AFC Bournemouth: "That's Howe It's Done"

Some good results, especially against Hull. Room for improvement though as I see that you are conceding a fair few. Overall, a very good month which sees you sitting top of the league still!

Also this;

• Manchester United currently sit top of the Premier League though, and so far, are yet to feel the pain of a loss.

Top of the league, Howe is this possible?!?!

AlexTHFC: Thanks, we're doing okay, yeah

Josh: The result against Hull was great, especially since they're performing really well in the Premier League at the moment, and have beaten Liverpool. And, Man United are way too good on FM, we all know that...

Justice: It was only a matter of time before you made that joke, damn it..

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In the second of AFC Bournemouth TV’s exclusive player interviews, we meet up with the club’s record signing, Callum Wilson.

Things couldn’t really be going much better for Callum Wilson right now. Bournemouth’s summer signing from Coventry City has continued exactly where he left off last season, confirming his credentials as one of the country’s most exciting young strikers at the Championship-topping Cherries.

”It’s been a good start, but I know I can build on my performances and improve further,” spoke a confident and driven football player, telling you everything you need to know about his character and his desire as a person, too. Here is a guy, who even when being interviewed, delivers the passion he puts into his game – attributes that can take him to the very top.

Wilson made his way through the ranks at Coventry, making his professional debut in 2009 at just 17. He made his League debut the following season before loans spells at Kettering and Tamworth. With limited appearances coming in the 2012/13 campaign, last season was his first full one for the Sky Blues. Despite being absent for two months with a dislocated shoulder, he struck 22 goals in 41 games, form in his breakthrough year then understandably alerting a large number of clubs to his talents.

Norwich City and Wolves were among the clubs that missed out on him, Bournemouth acquiring the services of Coventry’s Player of the Year, for a fee of £3million. As other players have noted though, the chance to work with Eddie Howe is a factor which inevitably swayed his decision. “Eddie is a top, top bloke and a great manager to be working under. He has done some magnificent things for this club, and its players too. I felt that at Bournemouth with Eddie, I had a better chance to develop, and was seriously interested in being part of the gaffer’s project and long term vision,” Wilson noted.

With six league goals and three assists in his first eight Championship games of the season, Wilson has adapted to life in a higher division fantastically well. Not only that but he has quickly settled into life at Dean Court, obviously making things easier on the pitch. He explained, “Everyone in the squad, they’re all great lads. They welcomed me in, made me feel at home, and I am grateful for that. We have a strong harmony, a strong bond, and that for me is particularly crucial to bringing in success on the field.”

Wilson has plenty of qualities that make him an exciting player. He possesses a lot of pace that causes defenders problems and allows him to beat them with ease. This is also added with his dribbling capabilities and the way he keeps the ball so well. Not to mention his superb eye for goal that makes him a natural finisher.

He has all the tools that could potentially make him a Premier League striker in the future, perhaps sooner rather than later if things continue the way they are especially with Bournemouth doing so well. “It’s early days, of course, that why it’s about maintaining good form and exceeding people’s expectations. It’s about being consistent. We need to hit form and I need to be consistent in front of goal, as well,” Wilson admitted.

He added, ”We’re always looking to aim high, be ambitious and so is the manager. There is no other way to put it: we are targeting promotion. That may put some pressure on the team, but we’re more than capable of rising to it, and hope that the success will follow soon.”

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NOTE: These particular player interviews are written so that readers can understand a little bit more about the Bournemouth players and the history of their careers. If you want to read about a particular member of our squad in the next interview, leave a comment of their name.

Last Update: Season One: September
Next Update: Season One: October

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Eddie Howe insisted that his team would be taking things ‘one game at a time’ in October, but with a favourable set of fixtures, he all too well knew that the opportunity to build a lead at the top of the Championship was clear cut. Then again, The Cherries headed into the month without a win in their last three league fixtures, a slight stutter in an otherwise excellent opening to the campaign. Games against Bolton, Charlton, Reading and Birmingham would provide the chance to get back and track, plus there was the added bonus of a trip to the Boleyn Ground in the Capital One Cup.

