AFCB on loan report

I thought it would be good to catch up with a few AFCB players that are currently at other clubs on loan to see how they are faring. Top of my list were those at Coventry City as I had seen that the Midland's club is only sitting mid-table and I wondered how much game time some of the AFCB players had been getting. I also wanted to see how much news there was on Miles Addison's injury and how Jayden Stockley and Matt Tubbs were doing in League Two and what of Stephan Zubar after his Scottish adventure?

Jayden has been doing well at Cambridge Utd.

Coventry City are one team that you can't help but keep one eye on now if you are a Cherries fan. With Ryan Allsop, Josh McQuoid and Mohamed Coulibaly at the club it is by far the team most supported by on loan AFCB players. Tonight, the Sky Blues will finally play their first game home back at the Rioch Arena. It will been quite an occasion for the home fans as well as for Coventry players and with Gillingham the opposition it was a chance to leap frog them in the league table. Coventry have gained six points before the game and Josh McQuoid is beginning to look the part for them having scored two league goals this season in his forward role against Barnsley and Swindon, plus a goal in the Football League Trophy against Wycombe Wanderers. Keeping out the goals has been a test for Ryan Allsop who has done reasonably okay just letting in six in his first five matches, while he earned a clean sheet against promotion favourites MK Dons. Mohamed Coulibaly has made the subs bench against Swindon, MK Dons, Barnsley and Sheffield Utd but has yet to make his debut for the Sky Blues from what I can see. Maybe he'll get his chance tonight.

Miles is back in the treatment room and may need an operation.

Miles Addisson has had even worse luck at Scunthorpe as he is now back at AFCB receiving assessment after injuring a knee against Walsall which was the Iron's first three points of the season. Miles loan spell was due to end at the start of September but probably would have continued if he had not have got injured. I expect Miles to go back out on loan as soon as he is fit again (perhaps six to eight weeks) and you'd expect Russ Wilcox to have the first say on having him if he is wanted back at Scunthorpe who are really short on numbers. 

Another defender we have not seen at AFCB for a while is Stephan Zubar who was on trial at Cambridge Utd at the end of pre-season and then went up to Partick Thistle for three days to try and get some games. He played for Thistle against Sunderland in a 3-1 pre-season win, but transfer deadline day has passed without any news on a potential move, although he is now reported to be heading to Crewe Alexandria for a trial, according to the Echo.

Dropping down a division it is worth having a quick look at Cambridge Utd and AFCB Wimbledon. Jayden Stockley has been on target twice against Carlisle and has helped united up to ninth in the division. Meanwhile, Matt Tubbs has been hitting form and is already up to five goals, four of which were in the league, so AFC Wimbledon are going to be pleased with him.

Torquay Utd is another club with strong links with the Cherries as the manager their is Chris Hargreaves, former AFCB 1st team coach. Josh Wakefield has just gone to the Conference club and played a few late minutes against Dartford and 45 minutes against Lincoln, but was taken off as Torquay changed their system at half time. A few more matches at that level though should give Josh invaluable experience. It certainly was a good club for Bailey Cargill and Jayden Stockley last season.

It's all been going on at Exeter City ahead of AFCB's visit

I know it's tough down in League Two and some clubs have it harder than others. AFCB's opponents tonight though in the Capital One Cup could have had an easier ride over the summer. At first questions were asked about the wisdom of taking the team as far away as Brazil in pre-season when funds might better be spent on other things. Then there was a social media storm with captain Danny Coles finding himself stripped of the captaincy and transfer listed. I haven't even got to the chief executive, Guy Wolfenden, resigning and manager Paul Tisdale naming himself as a player for the first league game against Portsmouth, as the squad had a bug and was short of numbers. Oh, and the club has a transfer embargo as well.

Such problems make you think that Paul Tisdale is quite a special manager. This is reinforced when you see that he is the second longest serving football league manager. Only Arsen Wenger is above him in that respect and up until last year Tisdale probably had just as much silverware in the boardroom cabinet (Eddie Howe is already 27th by the way). But seriously, it takes a special kind of manager to deal with all the non-football matters of a club when you are in League Two and yet don't let anyone tell you that the fans don't see their football as a life or death matter. It matters to Exeter fans how they do against rivals Plymouth and even Torquay Utd in pre-season. The relegation of Torquay probably seemed good to the Exeter fans but in the long run they need their derby matches as something to look forward to I would have thought.  

Exeter are showing that they are up for the fight this season and probably felt unlucky not to get all three points in their first league game against a strong Pompey side on Saturday. The side that Tisdale put out probably gives a pretty good idea of how the team will set up as they don't have a vast array of numbers. Tom Nichol's was on target then and the forward is only 20 and will surely improve under Tisdale's coaching, while he is on loan from Dorchester Town. Exeter's problems though are highlighted by the fact that they only had four shots at goal against Portsmouth all match, but at least they were all on target. The difficulties over the depth of the squad are shown in that fact that the team has first year professionals like Jason Pope and Connor-Riley Lowe, while Ollie Watkins was on the bench on Saturday and in July was said not yet to have make a first team debut. So it really is a bit of a Development squad at Exeter with some seasoned professionals like, Pat Baldwin who is on loan from Southend and Matt Oakley, former Saints player.

