Were we definately linked? Always thought it was ambitious, given we tend to look at promising League Two players, to land a very impressive Championship left winger! Bournemouth like to hoover up th players don't they? Mad to think 10 years ago they were in League Two going nowhere fast.
Who knows, there were lots of reports in Feb about us being linked with him. Think we had a chance then but by the summer he was given more game time which obviously built interest. It's being reported that he'll be joining the U23s at Bournemouth so maybe a loan move later in the window isn't beyond the realms of possibility.
There's nothing new in that. Way back in the late 1970s/early 1980s, when I lived in Salisbury and used to watch the local side regularly, Bournemouth were frequent visitors to Victoria Park for pre-season friendlies. One day they pitched up with a scruffy looking, bearded Irishman in their ranks called George Best. I can just about remember his unremarkable performance but still cannot believe that a one-time absolute legendary footballer could have fallen so low (ie playing for a Third Division team at a non-league ground, trying to earn a contract). This would probably have been at the start of the 82/83 season because he had just signed a deal with Bournemouth at the age of 36, and this was his last one in England. This was the last of three games that I saw Best play in. The first was at Oakwell when the famous Best/Law/Charlton side thrashed us 4-0 in the FA Cup (1965). The second was when he scored that much-screened goal against Sheffield United at Old Trafford when he ran right through their defence to score a wonder goal. Sheffield were top of the league at the time and I got in to the ground free because I was jammed up against the wife of Steve James (Man United's centre half) outside the turnstiles and she got me in because "she liked the look of me" PS I was only at Old Trafford because Barnsley were away and I travelled from York by train to Manchester, not having any idea that I had no chance of getting in. It wasn't all ticket but the gates were closed when I got there so I got caught up in a crush of thousands outside the ground, and was lucky enough to be next to Mrs James who was only trying to get through to the Officials entrance. She took me in and later sent me a nice letter and a programme of the match.
