It's full steam ahead for AFCB, but are you coming too?

We now know the full line up for the 2014/15 Championship. Well done to Rotherham. Whatever their targets for next season I am sure that AFCB's are among the most ambitious. If you hadn't realised it, AFCB is on a course to do everything it can to get to the Premiership. Take a look around you next time you are at Dean Court, it has been changing fast. The people are the same but the vision has altered. I hope the friendliness of the club does not suffer, but there is certainly ambition in peoples' eyes and it is led by the man at the top who we hardly ever see - Maxim Demin. As silent people go he is having a massive impact on what happens next. Sure there are familiar faces around such as Eddie Howe and Jeff Mostyn but many fans may be in less of a rush to get to the Premiership when they look at their increased season ticket prices, it is a different club even from what we knew 12 months ago.

Jeff Mostyn was honest enough to say that the club did not like to see season tickets escalate by so much but I felt that last season was a bit of a tester and that the club perhaps undervalued itself a little and a bit of reality has now set in. This is not a business where it is easy to break even and despite when you have a reasonably successful club. Finances have to be put in place for AFCB to keep its push for the top tier alive and there had to come a time when the club would ask a bit more from its supporters.

How that will all go down is something that we will all see for ourselves come early August when we look around at who is sitting next to us. In some ways it would have been nice if the club had announced a few valuable sweeteners like making some of the pre-season games half price for season ticket holders or discounts on away matches if you have signed up for the new season ticket, such things may yet still happen of course. I also saw a campaign started for raising the Junior Cherry age limit to 18 which would seem sensible to me considering that education continues to the age of 18.

There's a lot happening at the Goldsands stadium these days.

These are all things that we can ponder about and talk to the club about, but the one thing you have to ask yourself is what do you want of your football club. Is it simply good football at the Championship level or the dream of Premiership football? If it is neither, you have long since left the Goldsands stadium and for those that remain the difficult times are coming, because we simply don't have the pool of fans yet that is big enough to keep prices low and sustain the push the club to the heights that it wants to get to. Being an AFCB support is never easy even when the sun is shining.  

World Cup Chimes takes a look at Wayne Rooney and asks is he world class?

Junior Cherries have unbelievable tekkers

We all want to inspire the Junior Cherries to enjoy their football and not only like following the Cherries, but to get them to take part in playing the game for themselves, and staying as fans of the Cherries for the rest of their lives. There have been some great initiatives to help the youngsters of today feel connected with AFCB. I particularly like the Minikicker schools which take place often on a Saturday morning at the Goldsands stadium, on the team's small five a-side training areas. The fact that the training schools also have sessions to encourage any young footballer to come along within the age groups being featured is superb. I wish I had had an opportunity when I was a kid. All through October there are some great opportunities that the official club website points out.

This week the young supporters are being asked to have a go at Ian Harte's left foot challenge to win a pair of his boots. What exactly they will do with the boots I don't know, but they could put them on display and you never know they could grow up to be the same size. The good thing is that they will be encouraged to go outside and get some exercise kicking a ball around.

I would like to say that I try and encourage my two boys to go out and kick a ball around when I can. They are not going to be Kaka or Ronaldo but we have great fun doing our Know Howe videos and generally running about. That reminds me, I must do another Know Howe soon.

Unbelievable Tekkers!

I did spot a certain character who was perhaps looking to get involved the other week in playing some football. I think all the pre-match training sessions with the Junior Cherries has been paying off, because Eddie Bear is a bit of a natural now at playing keep-me-uppy. What do you reckon?  

The cinema is just the ticket for Junior Cherries

When most of the football league is discussing safe standing, Junior Cherries will have more of a mind to be taking a seat at the cinema if it is raining now that AFCB has signed a deal with Empire Cinemas. This is another great win for Junior Cherries who will get even more value from their membership. While it is not an active fitness activity like the Spalshdown tie-up, I am sure that Junior Cherries will be keen to see the latest blockbusters when AFCB are not playing.

How do you feel about the link up? With 16 venues across the country even exiled Junior Cherries should be able to get to a screen. Makes me want to be eight years old again. 

How can the club attract more Junior Cherries?

Last weeks blog on "To what extreme would you go to support AFCB?" only goes to prove that we are not all here forever and it is really important for AFCB to encourage our youngsters to get them inspired enough to come down to Dean Court and follow the team.

Serena Stone and her team can be justifiably proud of their NPower League One award-winning achievements in building the support of young club members. While the club reached 1500 Junior Cherry members last February we can expect that figure to have risen with the number of new Family stand season ticket holders for 2013-14.

