DEAN Court old boy Steve Claridge hailed Cherries’ transformation and then backed Eddie Howe’s men to comfortably retain their Championship status.

Ex-Cherries striker Claridge was back on familiar territory yesterday when he visited his former club as part of the Capital One Cup’s tour of the south coast.

Now working as a football pundit, the 47-year-old made the first and last of his 1,000 career appearances during his spells with Cherries.

Claridge has been impressed by Cherries’ upturn in fortunes since his time at the club as they prepare to test themselves in the second tier this term.

And the former Birmingham City, Leicester City and Portsmouth man believes Cherries will handle the step up following promotion from League One.

He told the Daily Echo: “Can I see them being in trouble? No, I can’t. I think they will be fine. They will stabilise.

“This isn’t the club from when I was here and they couldn’t afford to bandage my ankle. This is a club which has got a couple of bob.

“They are not going to be able to compete with the likes of QPR, Wigan and those who have £23-24million to budget with.

“But they can have a chance of getting players that they never would have dreamed of getting four or five years ago.

“The brief is to stay in it (the Championship) and I am sure they will be able to do that. Most of all, they will have an enjoyable time and I think they will try to play football. I think they will be good enough to stay in the division and it will be a really enjoyable season.”

Claridge, who praised the work of manager Howe in masterminding the club’s recovery following a dire start to last season, reckons Cherries have also demonstrated the necessary character to deal with tough situations.

Pointing to Cherries’ run of five successive defeats last term, he added: “They went from top to virtually out of the play-offs.

“It is easy when you are flying, everything is great and everyone is smiling and patting you on the back.

“They lost five on the trot and those are the times when you really find out about people. They could have panicked and it could have gone the other way, but they stabilised, pulled together again and turned it round. That is just another element that you can be impressed by.”

Claridge, a League Cup winner with Leicester in 1997, was speaking on behalf of Capital One, the credit card company and sponsors of the League Cup.

Cherries host Portsmouth in the first round on Tuesday (7.45pm).