Mail Sport with the help of our readers is on a mission to find the greatest player of all-time at each of the 20 Premier League clubs.
Today it’s the turn to look at the legends of AFC Bournemouth from goal machine Ted MacDougall to their Premier League heroes Callum Wilson and Dominic Solanke.
And once you’ve made up your mind who is all the best-ever, it’s time to vote...
The best of Bournemouth has been seen in recent times. Members of the Football League since 1923, it was only in the 1980s they reached the second tier and were promoted to the top flight for the first time in 2015. Since then, they’ve been in the Premier League every season bar two.
Dickie Dowsett’s influence extended beyond his goalscoring feats in the 1960s and 1970s. A famed header of the ball, a silhouette of his trademark leap is on the club badge to this day.
Strikers have always done well on the south coast, none more so than 1970s partnership Ted MacDougall and Phil Boyer.
It is hard to believe MacDougall was with the Cherries for only three years. His impact was so huge there is a stand named after him at the current Vitality Stadium.
The Scot scored 49 goals in 1970-71 when Bournemouth won promotion. He scored nine times in an FA Cup tie against Margate and his diving header on Match of the Day against Aston Villa became iconic. Signed for £10,000, he moved on for £200,000 in 1972 – to Manchester United.
Harry Redknapp’s team knocked United out of the FA Cup and reached the second division for the first time in their history. Ian Bishop spent one season at Dean Court in which his valuation rose from £35,000 to £465,000 when he was sold to Manchester City.
Record-appearance maker Steve Fletcher helped Bournemouth win promotion in 2003 and after financial problems, the club’s revival began in earnest under former player Eddie Howe, an accomplished central defender who turned to coaching after injury forced him to hang up his boots at 29.
Howe credited Brett Pittman for scoring the goals that took Bournemouth up the league from the basement of League Two. In total, he scored 102 times for the Cherries and was at the club as they went all the way into the Premier League.
Remarkably, Howe kept faith with some of the players who had been with Bournemouth throughout the journey and they did well in the best league in the world.
Defender Steve Cook spent a total of 10 years with Bournemouth, making 389 appearances. And missing only 21 of the club’s first 190 in the Premier League.
The dependable centre-half was ever-present in 2014-15 when Bournemouth won promotion to the top flight for the first time in their history and ended up as their captain.
Adam Smith has enjoyed a similar career and is still at the club aged 33 having signed in 2014. The right-back has twice won promotion into the Premier League and made 31 appearances last season under Andoni Iraola.
Bournemouth have been fortunate to boast the firepower to compete in the Premier League against some of the biggest clubs in the world despite their own stadium capacity of just 11,500.
Norwegian international Joshua King was integral to their early survival with 55 goals and 20 assists, staying six years before joining Everton.
King, who began his career at Manchester United, is still Bournemouth’s highest scorer in the Premier League with his 16 goals in 2016-17 including a hat-trick against West Ham helping The Cherries finish ninth.
If King’s pace and trickery allowed him to play anywhere along the front-line, Callum Wilson was a natural No 9 goalscorer whose Bournemouth career began in The Championship and ended up with him winning four England caps as a Cherries player before securing a £20million move to Newcastle in 2020.
Wilson scored 67 goals in 187 games for Bournemouth and his injury problems in 2019-20 were a major factor in the club being relegated.
Bournemouth now have a new goal hero in Dominic Solanke who has become their current talismanic figure, fulfilling the potential first seen at Chelsea and Liverpool where he didn’t eventually make the grade.
Solanke’s tally of 19 Premier League goals last season was bettered only by Erling Haaland, Cole Palmer and Alexander Isak.
Iraola has heaped praise on Solanke, who is both a focal point for Bournemouth’s attack and a finisher. He was considered unlucky not to make England’s Euro 2024 squad. ‘He gives us goals but also many other things for his position,’ says the manager.
To select your greatest AFC Bournemouth player, click on the voting button or email [email protected] if you want to choose someone not on the shortlist.
We will reveal the results of the greatest all-time player for all 20 Premier League clubs before the start of the 2024-25 season.