Successes have included
- The Family Days with extra attractions outside the ground with competitions and a lower entrance fees.
- pre-match games under the Main stand
- Match day food packs
- Player visits to schools and learning establishments in the local community
- Christmas cards with players' signatures
- Half time penalty shoot outs against Cherry Bear
- The newsletters and competitions in the Red&Black programme
- Spalshdown discount
- Club shop discount
- Soccer schools
- Mascot experience.

I am sure there are many other things the club offers as well. The question is how can the club attract even more youngsters? Football has to compete with many other attractions and expenses and while the club is doing well it must look to grab every opportunity to feed off this success by pulling in new supporters. I have been asking my two Junior Cherries what more the club could offer to get boys and girls of their age to come more regularly or what would excite them? 

We came up with a double strategy: firstly, ideas to attract new Junior Cherries and secondly ways to keep them interested in the club.

Attracting new members
- A special monthly radio programme on Hot Radio for Junior Cherries where they get to express their views and speak with the players 
- Career Days. If children can see that there are different careers to be made in football then it might open their minds to more opportunities. We now have so much to see in terms of the radio station, gym and training pitches as well as physio equipment, changing rooms and the media department.
- Stadium Tours to become more of a regular opportunity offered to classes from local schools and youth groups.

Keeping Junior Cherries entertained
Half-time entertainment I know is something that the club is looking at. A few different game ideas could be tried:
- A SoccerAM-style shoot out with a hardboard cover on the goal with target holes cut out for Junior Cherries to shoot from League 1 to the Champions League.
- Football bowling with Junior Cherries and parents trying to kick a ball near to a target coloured ball or into a target area of the pitch to win a signed shirt or other prize. I saw something like this at Swindon a couple of years ago.
- Could we get one of those large human table football pitches in? Might take too long to set up at half time but perhaps pre-match.
- Sumo wrestling suit race, dribble around cones before shooting like Superstars football.

To attract new junior members we have to also encourage parents as its the adults that need to bring the children to the ground and supervise them. Many adults may still need to be convinced that a match day is a very different experience to what it was say 10 years ago.

I think we should encourage existing Junior Cherries to give more feedback about what they like or don't like. Something could be set up online with a kids ask the club/player a question section. Are there any computer programmers out there who could make an AFCB computer football game for Junior Cherries as well? Perhaps a MySims type of game where you grow your club's support by various means. I'd better get copyright on that one.

It's important to realise that children can come up with great ideas and have far more imagination than us adults. They also tend to know what they like. So I hope the club asks them for their thoughts more often. If you or your Junior Cherries have some great ideas why not send them to the club's liaison officer?

AFCB is swelling its ranks of supporters

AFCB is certainly going through a building phase at the moment. While the South stand may be delayed because of the prospect of being able to attract enough away supporters for a larger capacity stand there are plenty of other developments on the horizon.

This week's announcement that more than 2000 season tickets for next year's home matches have already been sold is excellent. The ground swell of new supporters is really gathering pace and Eddie Mitchell looks keen to harness further supporters with a new club shop in Poole.

AFCB has successfully been building its Junior Cherry Support in the last couple of years and I see it growing even more in the next 12 months. Those who were hoping to just turn up on match day and buy a ticket to get into the family stand look as if they will be unable to do that now. By extending the family zone to the Main stand No 1 block, family membership is really looking strong.

It makes you wonder what is the possible catchment area of AFCB? While Southampton are in the Premiership you might have thought it difficult to see the Cherries attracting many more fans but having reached the Championship, the lure of quality football at Dean Court is really bringing in the numbers. I would think that it would be possible to have home support of 15,000 in the coming years if and when the ground is further developed.

For now, with may big clubs having to visit the Goldsands stadium next season it is a shame that we may only be able to offer an extra 3000 or so temporary seats on top of our current capacity. But in the long term, a permanent South stand with a larger capacity would seem the prudent option for the board to take if we can sustain Championship football.

After that the club may have to look at ways of expanding the capacity for home supporters. Along with that though will come further planning, safety issues and car parking needs. But I feel that those are good challenges to have considering where AFCB was only a few seasons ago.

AFCB's League One Family Award was well deserved

I was absolutely delighted to hear that AFCB had won the League One Family Club of the Year Award at the Brewery in London on Sunday night. The club has done some fabulous things for families like the special family days, when prices are lowered and there are lots of activities for the younger Cherries, and the brilliant Junior Cherry scheme which is bursting with new members all the time. My boys particularly like it when we get to the ground early and they can play under the Main stand for a while with Cherry Bear and their friends.

