Today’s opponents: Bournemouth

Jan 21 2012 Liverpool Echo

Today’s opponents: Bournemouth

FOOTBALL fans everywhere are familiar with the term “This club needs to be turned around.” Bournemouth are the club that turned the ground around.

Dean Court was completely rebuilt in 2001, with the pitch rotated 90 degrees from its original position. The stadium was also moved away from adjacent housing.

Although it was rebuilt as a three-sided stadium, seats were placed on the undeveloped south end in the autumn of 2005. The club sold the stadium in December 2005 in a sale-and-leaseback deal with London property company Structadene.

Dean Court was named after the Cooper-Dean family of Bournemouth, who granted the land to the football club in 1910. The ground’s attendance record of 28,799 was set at an FA Cup tie against Manchester United in 1957.

In the 2010/2011 season many aspects of the stadium were upgraded including adding a new temporary south stand, refurbished bar/restaurant and a new café bistro which replaced the old cherry tree pub.

The club, formed in 1890, was originally known as Boscombe FC and They graduated to senior football in 1905. To make the club more representative of the district, the name was changed to Bournemouth and Boscombe Athletic in 1923.

Initially Bournemouth struggled in the Football League, but eventually established themselves and remain on the records as the longest continuous members of the Third Division.