AFC Bournemouth
With Jack Wilshere becoming the latest AFC Bournemouth player to wear the number 11 shirt this week, we look back at the Cherries to have pulled on this digit during the squad number era.
Written by regular programme contributor Mark Mitchener, this is an amended version of the article that featured in MATCHDAY for the 2019/20 home match with Norwich City.
The traditional shirt handed to the outside-left in the days of 2-3-5, number 11 became synonymous with ex-England striker Luther Blissett during the Harry Redknapp years, and was more recently home to a left-back for nearly a decade.
Richard Hughes (98 appearances at number 11) had joined from Arsenal in 1998 as a left-sided midfielder, so number 11 was a natural home for him, though he was soon converted to central midfield by manager Mel Machin. He was sold to Portsmouth in 2002, but would make an unexpected return, at number 26, a decade later.
His sale allowed right-sided midfielder Wade Elliott (154 appearances, shown above) to ‘move up’ to a lower number after spells at 30 and 16. After another three years mesmerising lower-division full-backs, Elliott caught the eye of Burnley and left on a Bosman-style free transfer in the summer of 2005.
The shirt remained vacant throughout 2005/06, despite the arrival of left-sided midfielder Steven Foley who joined on loan from Aston Villa and then permanently for £20,000.
While 11 would have seemed an ideal fit for the diminutive Foley, he wore 29 in his first season before switching to 11 in the summer of 2006. He made 22 appearances in 2006/07, the last of which came in December 2006, before he suffered a serious back injury which ended his career in his early 20s.
In the first half of 2008/09, number 11 was worn by two unmemorable loanees – Charlton winger Scott Wagstaff (6 appearances) and Rushden & Diamonds striker Michael Rankine (3 appearances).
But after Eddie Howe’s arrival as manager, it went to winger Liam Feeney (121 appearances, shown above), signed from Salisbury City, who spent two-and-a-half years at Dean Court, where he scored in the crucial win over Grimsby to preserve the Cherries’ Football League status in 2009 and was a regular in the 2010 promotion team.
After missing a penalty in the play-off semi-final defeat at Huddersfield in 2011, Feeney joined Millwall early in 2011/12.
Canada international Jaime Peters (10 appearances) spent two months on loan at Bournemouth from Ipswich, between September and November 2011. Playing on the right wing and at right-back, they were his final appearances in English football.
Left-back Charlie Daniels (263 appearances, shown above) signed on loan from Leyton Orient in November 2011, making the move permanent when the January transfer window opened.
The traditional left-back’s number three shirt had been taken by Steve Cook when he arrived a month earlier, so Daniels took the number 11 which he had worn at Orient that season, and made the shirt his own from the Cherries’ rise from League One to the Premier League.
After his contract at Vitality Stadium expired last summer, Daniels continued to train with Bournemouth at the outset of this season before signing with Shrewsbury Town in October.
The number vacant, Jack Wilshere (1 appearance to date) stepped into the shirt after arriving in January, having previously worn 32 during his loan spell with the club in 2016/17.
The midfielder then donned the number as a substitute for his first ever appearance in the Championship as the Cherries lost out at Derby on Tuesday.
THE FIFTH CAPTAIN
Five men wore the Cherries captain’s armband in 2018/19. Next in line after club captain Simon Francis and vice-captain Andrew Surman was Steve Cook (who has skippered the side for much of the current campaign).
But when Cook was injured in February, Dan Gosling took the armband for the first time against Wolves. And when Gosling joined the lengthy injury list, Charlie Daniels captained the side for March’s 2-2 draw with Newcastle.
WADE’S ‘B’ TEAM
Wade Elliott’s playing career took in five clubs, all beginning with B – Bashley, Bournemouth, Burnley, Birmingham City and Bristol City. He is currently a coach with Cheltenham Town, where he took on the role in the summer of 2020.
NUMBER 11 – THE STATS
- MOST APPEARANCES: Charlie Daniels (263)
- MOST SUB APPEARANCES: Wade Elliott (22)
- MOST SUB NOT USED: Charlie Daniels (15)
- MOST YELLOW CARDS: Richard Hughes (24)
- MOST RED CARDS: Richard Hughes/Wade Elliott (1)
- MOST GOALS: Charlie Daniels (17)