Match Results

Bournemouth Goals: Yann Kermorgant (10, 30)
Bolton Goals: None
Man of the Match: Bournemouth’s Yann Kermorgant, 8.8 Match Rating


Bournemouth Goals: Callum Wilson (24, 58), Junior Stanislas (65)
Charlton Goals: None
Man of the Match: Bournemouth’s Callum Wilson, 9.2 Match Rating


Bournemouth Goals: Callum Wilson (20), Dan Gosling (50)
Reading Goals: Simon Cox (38)
Man of the Match: Bournemouth’s Dan Gosling, 8.5 Match Rating


Bournemouth Goals: Yann Kermorgant (56, 78), Shaun MacDonald (87)
Birmingham Goals: Andrew Shinnie (60 pen)
Man of the Match: Bournemouth’s Yann Kermorgant, 9.1 Match Rating



Bournemouth Goals: Ryan Fraser (29), Callum Wilson (43)
West Ham Goals: Alex Song (3), Stewart Downing (6), Aaron Cresswell (79)
Man of the Match: West Ham’s Alex Song, 8.3 Match Rating

League Table

Due to Bournemouth’s excellent league form within October, they have now pulled away from fellow challengers and have a seven point advantage over 2nd place Derby County. This month has seen The Cherries maintain their record of being table toppers all season long, and it’s hard to see them slipping at the moment, considering their current performance level. There’s still a long way to go though, and with the league being extremely competitive, there can be no rest bite in the bid for promotion.

Goal of the Month

Dan Gosling’s first league goal for Bournemouth was a special one and proved to be the match winning goal against Reading, as the midfielder turned in a Man of the Match performance to help his side to a 2-1 success. The strike came about five minutes into the second half, Yann Kermorgant chipping the ball into Gosling’s path, and the former Everton man dispatching his volley with aplomb.

Player of the Month

Yann Kermorgant has been one of the star players of the season for Bournemouth, striking up a formidable partnership with Callum Wilson, in attack. And once again, the Frenchman was in fine form during October, bagging four goals and also adding 3 assists to his name too. His overall play has always been very good – an aerial presence, strong, and good link-up/hold-up play – but now he’s just that bit more clinical. Already, Kermorgant has 12 league goals, just one less than he managed in the entirety of last season. At 32 years old, he’s one of the most experienced players in the squad, and certainly one of the most talented.

Managers Thoughts

Despite our cup defeat against West Ham, I was delighted with results over the last month, with four wins out of four in the league. Obviously success in the Championship is our main priority and with our form so impressive in that competition, there’s not a bad word I can say against the players right now. Bolton, Charlton, Reading and Birmingham are admittedly not teams in the higher echelons of the division but as we’ve seen on plenty of occasions, anybody can beat anybody in the Championship. So, to pick up two clean sheets along the way was excellent, as well as scoring another ten goals. Back onto the Capital One Cup defeat, and I thought we performed admirably, and were in fact slightly unlucky. We were missing some of our key men such as Ritchie and Kermorgant, but gave a great effort against a team with a lot of quality. I would have liked to have seen us progress, but we had a good little run and still have some enjoyable memories of the Hull City match.

Championship Monthly Awards

Elsewhere In England

• Manchester United and Blackburn Rovers are now the only two teams in the country yet to lose a league game this season.
• Arsene Wenger’s role as Arsenal manager is now in serious danger, with The Gunners languishing in 14th place in the Premier League table.
• Martin Jol is the new manager of Newcastle United.
• There is another recently appointed boss on Teesside with Sunderland replacing the sacked Gus Poyet with former Wolves boss Kenny Jackett.
• Swindon Town have recorded the biggest victory of the season with a 7-0 triumph over League One strugglers Colchester United.

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Last Update: Callum Wilson: A Rising Star
Next Update: The Stats Behind Bournemouth’s Stunning Start

Another good month congrats

• Manchester United and Blackburn Rovers are now the only two teams in the country yet to lose a league game this season.

Also nice month.

