Really pleased for Cherries. Actually, it's been a great weekend for football in the South. Only Plymouth and Exeter blot the copybook [plus Bristol Rovers if you consider them]. Here are the results: Swansea - Saints 0-0 Brighton - Blackpool 6-1 Bournemouth - Carlisle 3-1 [AFCB promoted] Swindon - Stevenage 3-0 Yeovil - Crewe 1-0 Aldershot - Dag & Red 1-0 Morecombe - Torquay 0-2 Not a bad sequence at all.
Really pleased for Bournemouth. Howe just seems to fit there. I'd also like to see Brighton make it up to the PL this season, but think I might be in the minority. I don't like some of their more thuggish players, and Gus can be a bit of a prat, but I'd still like to see them up with us.
You're right, I did think about including Gillingham as well, but I simply forgot. Shame, as I lived in Rainham, Kent and in the Weald for 6 years, all told, back in the mid-90's.
I just like to see southern based teams doing well, over teams in other areas of the country. Yeah, of course I want them to be under Saints, but I've no problem with them doing well in their own areas of competition.
Yes, we've got a score to settle with them at the Amex. I don't think anyone's going to forget that game in a hurry. Or the one at St Mary's for that matter.
Congratulations to the cherries and especially Eddie Howe. It will be tough for them in the Championship but a good test of someone I think is a very astute manager. I still think he'll end up a premier league manager in his late 40's. right now he just needs a little more "presence" to deal with the bigger players.
Well done Bournemouth, they've had so many near misses in trying to get to the 2nd tier of English football over the years that I'm chuffed for them. Would like to see Brighton up too. Losing two of our nearest away trips in QPR & Reading is not good for a fair weather away follower like myself. So Watford or Brighton would be good.
If like Hull and Palace as I think they'd struggle the most in the Prem and I'm looking at it purely selfishly.
True, Watford have good investment behind them and Brighton may yo-yo like Reading but are a club on the rise. Palace seem the more likely to be major relegation candidates, but Holloway...urgh
Very happy, and a quite amazing achievement considering their start to the season. Hopefully Howe's time at Burnley, and hence his very recent experience of the Championship, will aid him next season. (I really do think this could hinder Harry for example, should be stay at QPR. Save for those four or five months with us, Harry hasn't experienced the Championship for a decade. It's a very, very different beast now. Aging players like Merson, Teddy and Sherwood is no receipe for success these days, and over half the division want - and are capable of - promotion).
Eddie Howe is one of the best young managers in the football league. He has got a big challenge on his hands to keep them up. I wonder if any Bournemouth fans will think "well Southampton managed to get back to back promotions so how hard can it be?"
Well I don't think we'll be worrying about relegation next season, so I'm just hoping for the most exciting teams to come up. I'd like to see Watford snatch 2nd and Palace or Forest win the playoffs, but I can't really see Hull messing this up.
I guess people like Howe and Mitchell must be pretty relieved that a play-off finish looks beyond Charlton. If a club had managed to do back-to-back promotions for a third year running (Norwich, us, Charlton), then yes you really could see fans of some or all of the three L1 promoted clubs raising their expectations next season.
On the other hand Huddersfield, also promoted last year, could still be relegated. They are only 3 points above the drop with a worse GD than anyone, with 2 games left.
