A DECADE ago, Cherries were gearing up for their first season in the second tier in 23 years.

In the 10 years since, seven of those have been spent as a Premier League club.

Cherries will once again by lining up amongst the elite in 2023-24, backed by a new billionaire owner in Bill Foley and with an overseas head coach for the first time in Andoni Iraola.

The squad is packed with international stars and the excitement around what could be to come for the club is palpable.

While much has changed during the club’s rapid rise up the leagues, many things remain a constant reminder of the not too distant past.

Two men who played pivotal roles in the club climbing up into the Championship, and then the Premier League, were defensive duo Simon Francis and Tommy Elphick.

Both joined the club permanently in 2012 and more than a decade on remain key to the football club, albeit in very different roles.

Having taken up a coaching position in September 2021, Cherries’ promotion-winning captain Elphick was propelled into the first team to work under interim boss Gary O’Neil less than a year later.

He continued in that position on a full-time basis when O’Neil signed a permanent contract and remains part of the coaching team now under Iraola, despite O’Neil’s departure this summer.

Francis meanwhile took up a role as assistant technical director, working away from the training pitches and instead supporting Richard Hughes and chief executive Neill Blake.

Bournemouth Echo: Tommy Elphick and Simon Francis have been associated with Cherries for more than a decade

Both men sat down with the Daily Echo to discuss the key roles they still have at the club 10 years on from helping them achieve promotion on the pitch.

“We’re really lucky to have people that trust us in the roles that we’re doing,” said Elphick.

“I do think there’s so many lessons to be learned from the past. We’ve both been here as players.

“We know what stands this club in good stead, we know what the right thing is for this club and the feeling it needs to have to succeed.

“As lucky and as privileged as we are to be in the roles we’re in, we wouldn’t be in them unless we were bringing something as well.

“It's a collective thing at this football club, it has to be. It can never be about one single person or individuals. This has to be a football club where everything runs together.”

Bournemouth Echo:

Neither Elphick nor Francis had an emotional attachment to the club prior to signing.

Elphick came through the ranks at Brighton & Hove Albion, while Nottingham-born Francis was looking for somewhere to settle down having played for six clubs across his 10-year professional career prior to his move to the south coast.

But it is now inarguable both men ‘get’ AFC Bournemouth and fully know what it means to the fans and the town.

“I think that’s why ex-players at football clubs sometimes get a bad rep,” began Francis.

“I do wonder, do people outside of the club think it’s just because they played there, they give them a job for anything? I couldn’t disagree more.

“I think the value that Tommy and Coops (Shaun Cooper) bring nowadays is absolutely imperative really.

“We’ve got other guys who have played in the academy - Alan Connell, Andrew Surman has just come back. And I hear nothing but good things from those guys.

“And I see the sessions they put on, if coaching is the role they want to go down.

“And I feel that I add value as well, because I’ve been in this dressing room and I know what kind of players suit this football club and working in recruitment, I think that can only help.

“We are such a unique football club. We’re different to bigger clubs that are in the Premier League, that might not bring ex-players back because they don’t need to.

“But I think this certain football club is so big on that kind of thing and how important that is.

“And Eddie (Howe) started that really. A lot of his staff and people he wanted in and around him played for the football club.

“I think it adds such value and it’s very important. I think we’ll go on to do it for years to come.”

Bournemouth Echo:

Francis, 38, is three years Elphick’s senior. He too completed some coaching badges, taking on a football academy for youngsters in the area, initially opened by teammate Harry Arter.

He hoped to be offered an extension to his playing contract at Cherries in 2020.

But following relegation and with injury hampering his game time, the club opted to let him go.

Offers from some clubs lower down the pyramid came in for Francis, but he turned them down, not keen to uproot his family.

In that time off before returning to Cherries, Francis undertook some media work and scouting while looking for a new permanent role.

He explains why he did not see his future in coaching.

“I did my B license with a couple of the guys under Eddie and learned loads about the game from a coaching perspective,” he said.

“But actually, he kind of put me off coaching, because of the hours and intensity he put in. He’d be in before the players and he’d leave long after them.

“For me towards the end of my career, I had an injury. I just wanted some time away from the grass.

“I think unless you’re 100 per cent and you’re obsessed with the game and you’ve got a passion for coaching and management, which I didn’t. I have for recruiting and I have for watching football and players and wanting to be successful.

“You see Tommy and the likes of Coops, they’ve got that passion for coaching. It wasn’t the road for me, certainly not.”

Asked if he hopes the pair can still be involved at the club doing what they’re doing 10 years from now, Francis said: “Hopefully, that would be the plan, of course.

“You never know in football, because that’s the game we’re in, the environment we’re in. But I love every minute and I’m sure Tommy does as well.

“Working with the first team now at Premier League level, it’s as good as it can get really.”