Let's face it, Bradders has done a very good job since becoming full time AFC Bournemouth manager after Eddie Howe at last left the club and joined Burnley in the Championship after turning down a number of suitors that included Charlton Athletic and Crystal Palace, now managed by other ex-Blues in Chrissy Powell and Dougie Freedman respectively!
Bradbury told www.bournemouthecho.co.uk at the time: "It's a lucky break. There is a great togetherness and camaraderie among the squad and (Mitchell) didn't want to risk losing that. There is never a perfect time to hang up your boots or to go into management. I feel I could play for at least another couple of years. But the way I look at it, this could be the start of a 20-year career in management."
Lee joined the Cherries from Southend in August 2007 and has ended up making 126 league appearances for them. After becoming caretaker boss at Dean Court on January 15th, he actually retired as a player the very next day at the realtively early age of 35, and was offered a two-and-a-half year full-time contract on January 28th.
In the time after he took over the hot seat he lost only six games out of 26, Bournemouth finished sixth in the third tier, thank God they edged out Borient, and faced Peter Clarke's Huddersfield Town in the League One play-off semi-finals where they drew 3-3 over the two legs but were denied a place in the final by losing 4-2 on penalties. (The Terriers went on to lose to Peterborough.)
While at Roots Hall he turned out in our 2005/06 Championship season, a tap in that sealed the 3-1 win over Sunderland I remember that took us into the top ten at the time, it was August(!), and played with a number of players that saw relegation in that ill-fated campaign, some even seeing a further demise into the basement division four years later.
However, the man Man City fans nicknamed badbuy obviously has fond memories of that time and the squad and after already signing shot stopper Darryl Flahaven from that successful side to fight for the No. 1 spot, he has been sniffing around Crystal Palace's ex-Shrimpers skipper Adam Barrett, and made an offer for our former player-of-the-year, admittingly there's a few of them around, and right-back Simon Francis.
Having already put pen to paper Flahaven told www.afcb.co.uk: "Bournemouth are a club I have always looked out for because I got to know a lot of the lads when I trained here. It's a club definitely going in the right direction and I'm sure the manager is going to keep pushing us on to achieve success again this season. I know [Cherries goalkeeping coach] Neil Moss really well, when I was at Southampton, we were two young keepers there and I have kept in touch with him and it will be great to work with him again. I have kept an eye out for what has gone on here and it's been great for the club the way it has sky rocketed from nearly going out of the League to being on the verge of the Championship."
Fighting talk there from Darryl, and why not?
Meanwhile, defender Barrett has knocked back a number of potential League One suitors, AFC being one of them along with Notts County, as the personal terms offered were not up to his liking.
It seems that the Cherries are not giving up though, to think only a couple of years ago they looked as if they could go bust and has picked up 17-point penalties, good for them and a lesson for us for sure, a decent consortium in place at that club, and are on the verge of adding a few pennies to the deal.
www.palace.vitalfootball.co.uk wrote yesterday:'After earlier being unable to agree personal terms, it sounds like Adam Barrett's move to Bournemouth is back on. Depending on the report you read it seems it's likely to be concluded shortly, so by Friday at the latest seems to be the best guess at the moment.'
It's in fact more than promising for the 31-year-old Shrimpers legend in breathing in some sea air once again, he's signed!
BBCSolentSport: KT at #afcb Tuesday morning - 'Adam Barrett is here and joining in training, but no confirmation that deal is done yet .'
Followed by: www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/sport/
As for Simon, well, it's started well at the Valley after leaving during our summer of disconsent and after a year in South London has now played just 31 league games and Charlton are open to offers.
Here, it's Bradbury himself speaking to the local media.
He told www.bournemouthecho.co.uk: "We made a bid for Simon Francis and they came back and said it wasn`t near their valuation of the player. We are reassessing the matter. We are deciding whether we want to up the bid and also seeing what else is available for that type of money."
Again, League One seems his natural home and the usual arguments about the Francis defensive abilities aside would seem a good signing for the Cherries, however, local South London Press journalist Richard Crawley, who seems to his stuff, wrote on twitter: 'My #cafc sources describe #afcb only prepared to pay 'derisory' fee for Simon Francis. Work to be done if deal is to happen.'
We have some actual money on the table if you accept this from http://addickschampionshipdiary.blogspot.com: 'Having had an initial derisory bid rejected, Bournemouth are having a second go at landing Simon Francis. What I hear is that we want to recoup at least the £35k we paid for him given that we got him at what was arguably a knockdown price (Brentford paid £100k for him not so long ago). I think that £50k would seal the deal. Some fans think he should be kept as he would provide cover, although he was much criticised last season. He could - sometimes - put in a good cross, but as with many of our players last season, such quality as he did have was on intermittent display and his attention to his defending duties was often questionable to say the least. What is evident is that a major clear up of last year's squad is in progress because, with a few exceptions, they weren't up to the task of achieving promotion. The board and Chris Powell deserve some credit for biting the bullet, but don't expect instant success.'
