Bournemouth vs Sheffield Wednesday: Cherries prepare to write new chapter in Dorset’s history

South Coast minnows on brink of reaching Premier League

Manager Eddie Howe has led Bournemouth to the Championship summit six seasons after they almost dropped out of the league (Getty Images)

To date the most successful sports team in Poole Bay, the arc of South Coast stretching from Hengistbury Head to Old Harry Rocks, is the Poole Pirates speedway team. The area’s most notable sporting personality is Sandbanks resident Harry Redknapp.

All that could be about to change. AFC Bournemouth, hitherto best-known for knocking Manchester United out of the FA Cup in 1984, launching Redknapp’s managerial career in the process, are on the brink of reaching the world’s most watched football league.

The Cherries need three wins from three matches, starting with Saturday’s visit of Sheffield Wednesday, to reach the top flight for the first time in their 125-year history. This is already their best season, eclipsing the 12th-place second-tier finish achieved under Redknapp in 1989.

They have won their last three, and taken 23 points from 27, but have been unable to shake off Watford, Norwich City and Middlesbrough. The latter two met last night, Watford host Birmingham today.

With a capacity of 11,700, Bournemouth have the smallest ground in the Championship and unless there is some hectic building work this summer the Goldsands Stadium (better known as Dean Court) will be the smallest in Premier League history. Oldham Athletic, who played in the inaugural 1993-94 season averaged 12,563.

Whether, in the age of financial fair play, they can survive on such gates remains to be seen, especially given the struggles of last season’s promoted trio, but they are growing used to miracles in Bournemouth.

Six seasons ago they were embarking on a League Two campaign with minus 17 points, the consequence of failing to fulfil Football League insolvency regulations. It was only on the final day, under their third manager of the season, they escaped the Conference.

That manager was Eddie Howe. The ex-Cherries defender has subsequently taken the club through the divisions interrupted only by a brief, unhappy sojourn at Burnley. Still only 37, he is trying to foster calm amid an increasingly fevered atmosphere. In particular, he hopes supporters can try to avoid projecting their inevitable tension on to the team.

“You always want to play at home,” he said. “The away games are tough. We look to these two games [Bournemouth next host Bolton] and they are pivotal.

“Hopefully, our crowd can inspire us. The players have got to do their bit and they’ve got to get the crowd with us, but if I can ask the Bournemouth people to bring their singing voices and try and inspire the players.

“There are key stages in games where you need the crowd to lift you or inspire you and that’s what I’m talking about. Can we create a carnival atmosphere that takes our players to another level?”

They will feel similarly at Vicarage Road, but also Molineux, for the scrap to make the play-offs is as intense as the fight for automatic promotion and Wolves’ match with Ipswich Town could be critical.

Victory will pull Kenny Jackett’s team level with their visitors – and provide succour to a Brentford team that has slipped since Mark Warburton’s tenure as manager was put in doubt. However, should Mick McCarthy engineer victory at his old club, and Derby win at Huddersfield, a significant gap will appear.

It is getting tighter at the bottom too with the prospect of Rotherham being docked three points for fielding an ineligible player invigorating Millwall and Wigan. The Lions play twice before the Millers are again in action, beginning with today’s trip to Cardiff. Wigan host Brighton, who are not quite safe yet and, with concluding fixtures against Watford and Middlesbrough, could also do with a result today.