Football Season Review

Bournemouth's season was an up and down one. The Cherries flirted with relegation early on, after achieving 3-0-7 record in their opening ten matches, but started to improve after their rough start and slowly moved up the dale. Oddly enough, the Cherries' tendencies were the complete opposite of what they were the season before: last season, they were mediocre away but brilliant at home, but this time around, it was their ability to perform away from their stadium that made them Play-Off candidates midway through the season, but they never managed to achieve similar results in front of their own fans. Lee Bradbury was given money to spend during the winter transfer window, and made big money signings of Wesley Thomas, Donal McDermott and Matt Tubbs; the new arrivals strengthened the side further, and Bournemouth even managed to climb into the top six, but a horrid run of form that saw them lose five games in a row from mid February to mid March effectively ended their hopes of promotion. As he made funds available to Bradbury without seeing adequate results, owner Eddie Mitchell decided to sack the young manager and give a chance to the duo of Paul Groves and Shaun Brooks in the final quarter of the season. Despite failing to lift the side's form, the duo are believed to have a good chance of landing the job on a permanent basis, but whether or not this will actually materialize remains to be seen. The certain thing is that the Cherries have underperformed this season and, if they Mitchell continues to give them proper financial backing, they should be expected to challenge for the Play-Offs next term. The Cherries' player of the Season is easily Marc Pugh, and the fans will be left wondering what would've been had the influential midfielder not been sidelined for more than a month in the second half of the season.

Player of the Season: Marc Pugh