Written by kirsikka
As with the previous two years, these are in no particular order.
1 – I’m going big and I’m going early – AFC Bournemouth winning the first major trophy in their history. I’m not sure whether it’ll be the FA Cup or League Cup but there’s a trophy out there that will have our name engraved onto it come the season’s end. The third option is the Hampshire Cup, but I’m trying to keep my feet on the ground and be realistic.
Get your passport renewed as you’ll need it next season. Is anyone for beers at my house for the HJK Helsinki away match?
2 – The AI evolution. You don’t need to be a DeepMind to know that if your tactics stay exactly the same season-by-season then the PL will gobble you up and spit you out in a relegation spot. We won’t see wholesale changes, the ethos will be the same, but I do think now Andoni has seen a PL season firsthand he’s going to tweak things. Much as EH did every summer. It’ll be interesting to see where he thinks the opportunities for improvement lie and what the changes are that he makes.
3 – There is something pleasurable about watching a class player blossom. The way they seem to have some extra about them that makes them stand out, relative to those around them. Bishop had it. Cox had it. Ake had it etc. It looks like Zabarnyi will join that list. He’s well settled into the English game now so I’m looking forward to watching him improve even further and starting to dominate the backline for us. This may well be his final season with us before being sold for a record transfer fee received by AFCB – breaking the record currently set by Ake.
4 – Dean Court III – The legend continues… Foley has been pretty aggressive about his timelines around many things with the club since taking over. I’m not sure the 2026 (?) opening date for the new stadium will happen but now the training ground is set to be completed and the council has broken cover on changes being afoot in Kings Park, I believe we’ll finally see the plans made public. Incredibly exciting for the long-term future of the club, irrelevant of whether that is in the PL.
5 – On that topic, the opening of the new training ground. When the 2019/20 confluence of events conspired to send us down it felt like the opportunity of building a legacy for the club might have passed us by. Fortunately, Max held his nerve, kept the spending at just about the right level to get us back up, and then passed the baton to Bill. The complex is now being delivered and, seemingly, it’s the fully upgraded version rather than a corner-cut one. It will be a genuine positive when recruiting first-team players but will also make a big difference when academy prospects are deciding where to sign as well. Can’t wait until that ribbon is cut as it will feel like real progress for the club!
The only sad thing about it is, as Chelsea and many other clubs have done with their owners, I expect to see us sell the facility to another Foley company at some point for FFP purposes. I hope not but it’s what I suspect will happen. Doesn’t mean it will be this season, but unless the overhaul of the FFP rules makes it not helpful to sell assets (which I doubt), we’ll use it as a dodge when we need a cash injection.
6 – Partnerships –> Teamwork. It wasn’t that long ago that one of the keys to a successful team was a fullback and winger having a good understanding. See how many managers of yesteryear would get those players and their wives to socialise with each other so they’d have an off-field friendship as well. Modern tactics often make this far more complex…. the press is like a boyband dance routine where multiple players need to know the steps – when to follow, when to switch partner, when to drop off, and when to pounce.
We still have partnerships out there, at centre back for instance but the way Cook would often drop in as an auxiliary shows even that is more complicated than it once was. So partnerships are now a teamwork understanding. I can’t wait to see us near the top of the turnover goal charts again as we pick possession off the opposition and sweep it into the net with more coordination than a K-pop supergroup. AFCB 5-0 BTS.
7 – Man City. This is the season in which we beat them. Admittedly, that is a copy and paste from this post last season which was a copy and paste from the season before. However, third time lucky so this is the year. I feel it in my water. However, that could just be middle age catching up on me. I should get that checked really.
8 – Mid-table solidity. I’m going to be honest and say I don’t think we’ll break last season’s points total as we’ll consolidate in midtable rather than take the next step forward from there – that will come in 25/26. As said in point 1, this is the cup year. However, I also don’t expect to see us get dragged into a relegation battle. Sure, there will be ups and downs in the season but I think we’ll land safely in the middle without too much to worry about for most of the year.
9 – The football. Kind of obvious really but after four utilitarian seasons where Matchday was about watching AFCB and hoping for a result, last year was a breath of fresh air where I was looking forward to the content of the game as well. And yes, all the previous regimes had magic moments in amongst them but it didn’t have that same feel. Even EH’s last year was a hard watch, especially compared to his earlier sides. Hard to pinpoint it precisely with a single word, but it lies somewhere between anticipation, expectation, and excitement. I’d go with a portmanteau but Antexex sounds like a pharmaceutical treatment for irritable bowel syndrome.
10 – I’ve been hoping for an academy graduate breakthrough at PL level since we first came up. Anthony might come back into things depending on what happens between now and the window shutting but, whatever happens there, I spy another possibility. Sadi has been one to watch for a couple of years so I’m looking forward to seeing how he develops this season. Might be he goes out on loan but I’d be delighted if they put him with the first-team squad and gave him a chance with minutes here and there to make an impression.
Your say…
ErikthViking said…
I won’t submit to the “tyranny of ten” that seems to pervade list-making. I can only think of eight.
1. The general excitement of match days.
2. Travelling and meeting up with the usual suspects at away matches.
3. Continuing to enjoy attacking football.
4. Plugging the gaps in defence caused by poor positioning.
5. A bit more of taking a chance and shooting on sight.
6. Winning at Anfield.
7. Beating Florist, Seaweed and the Scummers home and away and them all going down.
8. Qualifying for Europe and visiting Klaksvíkar Ítróttarfelag – surely everyone’s favourite second team and remember Claus Jørgensen played for the Faroes. – To join the conversation, click here.
