01-11-2021, 16:29
It used to be like this
And it's now like this
Dean Court, currently known as the Vitality Stadium for sponsorship purposes,[2] is a football stadium in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England and the home ground of AFC Bournemouth.
In 1910, Boscombe F.C. was given a piece of land by the town's Cooper-Dean family, after whom the ground was named. The land was the site of an old gravel pit, and the ground was not built in time for the start of the 1910–11 season. As a result, the club played at the adjacent King's Park until moving into Dean Court in December 1910. However, the club facilities were still not ready, and players initially had to change in a nearby hotel. Early developments at the ground included a 300-seat stand.[3]
In 1923, the club were elected to Division Three South of the Football League, at which point they changed their name to Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic. The first Football League match was played at Dean Court on 1 September 1923, with 7,000 watching a 0–0 draw with Swindon Town. Subsequent ground improvements were made following the purchase of fittings from the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley, which allowed the construction of a 3,700-seat stand. A covered terrace was added at the southern end of the ground in 1936.[3]
The club's record League attendance was set on 14 April 1948, when 25,495 watched a 1–0 defeat to QPR. The overall record attendance was set on 2 March 1957, when 28,799 spectators watched an FA Cup match against Manchester United.[4] Shortly afterwards, a roof was added to the western stand.[3] The club also purchased more land behind the northern end of the ground, with the intention of enlarging the stand and building a leisure centre. However, the club ran out of money during its construction and abandoned the scheme in 1984. As a result, the half-built structure was demolished and housing was built on that part of the site.[3] The club's lowest Football League attendance was set on 4 March 1986, when only 1,873 saw a 2–2 drawn with Lincoln City.[3]
The ground was completely rebuilt in 2001, with the pitch rotated ninety degrees from its original position and the ground moved away from adjacent housing.[5] Because the work was not finished in time for the start of the 2001–02 season, Bournemouth played their first eight games at the Avenue Stadium in nearby Dorchester.[3] When Dean Court reopened with a game against Wrexham on 10 November, it gained its first sponsored name, becoming the Fitness First Stadium.[3] Although it was rebuilt as a three sided stadium with a capacity of 9,600,[3] seats were placed on the undeveloped south end in the autumn of 2005. On 24 February 2004 Bournemouth's James Hayter scored the Football League's fastest-ever hat-trick at Dean Court, scoring three goals in 2 minutes and 20 seconds during a 6–0 victory over Wrexham.[6] The club sold the stadium in December 2005 in a sale-and-leaseback deal with London property company Structadene.[7]
In the 2010–11 a temporary south stand was built, but was removed during the 2011–12 season after attendances fell. In July 2011 the stadium was renamed the Seward Stadium after the naming rights were sold to the Seward Motor Group.[8] Following Seward entering administration in February 2012, the ground was subsequently renamed the Goldsands Stadium in a two-year deal.[9] During the summer of 2013 a 2,400 seat stand was built on the undeveloped end of the ground as a result of the club's promotion to the Championship. In July 2013 it was named after former club striker Ted MacDougall.[10]
Further redevelopment
In August 2014, chairman Jeff Mostyn revealed that the club were looking at the possibility of redeveloping the stadium rather than moving to Matchams.[11] With a limited capacity of 11,464, the club were exploring the option of building a new, permanent stand and filling-in the stadium's corners should they continue to be successful in the Premier League. The naming rights changed once more in July 2015 when the stadium became the Vitality Stadium.[2]
In May 2016, Bournemouth announced that they would not be adding new capacity to its ground in time for the next Premier League season. The club has taken the decision to delay redevelopment plans following a meeting of its board. A statement from the Cherries blamed "ongoing negotiations with the club's landlord to purchase the stadium". The club had previously said improving the stadium's size was needed as "demand for tickets far outweighs our current capacity". Dean Court was the smallest ground in the Premier League.[12]
In December 2016 the club announced plans to find a new site due to the ongoing issues regarding ownership of the ground.[13]
