WHILE Cherries are currently doing all they can to avoid a return to the Championship, this week marked 10 years since the club revelled in clinching promotion to end their wait to get back into the second tier.

We have spoken with some of the players who played big roles in that League One campaign, and have a series of pieces to bring you, looking back at some of the key moments from the season.

With promotion secured, it was now time for the celebrations.

GIVEN what was to come, promotion out of League One may not seem such a huge achievement for a club now competing in the Premier League.

But, at the time, it was the first time the club would be playing in the second tier in 23 years. And achieved just four years after almost going out of the Football League and out of business.

Having beaten Carlisle United to clinch promotion with a game to spare, Cherries headed to Tranmere Rovers, looking to also be crowned champions.

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It ultimately wasn’t to be, the 0-0 draw not quite enough, Doncaster Rovers winning the title in incredible fashion. After Brentford’s Marcello Trotta missed a last-minute penalty, Donny broke down the other to win 1-0, James Coppinger finding the dramatic winner.

But that did little to dampen spirits for Cherries and it was still party time at Prenton Park.

A bus parade through the streets of Bournemouth would follow, before the squad headed off to celebrate their promotion in style.

Asked if there was a big night out after beating Carlisle, captain Tommy Elphick admitted: “I haven’t got a clue! I don’t think the League One was as big.

“We went to Vegas after Tranmere, but because we still had the title to win on the Saturday, which we ultimately didn’t do, I don’t think the celebrations were too drastic after the Carlisle game.”

Reflecting on the trip to Las Vegas, Elphick added: “It was a great end to it all. Everyone was there. Three or four nights.

“You have to enjoy these moments, because a lot of lads go through their careers not winning anything or achieving anything as a group. It means so much to you as a group.

“The emotions attached to all of us individually and what we’d been through that season, the tough start we had had, the change in managers, change in ownership as well by the end of it.

“We’d all experienced a lot of stuff together and you have to enjoy those moments. In the early days when we did have such a good social side of it and we were all similar ages.

“I think Si (Francis) might’ve been the only one with kids at the time, the rest of us were single, living down here on our own.

“So the beauty of this place is when you are playing together and you are confined to this area, there’s not many places you can get off to.

“You end up spending many nights together, travelling on long bus journeys. Then you try and organise the nights out or whatever it is at the right times along the way and you seem to get a lot of people on board. It’s a huge strength of playing for this football club, that stood us in great stead for the next four, five, six years.”

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Francis added: “I lost my passport in Vegas. I had to do an extra day in Vegas. And lost my phone.

“All the lads flew home. It sounds good, being in Vegas, but not on your own with no money left. I remember that clearly. I still think it was Charlie (Daniels) who lost the passport, but never owned up to it!”

He continued: “It was like a compulsory trip, without having to say it. As the years went on, the culture of football and players changed.

“They didn’t enjoy going out as much, it would be a bit of a grind trying to get the whole group together at times. Whereas that one you wouldn’t even need to say – Vegas, everyone was there.”

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Elphick added: “The older lads were great for that. We had real, good older lads that were coming to the end of their careers.

“Fletch (Steve Fletcher), Purchy (Stephen Purches), Hughesy (Richard Hughes) were unbelievable for the group, bringing it all together.

“At the right times, but they understood the importance of camaraderie and a real strong group. They were great for all of us young lads.”

That strong team spirit was something Brett Pitman concurred with, the striker who ended the campaign as the club’s top scorer with 19 goals in 26 league games.

“I think Bournemouth is a pretty unique place in terms of that,” he said.

“Because it is a little bit out the way, a little bit isolated. You end up all living in close proximity to each other, whereas in other clubs that I've been to, it's not quite like that.

“So I think you do get a close relationship and a close bond with people. And I think that's a strength. It was back then, definitely.”

Fast forward a decade and playing in League One feels like a distant memory. An even bigger celebration was just two years away, while Cherries are now approaching the end of their sixth Premier League season, since this promotion from the third tier.

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Asked if the players had a sense of how big it was for Cherries to get promoted into the Championship, for just the second time, Elphick said: “When you go back to that time, I remember Max (Demin) taking the club over and the whole aim was about becoming a sustainable, established Championship club.

“When I joined the club, myself and Charlie Daniels shared the same agent. I remember six months earlier he joined Bournemouth. They were bringing lads like Si in, Cookie (Steve Cook) was still at Brighton at the time and they paid money for Cookie and you had a sense that Bournemouth were trying to do something.

“But loads of clubs have ambitions to do stuff and do it in the wrong way. So it’s easy to come down here and think this is a great idea.

“But the actual challenge of it is a lot harder than the realistic side. To go and do it and accomplish that, and then Eddie was straight onto the next one.

“I remember coming in for our meetings the week after and it was all about getting into the next one, we weren’t going to stop there.”

While Francis said: “Huge, because at the time it was a step down for me really, coming from Charlton.

“I didn’t know anything about Bournemouth, didn’t know anything about the area. Just Lee Bradbury, who was my mate, was the manager at the time and he was like ‘come on loan, the right-back’s injured’. Nathan Byrne it was.

“So I got lucky really. He just said to come on loan and get some games. The only other club that wanted me was Carlisle, so it was Carlisle or Bournemouth. So Ash (his wife) was pretty relieved it was Bournemouth in the end!

“I just thought I was coming here to get some games. Didn’t have any idea of the way the club was going to move over the next couple of years, but just bit by bit there were big moments that happened.

“Obviously Ed coming back, Max coming in to the football club, players that were already here.

“I think Ed would always say he inherited a good squad at League One level, some really good players that just needed a bit of direction.

“All with similar motivations to try and get the best out of their careers at a certain stage. It all happened at a good time.”

Pitman was certainly no stranger to a promotion in his career.

Having come up through the ranks, he had fired Cherries into League One three years earlier, before then featuring heavily as the club won the Championship two years after.

Asked how getting out of League One compared to his other promotions with Cherries, Pitman said: “It's so hard to say. They're all special in different ways.

“The League Two one from where we've come from, the season before, staying up with the point deductions and such a small squad with very little resources, a transfer ban, I think was an unbelievable achievement.

“Then the League One season, I think when Eddie came in, the club was right near the bottom. For him to galvanise the squad and not add too many players to it - I know obviously I came in, but there wasn't a load of players that came in.

“I think is testament to how good he was and how he got the best out of what he had here.

“And obviously the Championship one speaks for itself. To get the club into the Premier League is special. It's hard to put them in an order.”

So ends the story of the promotion season. From a terrible start, to Howe’s return, a wobble and then stunning finish and big celebrations.