What team Eddie Howe plays is almost any one's guess but you would expect some of those needing some minutes under their belt would be used like, Ward, Fraser, MacDonald, Flahavan, Pitman, Rantie, Smith and Cargill, but perhaps one or two Development players will get a go too like Ben Whitfield and Sam Matthews. If you are heading off to St James Park, enjoy the game. 

Kyle's Cups also has an extra article that profiles Exeter City's captain Scott Bennett.

Eunan O'Kane may be able to help Torquay

I don't think Chris Hargreaves will have won too many new Bournemouth fans with his views that Eunan O'Kane is ready for the Premiership. Still he has a motive for saying such things with 15 per cent of any transfer fee going to the Devon club who are now in the Conference and will be seeking plenty of funds to keep what players they can. How much this is the work of agents looking to get their players a move is hard to tell, but I would rather have a team to support where the players have been doing well and are being looked upon as great buys than a team struggling to find form and no way of off loading players. 

Eunan O'Kane has been a central link in AFCB's great season.

Eddie Howe will certainly be less keen to see his players constantly being held up as potential Premiership buys unless he really has a desire to boost the club's finances by cashing in on the players that have done so well for him. Eunan is definitely one of the players who has shown that he can play at the highest level and his performances really carried the team for a while in the early part of the season. He found his role as a deep midfield player and his confidence has just continued to grow ever since that FA Cup goal he hit against Wigan.

Whether a Premiership club is ready to take a shot at Eunan is mere speculation at the moment but as the papers go through the Bournemouth squad in assessing each one's merits as a potential buy we may have to nail down the goal posts at Dean Court just in case any body wants those as well. The constant that may well keep players at the club is the knowledge that Eddie Howe and Jason Tindall are not going anywhere. It is just as well as the exodus could be substantial and AFCB will need a manager that can assemble a new team with pedigree. Twitter noise has been linking AFCB with St Mirren Midfielder Kenny McLean, but AFCB are quiet on potential targets at the moment.

Just in case any Premiership managers are reading this - there are other Championship clubs with good players apart from AFC Bournemouth. UTCIAD!

The FA - still looking for answers

Here's a little extra story for you, I just had to get this off my chest. I had a look on the BBC website today to see that the Greg Dyke commission, that is looking into how to make the England team more competitive so that it can win a World Cup, had come up with the idea that there should be a competition for Premiership and Championship B teams. The B teams or Development squad in Bournemouth's case would be in a league between league Two and the Conference or would be merged with League Two and the Conference. Am I going crazy or does it sound a daft idea? I just can't see how it could possibly work.

The number of teams involved would be too many and wouldn't it just lessen the power of League Two teams that would find Arsenal B and Man City B for example, now coming before them on the League pyramid. If I was a supporter of a League Two club I would be furious, let along a Conference team. It is hard enough as it is to get into the league and to climb the divisions but now you would have to beat the second teams of Man Utd and Chelsea etc. Surely this would kill all the lower league teams on one foul swoop, but perhaps that is what the FA want.

Oh, and meanwhile the big clubs get richer because their B teams are also getting the revenue that your Hartlepools and Accrington Stanley's needed to survive. No doubt TV money would be placed with the B teams over the York City's of this world.

I also wonder about the crowds as well. It is hard enough to get big crowds to lower division matches and if this proposal was tried do you think Torquay fans would be queueing up to see their team play Bournemouth B? If the FA need some ideas why don't they ask the fans.

I would rather see the B teams get more playing time if that is what they need by having regional competitions that ended up in final days at St George's Park where they could let school kids from around the country come and watch for free. It is the loan system that is wrong with the Premiership teams having too many players on their books.

I am gong to be even more controversial here. If the FA want a project to build up the nation to try and win a World Cup why don't they look deeper at women's football and ensure that our leagues grow and become the best women's leagues, so that we have more of a chance at winning that?  

If any one thinks the idea of a B Team league is a good one I'd like to hear why.
  

Backroom staff changes at AFCB

As we know, Chris Hargreaves left AFCB today to take up his position as manager at Torquay and it subsequently followed that Paul Groves and Shaun Brooks had resigned from their positions, according to the Bournemouth Echo. That leaves quite a hole in the backroom training staff at AFCB and it will be interesting to see if Eddie Howe looks to bring some more staff in quickly. I wonder of a few are sitting uneasy at Burnley, as Eddie and Jason left a lot of staff there when they returned to the south coast.

Chris Hargreaves watches Wes Thomas shooting before Ipswich match.

Andrew Surman is put through his paces by Chris Hargreaves.

Many fans have already been wondering if Steve Fletcher will change his role at the club. Stephen Purches could also be asked to do some extra duties.

Will such matters affect the players? Well I hope not, although some familiar faces no longer being around will no doubt be missed. Yet, AFCB is a club that seems to transform and evolve constantly and this season is no different.

What an opportunity for a young coach though who would get the opportunity to work with the youth team or the first team at a Championship club. Surely there will be no shortage of applicants, but it is another administerial job to do when perhaps Howe at least will be keen to be focusing on player matters, which is busy enough with the transfer window now open. At least the opportunity should allow Eddie to bring in the people he wants.

Good luck to all those who have left the club, particularly good luck to Chris who I hope does well at Torquay. I already see a possible pre-season friendly being arranged.