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Alex Moss

Grabban thoughts from AFCB writer.

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Evening boys and girls, I asked my mate Gareth earlier who''s one of the brains behind AFCB''s (award winning) Official Match Day Programme if he would give us Pink''un readers his views on our new signing Lewis Grabban and also Andrew Surman etc from a Cherries perspective. Being the top kind of chap that he is, he kindly obliged. Hope you find the below insightful and interesting. Thanks G!.

I will make one thing abundantly clear, I am disappointed to lose Lewis Grabban to one of our Championship rivals after such an incredible first season back in the second tier after years of mediocrity in the lower echelons of the Football League. I said rivals, when in all honesty and in terms of finance - regardless of our wealthy Russian backer - we are worlds apart due to parachute payments and the impending implementation of Financial Fair Play. Jealous? Maybe. Envious? Most definitely. In spite of all this though I wish Norwich the best of luck in trying to regain your Premiership status. Without knowing the ins and outs of the Chris Hughton saga, the timing of his sacking seemed odd although the signing of a striker who scored 23 goals in the Championship last season, is a good start for Neil Adams.Most of you know won''t know an awful lot about Lewis Grabban so let me give you a taste of what to expect. You may be surprised to know we didn''t actually sign him as a striker when the worst manager ever to grace the Dean Court hot seat Paul Groves paid Rotherham 300k for his services two years ago.

Groves didn''t see the changing of the Autumn clocks before he was back in charge of the Youth Team with Eddie Howe returning from Burnley. Crucially though, and for all Groves'' failings, many of the key figures in the team that came up from League One were his signings. Shock number two being Grabban wasn''t really a revelation under Howe. Granted 13 goals isn''t a bad return, but to be blunt he was wasteful in front of goal for the most part with fellow frontman Brett Pitman by far the more prolific and it was thought that this would continue into the Championship as Pitman did ok at this level with Bristol City.

Football has a funny old habit of not sticking to scripts though and this was certainly the case for Bournemouth''s strike force last season. Pitman looked out of his depth whilst Grabban took to the higher level like the proverbial duck to water.

The first Cherries striker to score 20 goals+ in a season since Luther Blissett and the most startling fact was that he could have scored a lot lot more.Grabban seemed equally at home playing the lone strikers role or as a two with a big physical presence like Yann Kermorgant who was a revelation after signing from Charlton. I said at the beginning I was upset at losing Grabban and which supporter wouldn''t be as he was our main goal threat last season, but it''s actually a good piece of business for us. The undisclosed fee will be in excess of 3 million as there was a release clause in his contract for this figure. Another thing to bear in mind is Brighton had a bid of 1 million accepted in January but he signed a new contract with a new get out figure. It''s also ten times what we paid Rotherham too.

What we down South are now curious to know is where does this leave Andrew Surman? He was outstanding once fit last season and many Cherries followers would love him to make his loan permanent. Could the Grabban deal pave a way for a player going the other way?

Whatever happens, you have a player proven to score goals at this level and big shot in the arm for Norwich was he chose Carrow Road over Vincent Tan''s Cardiff circus. He obviously feels this move means a greater probability of playing in the Premier League and that is what Norwich are clearly eyeing up again.

Bournemouth will still be aiming for the play-offs next season despite this setback. The monies from this sale coupled with a 25% sell on from the impending Adam Lallana deal give us the opportunity to sign a decent replacement. Proven strikers at this level aren''t easy to find however, something Norwich certainly now have, unearthing a new number nine will be the biggest challenge for Eddie Howe.

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Certainly a decent enough write-up, and far more knowledgable than that binner who plods over here every now and then. Sounds like he is a Holt-type player in that he exceeded expectations and raised his game at the higher level- no bad thing I was chatting to a Brentford fan today who reckoned he looked like he had something about him when he was there - hopefully he will do the business for us, and I guess it''s not the biggest outlay ever.

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Thanks Alex. Seems like a good balanced report from someone who knows the player. I''ve got a good feeling about this.