I expect that this Easter there will also be a lot of fun at Dean Court for visiting families with a packed schedule already organised by the look of the information in the last match day programme. 

I would like to think that the award gives a bit more of a balanced view of some of the pricing at the club, which was rather unfairly given a one-sided view by the BBC's League One survey earlier this season that took the most expensive ticket for the basis of its research.

The Junior Cherries will hopefully become the future of our fan base and it is vital that the club does everything it can to attract more young members. To see so many young faces around the ground always pleases me and it is great that so many families enjoy their day when they come to the Goldsands Stadium. Well done to all the staff at AFCB who helped win the Family Award. It just shows everyone inside and outside of the club that it is another aspect that AFCB has got right. 

I hope that Cherry Chimes can, in some small way, also offer the Family stand a bit of a voice and give all Cherry fans a chance to express their opinions about anything concerning the club.

Putting smiles on people's faces is what it is all about. We have a great club and so many people that are really trying to make a difference to try and get AFCB where the supporters, players and management want the club to be.

Ellis Dunne has a special match day experience at the Cherries

Guest article
Written by Michael Dunne and Ellis Dunne, 

AFCB Season Ticket Holders - Family Stand

Ellis arrives early at the Goldsands Stadium and
is confident of scoring against Cherry Bear 

On Saturday 9 March 2013, Ellis was one of several mascots for the game against Doncaster Rovers. Ellis’s opportunity came as a result of his father doing a short stint as Cherry Bear when Steve Fletcher came to visit him at work.

Cherry Bear is ready to go to work

Father Michael with Steve Fletcher                

Ellis arrived at the Court at 1pm to begin his duties. This was unusually early because, despite living quite close to the ground, most weeks it is a last minute dash to make it into his seat just as the teams come out onto the pitch.

As a result, it was quite a surprise to see the amount of supporters milling around the ground two hours before kick off. Ellis waited outside the main entrance for a few minutes and joined some of the fans in wishing Marc Pugh, Shaun MacDonald and Wes Fogdan good luck as they arrived to begin preparations for the match. It wasn’t long before Ellis joined the other mascots and their excellent minders Lewis and Luke in following their heroes into the home dressing room.

Ellis joins the other mascots for a kick about

Ellis went from player to player collecting signatures with his complementary autograph book and pen. He had his photo taken with Marc Pugh for publication in the next match programme and all of the team were very kind to him. Emerging from the main entrance after half an hour, he reported that there was a lot of laughing and joking in the dressing room, and this despite the absence of Harry Arter.

Following a kick about with Cherry Bear in the Junior Fanzone under the family stand, Ellis was back on duty as kick off approached.

With the team warming up on the pitch, Ellis and his fellow mascots did some pre-match exercises in the shadow of the main stand and it was here that Ellis put three goals past Liam to record a hat trick on his Dean Court debut. The mascots were then called to the centre circle and introduced to the crowd before heading back down the tunnel once again.

All smiles for the photographs

Cherry Bear gets in on the action

Waiting in the tunnel for the match to begin, Ellis was playfully given a straight red card by referee Fred Graham. Captain Steve Cook gave lots of verbal encouragement to his players and then Ellis was lucky enough to join him in leading the team out onto the pitch. Ellis shook hands with Mr Graham and the other officials before doing the same with the Rovers players. He then made his way to the centre circle for a few more photos with the officials and captains before leaving the pitch to a standing ovation from at least one very proud parent.

If you have been a mascot or want to talk about a particular match day experience that was unusual or funny, get in touch with Cherry Chimes. Other Cherry fans will love to hear your unique story.

Junior Cherry away day - Leyton Orient

The day started at a reasonable hour for Robert Bell and Stephen Bell for once. An away day at Leyton Orient though still required us all to get up by 9 O'Clock if we were going to get some time in London before the big game.

After breakfast it was up to the bathroom to wash the face and back downstairs to put on the war paint. Dad was first to do his, trying to put his AFCB logo face on by looking into a mirror - what a disaster. But several attempts later he was pleased with the result. We'll let you decide though.

Next up to sit in the big chair was 12 year old Robert and we soon discovered that a hairband might be required if we weren't going to have his hair multi-coloured as well as his face. Job done!

Good job Stephen has his eye's shut so he can't see Dad. Stephen
wasn't having a hairband for this, so it had to be a hat

Stephen, 10, then sat still for a few minutes as dad did the honours with the sponge and brushes that had by this time covered most of the table with face paint. Sorry, Mum!

