An old cliché in English soccer is attached to smaller, old-fashioned stadiums.
Regardless of whether the empirical data backs it up, a rickety old stand and small field will be referred to as a ‘tough place to go.’
It’s an idea traditionally adopted by lower-league clubs when they ascend to the Premier League: that the division’s superstars might struggle when forced to visit their modest facilities.
Like all cliches, there is also an element of truth in the ‘tough place to go’ concept. Roared on by more ferocious home support, elite players have been known to wilt and have earned famous victories.
On paper, AFC Bournemouth had many of the credentials required for this type of legend.
A historically lower league side, its stadium is one of the smallest in the division and considerably more basic than even local rivals like Brighton and Hove Albion or Southampton, both of whom have moved to bigger, newer homes.
But something about the Vitality Stadium never gave it the same edge as Burnley’s Turf Moor or Luton Town’s Kenilworth Road.
Maybe the town on Britain’s south coast is a well-loved holiday destination, or the ground is reached through a lovely green park, but it just tended to feel welcoming rather than intimidating.
This season, however, few teams relish a trip to Bournemouth because the team has developed into one of the most effective outfits in the division.
Sitting in seventh position, just a point off the final Champions League berth, the Cherries have beaten Manchester City, Arsenal, Manchester United, and Tottenham Hotspur so far.
This weekend, a rampant 5-0 display saw them destroy high-flying Nottingham Forest, another surprise package in third place.
It came after an even more impressive 1-4 win at another Champions League contender, Newcastle United.
You have to go back to November to find the last occasion Bournemouth tasted defeat and the remarkable run has got fans dreaming of Europe.
“It was a great result,” said manager Andoni Iraola to BBC’s Match of the Day after the Forest win.
“We knew we were facing a very good team on a very good run. To score first was key. Most of the last games they have been winning from the first half. The goal at the beginning helped us and made the game look better for us.”
“I hope they [the fans] are enjoying. It’s always difficult when you are in the Premier League. You are facing the best teams in the country. The players are giving everything, and they are getting good results. There will be a moment when we do not do this.
“I think the supporters understand this and they enjoy not only when we win, but all they ask is we give everything. And that’s what we try to do.”
Next, the Cherries will face runaway leaders Liverpool, and the Basque coach has vowed to continue playing in the same manner.
“I think we are not going to change,” he added.
“We are taking the games game by game. We have Liverpool next. We are thin on numbers, so we try to recover players for that game. Still, there are a lot of games to play. I will not change the approach we are taking.”
The Beauty And The Horror
BOURNEMOUTH, ENGLAND – DECEMBER 16: Evanilson of Bournemouth in the home dressing room before the … [+]
Iraola’s presence on the South Coast is a testament to the respect the Premier League is held in.
A highly rated manager who excelled in Spain with Rayo Vallecano, Iraola has been approached by Leeds United in the past and has many other suitors.
But he wanted to manage in the Premier League and chose Bournemouth.
Iraola is far from alone in being willing to head to a club with an 11,300-capacity stadium for a shot in England.
This summer, the Cherries signed Brazilian international Evanilson from FC Porto, who joined Justin Kluivert, who had joined from AS Roma the season before.
Far from being also-rans seeing out their careers, these are talented players in their peak years electing to join a club that competed in the English top flight for the first time in 2015.
It would be scarcely believable for a Cherries fan to dream of watching such talent in 2010, let alone the year 2000.
And the club’s incredible rise stands as a testament to the resilience of English soccer’s pyramid.
But Bournemouth’s success also demonstrates European soccer’s distorted financial picture.
When players are leaving Porto, a regular title challenger that has won the Champions League twice and plays in a 50,000-seater stadium each week, for a club with less than a decade’s worth of top-flight experience, the question has to be why?
Perhaps it’s finances or simply the lure of the Premier League, but, with the greatest respect to the Cherries, it is not prestige.
This is not to demean Bournemouth; the club is being run incredibly well, and its success on the field is a testament to that.
However, it only competes with established Champions League clubs because of the vast disparity in television money English Premier League clubs receive compared to their European counterparts.
The earnings are so high that even stadiums constructed and maintained for life in the lower leagues are no barrier to cherry-picking talent from the European establishment.
For these reasons, we should both cherish the success of a club like Bournemouth and despair at what their rise shows about the disparity between English soccer and the rest of the continent.
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