The genteel English seaside town of Bournemouth awoke on Tuesday to the astonishing prospect that its soccer club, on the brink of extinction only five years ago, will be reveling in the glamour and wealth of Premier League football next season.Barring a near-impossible 20-goal swing in the final games on Saturday, Bournemouth will be promoted from the Championship to challenge the likes of Chelsea and Manchester United in English soccer's top flight for the first time in their 116-year history. It is a turnaround few would have thought possible.
"It's been an amazing journey," one we never expected to go on. It doesn't seem real," Manager Eddie Howe said after Monday's promotion-clinching match. "This club was on its knees six years ago, we had nothing, the bailiffs coming in every day and people not getting paid.
"A group of supporters put their hands in their pockets to keep the club alive and they are reaping the rewards.
Bournemouth's stadium holds only 12,000, big enough for the fourth-tier club they were and its annual turnover is around five million pounds, but promotion to a Premier League awash with cash from its billion-pound TV deals will be worth at least 120 million even if they last only one season.
