MIDFIELDER Andrew Surman revealed “I just didn’t know where my career was going” before re-joining Cherries and capturing the Championship title.

Five years ago today, the Johannesburg-born star was part of a 3-0 victory for Eddie Howe’s troops at Charlton, as they sealed silverware at The Valley en route to the Premier League.

A double from Matt Ritchie, along with a goal from Surman’s midfield partner Harry Arter sealed the spoils for the Dorset club.

News then filtered onto the pitch that rivals Watford had conceded late in a 1-1 draw with Sheffield Wednesday, surrendering the title to Cherries by a solitary point.

Surman had rejoined Cherries on a season-long loan from Norwich in July 2013, before returning permanently on summer transfer deadline day of 2014.

Eight months later, he had helped the club become champions of the Football League.

Reflecting on that period, the 33-year-old told the Daily Echo: “There are so many ups and downs in football. When you achieve something like that, it puts a lot of things into perspective.

“Before I joined Bournemouth I was at Norwich. I’d had quite a serious knee injury – I was coming back and I just couldn’t get in the team.

“I just didn’t feel things were going well and was just wondering where I was going really. I just didn’t know where my career was going.

“Suddenly the gaffer came in for me. I was on loan and then signed permanently – we won the league and you think ‘blimey, two years ago, I was wondering where my career was going’.

“Then you are winning a championship and you are so grateful. I am so grateful for the job I’ve got. That’s when you realise that.

“I don’t know how much longer I will be playing but the years I am still playing, I’ll hopefully have lots more great memories.”

Surman also featured for Cherries as a youngster on loan from Southampton, during the first part of the 2005-06 League One campaign.

But the club’s title-winning class of 2015 will always have a fond place in his heart.

“That season was probably the best season I have ever experienced,” he said.

“We had partnerships all over the pitch really. Especially wide – right-back and right winger was obviously Franno (Simon Francis) and Matty Ritchie. Then you had Pughy (Marc Pugh) and Chaz (Charlie Daniels) on the left.

“Me and H (Arter) had played basically every game that season, so you did have partnerships all over the pitch. It seemed to gel really well.

“I think the Championship is very much like that. It’s all about momentum in that league.

“If you can get a good start, get a few wins together and you are up in the top six – then you seem to be going into games almost thinking with this inner belief that you are going to win every week.

“It’s not complacency but just a belief that ‘we’re better than these’. That comes from being in and around it.

“We had a bit of a bad run where we dropped to about fourth or fifth at one point but we were still up and around there and that’s what you need in the Championship – you need momentum.”

Reflecting on victory at the Valley, the Cherries stalwart added: “Going into the Charlton game. There was still that hunger and motivation to win the league.

“Second was great and we had been promoted but we thought ‘we want to win this, we want to give ourselves the best opportunity of winning it’.

“I knew it was out of our hands because we were relying on Watford playing.

“But when we won and the news filtered on to the pitch that Watford had drawn and we were the champions – it just couldn’t get any better than that.”