AFC Bournemouth
Stephen Purches has had a long and successful association with AFC Bournemouth which stretches back more than 20 years.
He made 320 appearances for the club across two spells as a player and has had several coaching roles since hanging up his boots.
Purches progressed through the much-vaunted academy ranks at West Ham before joining the Cherries in the summer of 2000.
Signed by Mel Machin, he had impressed during a trial spell which saw him feature as the Cherries triumphed 3-1 against Ipswich in the final of the Avon Insurance Combination Cup in April 2000.
He made his full debut in Machin’s final game as manager before he became director of football, Purches playing his part in a 1-1 draw at Bristol Rovers on the opening day of the 2000/01 season.
An eventful first season for Purches culminated in him going within a whisker of netting a dramatic late winner which would have earned the Cherries a place in the Division Two play-offs.
Having come off the bench in the second half at the Madejski Stadium, Purches saw his goalbound effort cleared off the line by Graeme Murty in stoppage time, a 3-3 draw seeing the Cherries finish seventh.
Purches netted his first goals for the club in 2001/02, scoring in a 3-1 home win against Stoke City and a 5-1 home victory against Northampton Town. His exploits proved in vain as the Cherries suffered relegation.
However, Purches was one of the leading lights as Sean O’Driscoll’s team bounced back at the first attempt, the Cherries winning promotion through the Division Three play-offs in 2002/03.
And in the final, Purches netted one of the most spectacular team goals ever seen at the Millennium Stadium as the Cherries triumphed 5-2 against Lincoln City.
Purches scored five times during the promotion-winning campaign, including a crucial winner at home to Southend and a goal-of-the-season contender in a 3-2 victory at Oxford in the LDV Vans Trophy.
He featured in another play-off near miss in 2004/05 before signing for his boyhood club Leyton Orient in June 2007, having made 277 appearances in all competitions for the Cherries.
Appointed captain at Brisbane Road, Purches played 122 games in three seasons for the Londoners before returning to the Cherries in 2010.
He added 43 games to his appearance tally with the Cherries before his playing career was ended after he sustained a double leg fracture during a 1-0 defeat at Rochdale in February 2012.
Purches broke the tibia and fibula in his right leg during a challenge with Rochdale midfielder Jason Kennedy during the early stages of the game at Spotland.
He had surgery at Royal Oldham Hospital when a plate was inserted into his leg and was treated in their Trauma Assessment and Stabilisation Unit.
Purches embarked on a painstaking rehabilitation programme which sidelined him throughout the Cherries’ League One promotion-winning campaign of 2012/13.
He was awarded a richly-deserved testimonial and welcomed former club West Ham to Vitality Stadium in July 2013, the Hammers running out 2-0 victors thanks to goals from Kevin Nolan and Jack Collison.
Purches came on as a second-half substitute in the benefit game, while his younger brother John, who had been on the Cherries playing staff in 2002/03, played the final five minutes.
Although he harboured hopes of making a comeback and was appointed player-coach in July 2013, Purches eventually announced his retirement at the end of the 2013/14 season.
He then took charge of the club’s development squad and under-21s before being promoted to the position of first-team coach under Eddie Howe in February 2017.
In June 2018, Purches was presented with his UEFA Pro Licence, the highest coaching qualification in Europe.
In an interview with afcb.co.uk last season, Purches said: “There are probably two moments in my career that I will be remembered for – scoring at the Millennium and that day at Rochdale when I broke my leg. It’s something you dread could happen to anybody.
“I was enjoying my football at that point. I was playing central midfield and was playing regularly. I had just signed a new deal so had some piece of mind with regards what I was going to do.
“I had already started doing a bit of coaching with the academy and had always thought about going down that road when my career ended so did my badges early.
“I had to try to make sure I turned a negative into a positive. I was fortunate to have massive support from my family and they made sure I was in a good place.
“It can go one of two ways – you can sulk, think the world’s against you and it’s the end of everything or you can try to think there’s an opportunity for you to move into something different.
“I thought my coaching career could be a lot longer than my playing career and did everything I could to make sure I was ready for it.
“Breaking my leg was a negative but, overall, it had a really positive outcome because it made me take another path and one I’m still on today which is something I will always be grateful for.”
