We are less than three weeks away from the beginning of the 2015-16 British Premier League season and I have begun reading up on as many season previews as I can throughout the internet. Transfer news has dominated the last couple months with some of the big teams making major moves including:

• Raheem Sterling leaving Liverpool and signing with Manchester City
• Petr Cech leaving Chelsea after a long stint with the Blues to join Arsenal
• Liverpool replacing the Sterling loss with James Milner
• The high profile MLS transfer – Steven Gerrard moving to the LA Galaxy from Liverpool
• Manchester United making a couple splashes including Bastian Schweinsteiger from Bayern Munich after losing Nani to Fenerbache in Turkey

And much more

Everyone is talking about the Big 4. Can Chelsea repeat? How much better are Arsenal with Cech? Is James Milner the answer to Liverpool fans’ prayers? Can Man U get back to being a powerhouse in the BPL? But no one is talking about quite possibly the greatest soccer story I have ever heard…..A.F.C. Bournemouth a.k.a. the Cherries.

Look, I don’t want to tell you whom to root for but if you don’t have a soft spot for these guys after hearing their story, I don’t want to know you. This is a scrappy team that has earned its way into the BPL for the first time in its 116 year history; this after facing liquidation and potential extinction.

In February 2008, Bournemouth found itself playing in the English 4^th division and entered Administration after announcing the inability to pay off its outstanding debts, resulting in the deduction of 10 points in the standings and relegation to League 2. The organization was threatened with liquidation and given only a couple weeks to pay back the money owed or they would no longer be a part of the Football Association. Only minutes from facing the axe, things were so bad their own coach was looking to see if he had enough money to donate to the cause, just so his own players would not be out of work! Even some fans threw in some money just to give the team another week of life. Ultimately, at the end of 2008, a businessman purchased 50% of the team to help it stay afloat. Bournemouth was then deducted 17 points in the standings in 2009 for other rule violations and just narrowly avoided relegation to the 5^th division after a few late season wins.

Those wins proved to be crucial to the history of this storied club because it was then that things started looking up for the Cherries. With a new owner, better (more stable) financials, and a young (33) coach (who took a temporary hiatus and then returned) with a system the players had bought into, Bournemouth began an unprecedented run to the country’s (and many argue the world’s) top league. An oil magnate bought the other half of the team in 2011 and Bournemouth earned three promotions in 5 years, defeating Bolton this past May and winning the Championship league (2^nd division) to earn their first ever promotion. Not only this, but Bournemouth earned a quarterfinal birth in the League Cup after taking out Premier League side West Bromwich Albion before bowing out with a respectable 3-1 loss to Liverpool.

It is an extraordinary story of not only a team’s will to win, but a team’s will to survive. It’s a story of a relatively small group of fans doing whatever it takes to keep the thing they love most – their soccer team – on the pitch……..and they have been rewarded. Bournemouth has a payroll of just under 7 million pounds and a team that is promoted to the Premier League can win as much as 120 million pounds! In fact, the last place finisher in the BPL can win as much as 40 million pounds. Bournemouth has never been in a better place financially than it is now and they have shown this by streaking through League 1 and the Championship en route to an unprecedented birth in England’s top league.

One amazing thing I have noticed is that the preseason predictions are calling Bournemouth, with their low cost roster, a middle of the table team. No one seems to think the Cherries are here on a fluke. They are team that can play with the big boys in the big league and stay afloat for more than just one season. This is not a 116 year-old team getting one chance to see the light of the top flight before going back down under to where they belong. It makes you think if they can make a few moves, they could be good enough to compete for a European spot — all this after being MINUTES away from liquidation.

So who do you need to know on this team? If I’m being honest, I don’t know. Bournemouth flew way under the radar all the way up until they defeated Bolton. It took a buddy of mine to alert me to Bournemouth’s story before I really started paying attention but now I’m all in. They play at Dean Court, which has a capacity of 11k if they take advantage of standing room – can you imagine Chelsea or Arsenal or one of the others coming to town? I do know their coach, Eddie Howe, is 37 years old and an absolute legend over there. Callum Wilson scored 20 goals last year and Tommy Helphick is the captain. They also just got Chrsitan Atsu on transfer from Chelsea so look for him to take the field in red and black. Other than that, we’ll have to wait for Bournemouth to make their own headlines and earn their way onto the radars of all the writers and analysts out there.

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Quick relevant side note: NBC does a PHENOMENAL job of covering the British Premier League throughout the season. Every game is either televised or available online/NBC Sports app. No, I was not paid to write this, I genuinely recommend all soccer fans get in on the action. It’s some of the best soccer you can watch in the world and is now available with excellent commentary and analysis each week.

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Admittedly, none of this information would be available to me without Ari Margolin or the below sources:

http://bit.ly/1IgW05b

http://bit.ly/1HH4YHs

http://bit.ly/1IcqdOt

http://bit.ly/1g2jC33

Photo source: http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/32377069