Today I'm going back three years to 2019 and Tottenham's Premier League fixture against AFC Bournemouth played at the recently opened (in April) Tottenham Hotspur (Sponsor name required) Stadium before an attendance of 59,626.
Today's programme cover star is, of course, the Belgian defender Toby Alderweireld who started out at the Dutch side Ajax where he made 186 appearances (scoring 15 goals) before being transferred to Atletico Madrid in 2013. Whilst at Atletico, he made only 22 appearances (2 goals) although one of these was an a substitute in the 2014 Champions League Final against Real Madrid (which Atletico eventually lost 4-1). Following a season long loan at Southampton, Alderweireld was then signed by Tottenham and he went on to make 236 appearances (9 goals) for Spurs between 2015-2021 including another losing Champions League Final appearance in 2019 against Liverpool. To this day Alderweireld remains a Belgian international and has earned 126 caps (5 goals) as of Sunday when Belgium lost their Qatar 2022 World Cup match to Morocco.
AFC Bournemouth only took on that name in 1971 in an attempt to appear alphabetically first on the list of the 92 Football League clubs. Before the change, AFC were known as Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic and, prior to 1923, as just Boscombe FC. The club's significantly-refurbished Dean Court home is located in Boscombe and, as part of the refurbishment process, the pitch was rotated through ninety degrees to accommodate some impressive new stands. I have yet to revisit Dean Court since their "revolution" and some groundhoppers argue that I would need a fresh visit to recomplete "the 92". Balderdash!
In my football watching lifetime, AFC Bournemouth have largely been a lower league club, slumming it between the Third and Fourth Divisions (or League 1 and League 2 as they prefer to be known today). However, in 2008 Bournemouth appointed Eddie Howe as their manager and embarked upon a remarkable run of three promotions in six seasons to arrive in the Premier League in 2015. Howe's amazing achievement secured him the title of Football League Manager of the Decade in 2015 but it is arguable that he wouldn't have been quite so successful were it not for the investment into the club by Russian petro-chemical entrepreneur Maxim Denim in 2011. Denim remains the club's owner to this day although, interestingly, he does not occupy the role of Chairman and recently avoided the sanctions placed upon other Russian businessmen over Russia's invasion of Ukraine due to having become a British citizen.
The featured match was just the third of the strange, new, post-Pochettino era with Jose Mourinho having been appointed as Pochettino's replacement just 10 days earlier. It was however a typical Tottenham affair with the home side cruising into a three goal lead thanks to two from Dele Alli and another by Moussa Sissoko (one of just 5 for Spurs in 202 appearances) before being pegged back by two late Bournemouth goals scored by Harry Wilson to almost blow the three points. Thankfully it finished 3-2 and all was just about right with the world.
Spurs finished their Premier League season in a disappointing 6th place, only managing to scrape into qualification for the Europa League whilst they had appeared in a Champions League Final just 12 months earlier. AFC Bournemouth's five season stay in the Premier League came to an end too, finishing in 18th spot just one point behind relegation survivors Aston Villa. Eddie Howe would be gone before the start of the following season.
CRB Match No. 2368
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