For a start mate we believe Brentford offered 150k in the January 2010 transfer window which Francis turned down, which in hindsight is a shame, and present Blues boss Paul Sturrock then terminated his contract soon after he joined seven months later, so as a free agent not sure we even picked up 35k, still, it's tearful stuff to remember
Anyway, all interesting, and the Charlton faithful obviously remain fully behind the legend that was former left-back Chrissy Powell.
So we will have to wait and see but if all three come off then a visit to a weekend in sunny Bournemouth might be worth while, in fact if we were not at home to Hereford on the opening Saturday August 6th, London based Shrimpers might have fancied a trip to Bradbury's Cherries v Powell's Addicks!
Still getting that tingling feeling? (We mean the footy) Have a vote: www.southendunited-mad.co.uk/interactive/voting_polls.asp
League One Top Ten 2010/11
# | Team | Pl | W | D | L | F | A | W | D | L | F | A | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | GD | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Brighton & Hove Albion | 46 | 17 | 4 | 2 | 54 | 22 | 11 | 7 | 5 | 31 | 18 | 28 | 11 | 7 | 85 | 40 | 95 | +45 | ||||
2 | Southampton | 46 | 16 | 4 | 3 | 44 | 13 | 12 | 4 | 7 | 42 | 25 | 28 | 8 | 10 | 86 | 38 | 92 | +48 | ||||
3 | Huddersfield Town | 46 | 12 | 8 | 3 | 38 | 21 | 13 | 4 | 6 | 39 | 27 | 25 | 12 | 9 | 77 | 48 | 87 | +29 | ||||
4 | Peterborough United | 46 | 15 | 5 | 3 | 69 | 40 | 8 | 5 | 10 | 37 | 35 | 23 | 10 | 13 | 106 | 75 | 79 | +31 | ||||
5 | Milton Keynes Dons | 46 | 14 | 5 | 4 | 35 | 23 | 9 | 3 | 11 | 32 | 37 | 23 | 8 | 15 | 67 | 60 | 77 | +7 | ||||
6 | Bournemouth | 46 | 13 | 5 | 5 | 47 | 24 | 6 | 9 | 8 | 28 | 30 | 19 | 14 | 13 | 75 | 54 | 71 | +21 | ||||
7 | Leyton Orient | 46 | 12 | 6 | 5 | 37 | 25 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 34 | 37 | 19 | 13 | 14 | 71 | 62 | 70 | +9 | ||||
8 | Exeter City | 46 | 12 | 5 | 6 | 40 | 31 | 8 | 5 | 10 | 26 | 42 | 20 | 10 | 16 | 66 | 73 | 70 | -7 | ||||
9 | Rochdale | 46 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 36 | 30 | 9 | 6 | 8 | 27 | 25 | 18 | 14 | 14 | 63 | 55 | 68 | +8 | ||||
10 | Colchester United | 46 | 12 | 7 | 4 | 38 | 30 | 4 | 7 | 12 | 19 | 33 | 16 | 14 | 16 | 57 | 63 | 62 | -6 |
The Bradbury Files
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Lee Michael Bradbury | ||
Date of birth | 3 July 1975 | ||
Place of birth | Cowes, England | ||
Height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | ||
Playing position | Striker, Defender | ||
Club information | |||
Current club | Bournemouth | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
1995-1997 | Portsmouth | 54 | (15) |
1995 | → Exeter City (loan) | 14 | (5) |
1997-1998 | Manchester City | 40 | (10) |
1998-1999 | Crystal Palace | 32 | (6) |
1999 | → Birmingham City (loan) | 8 | (0) |
1999-2004 | Portsmouth | 99 | (28) |
2002-2003 | → Sheffield Wednesday (loan) | 11 | (3) |
2003-2004 | → Derby County (loan) | 7 | (0) |
2004 | Walsall | 8 | (1) |
2004-2006 | Oxford United | 63 | (9) |
2006-2007 | Southend United | 47 | (5) |
2007 | → Bournemouth (loan) | 1 | (0) |
2007-2011 | Bournemouth | 112 | (10) |
Teams managed | |||
2011-present | Bournemouth | ||
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 08:58, 4 July 2010 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). |
(Player info supplied by Wikipedia, for the full article go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Bradbury)