In July 2017 the club confirmed it was looking to build a new stadium near the current site in Kings Park.[14]
Manager Scott Parker
Fulham
2018–19: First-team coach and caretaker manager
Shortly after his retirement from playing, Parker returned to Tottenham Hotspur, coaching their under-18 squad, as well as being announced as a club ambassador.[73] In July 2018, Parker left Tottenham to return to Fulham, who had just gained promotion back to the Premier League, serving as first-team coach, linking up with former manager Slaviša Jokanović.[74] He was retained in his coaching position after Claudio Ranieri was brought in to replace a dismissed Jokanović that November.[75]
Ranieri was dismissed on 28 February 2019, after Fulham had achieved no improvement and were left engaged in a relegation battle.[76] Parker was then appointed as caretaker manager that same day, the club now sat nineteenth in the Premier League table.[77] He took charge of the team for the first time three days later, where they lost 2–1 to visitors Chelsea.[78] Fulham were relegated to the Championship after a disappointing returning league campaign, their relegation confirmed after a 4–1 thrashing by Watford, with five games remaining.[79]
2019–21: Premier League promotion and relegation
After speculation arose over who would replace Ranieri on a permanent basis following relegation, chairman Shahid Khan appointed Parker as manager permanently on a two-year contract.[80] Parker was able to retain the majority of his players, despite relegation, with star striker Aleksandar Mitrović signing a new contract during the summer.[81] During his first season in charge, the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in all English sport being suspended from March until June 2020; Fulham ultimately finished the season in fourth place, missing out on automatic promotion by two points, thus qualifying to the promotion play-offs. After defeating Cardiff City over two legs in the semi-finals, they beat Brentford in the play-off final to achieve promotion back to the Premier League at the first time of asking.[82]
Fulham's return to the Premier League however did not begin smoothly: they lost their first four games and failed to win until November, when they beat relegation rivals West Bromwich Albion 2–0 at Craven Cottage.[83] Towards the end of the 2020–21 season, Parker reportedly became a surprise contender for the Tottenham Hotspur managerial vacancy, after José Mourinho was dismissed, but he remained at the club.[84] Parker's side were relegated to the Championship once again in May 2021 after suffering defeat to Burnley, who were above them in the Premier League table.[85] Following relegation, Parker said that Fulham must try to break the cycle of relegation and promotion and establish themselves in the top flight.[86] On 28 June, the club announced that Parker had left the club by mutual consent.[87]
AFC Bournemouth
On 28 June 2021, Parker was appointed as head coach of AFC Bournemouth, replacing Jonathan Woodgate. Parker signed a three-year contract with the club.[88] After guiding the club to 13 points from a possible 15, Parker was awarded the league's Manager of the Month award for September 2021.[89]
FAMOUS BOURNEMOUTH PEOPLE
Barbara Joyce Dainton (née West, 24 May 1911 – 16 October 2007) was the penultimate remaining survivor of the sinking of the RMS Titanic on 14 April 1912 after hitting an iceberg on its maiden voyage. She was the last living survivor who travelled second-class on the ship.
Will miss the game due to not being alive
Bournemouth 21 PNE 8
https://www.afcb.co.uk/
As is the way of the world one of our longest away jaunts is a night game as it was last season and the previous visit to Dean Court in the League Cup was also a night and we won them both, might take something special to make it three on the bounce givn they are unbeaten and we are how you say at times a bit naff
It's on the red button so avoid if possible, Quest are also there so look out for North Enders in the highlights package and apparently it's going to be near freezing as well.
Win this and Frankie will achieve God like status although Saturday's win has bought him some time
Will be making the marathon journey for the first time in neigh on 30 years. Home by 4am up by 8am as Sky are replacing my non working HD box so will be slight farquared that day
PNE programme directions tell us to use the A338 towards Bournemouth however miss the out the 200 plus miles to get to the A338
Could be a long journey for little we shall soon see
Macs ever reliable form guide
Have you heard about the news on Mizar 5
People got to shout to stay alive
People got to shout to stay alive