That 7-point lead in the standings already is incredible. It's going to take a while for someone to even come close to pipping you to the title!

Ryan Dan Gosling scoring a peach!

Cappy13: Thanks!

Josh: I have just realised, I need to stop including news about Utd in my updates...

Walter: True, but don't underestimate other Championship sides. This division is so unpredictable, meaning it isn't that surprising to see a team claw their way back into the promotion mix and another team lose form and miss out. Still, I would be angry beyond belief if we somehow failed to achieve promotion considering the position we are in now.

Justice: Yep, it was a cracker! And... Ryan Gosling, really?!

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Sitting pretty at the top of the Championship table must be an even sweeter sight for Bournemouth fans considering the years of struggle, over the past decade.

It is representative of Eddie Howe and his magnificent work at the club that The Cherries are pushing for Premier League football, and doing so with a free flowing attacking style of play which is hauling in results. Confidence is key in football and nowhere is that truer than the Championship, and at Dean Court it is in abundance, not least among the supporters.

Bournemouth finished last season in 10th place, a late play-off push unfortunately ending in failure. However, similar form has been kept up in the new campaign and with fourteen games having passed, we are starting to see the genuine promotion contenders emerge – Bournemouth clearly a firm favourite, now.

As is Howe’s philosophy, his side are firing in goals from all angles, at the moment. It is no surprise then that they are the divisions’ highest scorers with 34 goals, Yann Kermorgant and Callum Wilson making up most of that number, having bagged a combined amount of 24 goals. Although their defensive record is not quite on the same level, their overall goal difference has not taken too much of a hit and at +21 is still far above that of other teams.

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As the graphic displays, Bournemouth have kick started the season very impressively, setting a club record for the best opening to a new campaign.

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While the manager likes his side to play openly and expansively, the aim to retain possession at nearly all costs, is not lost. An average possession of 55.4%, the utmost percentage out of all opposing second tier clubs, is clear evidence of the mentality and stands up to scrutiny that teams cannot be as efficient as possible when having too much control of the ball.

Just the single loss for Bournemouth in the league is another outstanding figure from the first three months of the 2014/15 season. Even after that defeat, suffered against Derby Country away from home, The Cherries were quickly back up and running. The response was, as you may have guessed, a victory and a four match winning streak which is still being maintained now. There is still a little way to go before that run overtakes their run of seven consecutive league wins from August to September, but the squad definitely has the capability to surpass feats they have set themselves.

Having a foot hold of the league table is obviously the most important statistic of them all, and not only do Howe’s team clutch a seven point advantage over second place Derby, but they are also storming most of the player charts. Jordan Rhodes of Blackburn may be the ‘Top Goalscorer’, closely trailed by Kermorgant and Wilson, but the listings for ‘Highest Average Rating’, ‘Most Assists’ and ‘Highest Pass Completion’ are all headed by Bournemouth players.

Bournemouth simply put are flying, turning heads in every game. They’re not only the talk of the town, they’re the talk of the nation right now, and so it is well documented how massive promotion would be for the club both on and off the field. The management team and players will continue to go about their day-to-day business in the same way, as you would expect, while the rest of the Football League watches on in envy and in some respects begins to dare to emulate their success. How things can change so very quickly, in football.

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Last Update: Season One: October
Next Update: Not here yet!

just caught up, fantastic read, going well in the league keep it up

dat graphic doe.

Denzy: Thanks man!

Josh: It is alright, I suppose... cheers Joshie

As you may or may not have known, before this Bournemouth story I was running a lower league management story, with Havant and Waterlooville. Four seasons into that save, the file became corrupt to my immense frustration.

The same thing has happened now with Bournemouth, and although the season is still fairly young and I could just start the save all over again, I really do not want to go through that entire process as it would probably lose the fun factor. I should probably shoulder some of the blame as once more I did not have a back-up file, yet at the same time, there is no way this should be happening for a second time.

This was a really enjoyable story to write and a fun save to play, but it is a real shame that I could not make it as long term as I was hoping. I would like to say a big thanks for all the support and comments, and apologies for another one of my stories discontinuing.

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