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Measured praise, but not discouraging.

 

I had not realised that the Cherries had discovered Lallana. Like Peterborough in our neck of the woods they would appear to be a small outfit capable, by one means or the other, of throwing up the occasional gem.

 

Keep an eye on Bournemouth BFJ, a replica of the Bond era would suit me fine.

 

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I don''t think they ''discovered'' Lallana, given that he was living around half mile from their ground - he joined Southampton at the age of 12.I suspect that Peterborough received the benefit of a fathers ''advice''. A very close look at where the agents commission in many of the large player sales finally ended up might prove VERY interesting - but that is highly unlikelyFootball has a very uncanny knack of switching off the spotlight if it gets too close.

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[quote user="City1st"]I don''t think they ''discovered'' Lallana, given that he was living around half mile from their ground - he joined Southampton at the age of 12.I suspect that Peterborough received the benefit of a fathers ''advice''. A very close look at where the agents commission in many of the large player sales finally ended up might prove VERY interesting - but that is highly unlikelyFootball has a very uncanny knack of switching off the spotlight if it gets too close.

[/quote]he was at Bournemouth before the age of 12 so they did discover him and

southampton have paid compo for him to Bournemouth. as they were there

firstDont even know what you are on about re Peterborough

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A very interesting and enlightening read, I''m encouraged to see that at last we have someone to play the traditional Number 9 position.

Looking forward to AFCB away, a new ground and nice day out to go with it.

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So to summarize

Bought on the cheap. Played in the wrong position

Fans weren''t sure about him. Grew to love him

Sounds like a grant holt thing to me. Hope he''s as good

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Cheers Eddie and all the above for taking the time to read it. I do need to highlight one thing out that was pointed out to me by Gareth - I got the wrong end of the stick with his position, he is not an AFCB employee per se, he is independant and purely writes for the Official Matchday Programme although he is obviously closely connected to the club. I believe The Cherries won last seasons best Matchday programme in the Championship last year, so credit to Gareth for his sizeable contribution to that. Small detail re position but was important to point it out.

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No worries YS72, am just off to work but I will ask him later if he''s not too busy. I do know from what I''ve heard and seen round these parts, Surman was pretty damn excellent last season and I believe a key player in orchestrating the Cherries promotion push. A really decent club, they are everything that Ipshite and Leeds aren''t, I''m yet to meet an idiot Cherries supporter - good luck to them next season, I hope we win it and they get promotion by other means be it the excitement of the play offs, or who knows, 2nd spot.

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Cheers Pete for correcting this for me, much appreciated. ''72 - I''ll have a word about Surman over the weekend mate.

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Cheers Alex, it''s really good to read the opinion of of a proper Bournemouth fan.

I hope we can keep Surman, but if he''s done well down there and wants to join them I''m sure this deal will help oil the wheels of business.

Also I assume the signing of Grabban means talks are already in place to shift either RvW or Hooper, but probably both.

Also he writes that in a 4-4-2 Grabban played well of a target man, as well as alone. I wonder who we need to sign to fulfil that role if need be, assuming that Becchio is also on his way out. Wilbrahimovic had been released last time I saw!

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Grabben coming in doesn''t mean another striker has to leave. Surely he takes Elmander''s place as one of the four strikers. City should play with two strikers more next season and that may encourage others to stay. Adams confirmed Thursday that there have been no requests to leave. That doesn''t mean that players won''t leave, just that the rumours up to now are false.

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Gareth will put a few thoughts and views together on Andrew Surman from a Cherries perspective over the weekend - as soon as I receive it I will post it on this thread.

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A well constructed piece and a pleasure to read.

Reading slightly between the lines, there will once again be a great deal of respect towards our club.

The L1 and Championship years illustrated to me after visiting away grounds, that apart from the obvious spiteful fans, there is a recognition that NCFC is a club to admire from their point of view.

I don''t believe it was too difficult a decision for Grabban to choose us and like to think our reputation helped in making that decision.

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