Robert on his way to Redhill 

Stephen stops and asks dad to
check on how he looks

Then it was off in the car down to Redhill where we were all dropped off and had a short walk to the railway station. On route we were asked by one passing lady if it was Comic Relief day! Typical, after all that effort we had gone to. Then again, red wigs' are probably more common on Red Nose day than on AFCB away days.

We asked a couple of unsuspecting strangers to capture us on camera and then waited for the train on the platform and, sure enough, it arrived on time at 10.48am. The boys eventually managed to find some spare seats on the train, which was packed, and we started to pick up lots of strange looks and smiles as people tried to work out our football team.

Outside Redhill train station 

On the platform - a sign of quality? Must be a reference to our team

Heading to London

Robert got the last seat, unlucky Dad!

The journey was slow because of some works on the line but we got into Victoria Station by 11.30am and again pounced on the nearest bystander to ask them to kindly take our picture. This turned into a marathon as they tried to figure out which button to press. It was a good picture though.

 

Arrived safely at Victoria Station

Down we went to the underground where we hopped on the Victoria line and headed up to Oxford Circle on the Central line. We then went west for one more stop to Bond Street and stood in front of Selfridges. Just like Steve Cook and Tommy Elphick we are big fans of the TV show and we weren't going to let Steve Cook get one over on us as we heard that he had visited the store recently. Stephen and Robert gazed for some time at the windows with their moving mechanical displays that were all about shoes. This was the shop's Shoe Carnival gallery of displays that will run until 21 April.


Outsdie Selfridges

As we entered the shop, rather hesitantly, wondering what security would say about our faces and if we would be ushered out, we were pleased to see that staff immediately came up to us with great big smiles and asked what match we were going to? Having toured the ground floor we headed up the elevators to the kids section where we were again admired by passersby and staff. Robert and Stephen found a car that they wanted dad to buy for about £19,500! Sorry, boys it's not happening.

No you still can't have the car boys!

It was time for lunch so we had a quick bite in Oxford Street before heading to Hamleys toy shop where the boys visited the store for their first time. We had a great time trying all the latest gadgets out and as we left to get a photo, a store man - dressed in his soldiers uniform - shouted: "What's going on here then," as he saw our made up faces. He came out of the shop and saw that we were sat on his red podium. He tried to blast us all with his bubble blowing machine gun, so we had to protect our faces from the soapy attack.

The boys have to make a quick 

escape after they sit on one of Hamley's
red boxes

Finally, we were heading eastbound on the Central line to the game but there was a problem with the train ahead that meant we were stuck for some time at Holborn. We eventually got going again and Stephen found himself deep in conversation with some AFC Bournemouth fans that had arrived on the train further down the line. A lady in her special white AFCB hat asked Stephen where he usually sat at Dean Court and he told her usually in the Family stand, although he also likes it when we go in the Steve Fletcher stand. The lady and her partner were season ticket holders in the East stand. They had started out much earlier in the day and were pleased to see the effort we had made with our faces.
As we walked through Leyton to the ground we continued to get some laughs and questioning glances as we streamed down the high street with a throng of highly excited Bournemouth supporters now following in our footsteps. We had a quick walk around the sides of the stadium and visited the club shop to pick up a programme before taking on some banter with the security guards in Brisbane Road. As the match progressed the boys enjoyed the atmosphere and acquired a couple of the blue balloons that had been released into the crowd. While giving their very best vocal support we couldn't rouse the team on to a victory, but we hope the team saw our faces and appreciated our support.

Made it to Orient's ground

There was just time to get on the tube to see one more store after the game and we headed off to Leicester Square where we dropped into M&Ms and started to load up with sweets. I won't tell you the price, but be reassured that dad won't be allowing the boys to fill up those empty bags with M&Ms again unless he has won the lottery.

M&Ms a costly move on dad's part 

Spot the Junior Cherry

With tummies full and tired limbs needing to go home we managed to get on a train from Victoria that took us as far as East Croyden. On board we were questioned about who we supported again to get the reply: "All that effort just for Orient and Bournemouth?" "Absolutely," we said. "We follow Eddie Howe's Barmy Army."

Having got off at East Croyden awaiting the last train to take us back to Redhill in Surrey, dad got talking with a Liverpool fan. The fan was desperate to know how his team had fared against Wigan, but we had no idea. Dad spoke with him for some 20 minutes about football, the Liverpool 92 and all that needed to be put right with the beautiful game.

Finally, we arrived back in Redhill at around 8 O'Clock. It had been a big adventure and while we did not get the result we wanted from the match, we all enjoyed seeing the team and being part of that 1407 strong Barmy Army that sang their hearts out for our team in East London.