is another extract from
Eddie Had A Dream
Chapter 4: Playershare power and Financial worries (2002-07).

Portsmouth came calling for Eddie Howe, after Harry Redknapp became Pompey’s manager. In March 2002 Eddie signed for Portsmouth on a three-year deal for £400,000. It should have been the making of the centre-back, but it turned out to be a frustrating period with Howe only making two appearances for Pompey, as he sustained a knee injury in his debut against Preston North End. Eddie was injured after 51 minutes of the game which Pompey lost 2-0. That would have been a crushing blow for any professional footballer, but Eddie is a man who considers and ponders his every move. For him, the period in rehabilitation gave him a chance to see how Harry Redknapp and Kevin Bond worked with players. Howe was once asked whether moving to Portsmouth had been a bad decision? It certainly wasn’t for Eddie in terms of personal development. He viewed it as a chance to learn from others and to find something that would add to his own makeup.

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Eddie made his comeback over a year later, on 10 August 2002, when Portsmouth played Nottingham Forest. The match was another devastating blow for Eddie, who lasted just nine minutes before his knee went again. It was only Eddie’s second game for Portsmouth and he would not play for them again.

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You can pick up your copy of Eddie Had A Dream on Amazon/Kindle as a £9.99 ebook or a £13.49 paperback.

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version -available now!

As of Saturday, after 11am - or late morning, local fans can also pop along to the In off the Far Post shop, at 901 Christchurch Road, Pokesdown, where Paul Orchard will be happy to sell you the first copies of the book that will be available locally.

I am rushing a delivery down to him and aim to be there by late morning, so - fingers crossed - he can sell some copies before and after the start of the match with Man United - do drop in and see him. He has some fantastic stock of AFC Bournemouth books and programmes and I used a lot of his information at the shop as reference for Eddie Had A Dream. You might even get a signed copy if you bump in to me!


ALSO DON'T MISS THIS! Jack Kitson at The Sack Race interviewed Cherry Chimes about Eddie Had A Dream and he has a competition give away - to read his interview and enter the free to enter competition - click this link to the Sack Race website.

Jumping on a few years from Eddie Howe's playing years, here is a video of the period when Eddie Howe left AFCB to join Burnley FC as their manager. 

Eddie Had a Dream: Chapter 8 Farewell to the Cherries 2010-11

Cherry Chimes Newsletter - out tomorrow!
Cherry Chimes' November Newsletter brings you the best stories on the blog and the thoughts behind them from last month. It's out tomorrow, with special stories - Where will we be in another seven years and can we be pleased with the start of the season?

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Eddie Had A Dream: Eddie Howe - 'the best defender in the division'

Looking back at Eddie Howe's first departure form AFC Bournemouth seems a long time ago now. Bournemouth were being managed by Sean O'Driscoll and rumours of Howe's possible departure started as early as February 2001, which is where this extract come from. Yet, Eddie Howe was to stay at AFC Bournemouth until the troubled 2001-02 season, when the club not only lost Eddie to Portsmouth but were relegated to League Two.

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Extract from Eddie Had A Dream 
Chapter 3. Captain fantastic (1999-2002)

Keeping hold of Eddie Howe became a bit of a preoccupation for Sean O’Driscoll as the season progressed. Sean was not keen on letting Eddie Howe go. Eddie was a young player that looked destined for big things. When the talk of Eddie moving came in February 2001, O’Driscoll made it clear that clubs would not get a cheap deal. In the programme notes against Walsall, Sean said: ‘To clarify Eddie’s situation, there have been numerous clubs watching games throughout the season. I was informed an offer from an unnamed club was imminent during the latter part of the week. To safeguard the interests of the payer and the club, I decided to omit Eddie from the team.’

The writing was on the wall. Eddie would be sold it seemed. Speaking on all the speculation, Eddie Howe’s agent, David Fordham told the Dorset Echo: ‘With a player as good as Eddie, and remember, he is the best defender in the division, there is always going to be interest from other clubs. It’s a matter of talent, not money. Eddie has never been money motivated.’

An unofficial bid of £600,000 was thought to have been sent to David Fordham a few days before the window shut, but Eddie Howe shrugged it off when he was named in the team to play Walsall. ‘The game did me a favour and gave me something to concentrate on. In the build-up, I wasn’t thinking about anything else and it will be the same for the match at Swindon tomorrow. I was pretty nervous before kick-off because I felt everyone would be looking at me to see how I played. I was tense during the week, but worked hard in training and was really looking forward to the game. I was a bit apprehensive about the reception I might get, but the supporters were absolutely fantastic and really helped me get through it all and I would like to thank them for that,’ Howe told the Dorset Echo. Eddie even scored in the game which some may have felt was like a parting gift.

Eddie Had A Dream is now out on paperback £13.49 and as an ebook £9.99 from Amazon/Kindle. Simply enter Eddie Had A Dream in the search field to find the books. The book should take you back to a few memories of AFC Bournemouth and years when Eddie Howe was developing as a player and then a coach. If you do buy a copy, don't forget to leave a review.

The £13.49 paperback version of the book is now available on Amazon/Kindle - click on this link

To order your £9.99 ebook copy of Eddie Had A Dream - click on this link

First season in the Premier League – cast your mind back to those back to back wins over Chelsea and Man Utd