From Bury to AC Milan: Bournemouth's journey to 'dreamland'

"I'm pinching myself," says Bournemouth fan Kirk Tovey.

"It's not long ago we were playing Oldham Athletic and Hartlepool United in League One. Now I'm about to watch us play AC Milan.

Fifteen years to the day after Bournemouth lost 2-1 at home to Bury in the third tier of English football, the Cherries host seven-time champions of Europe AC Milan in the Europa League on Thursday (20:00 BST).

It is a game between the club that refused to die against the 11-time European Cup finalists on what promises to be a momentous night in the history of the 127-year-old Dorset club.

"Over the last decade, my hometown club has achieved dreamland," Tony Pulis, who played for Bournemouth before managing them from 1992-94 and still lives in the area, tells BBC Sport.

"It's an unbelievable story, when I think back to what the club was like when I was player, coach and then manager there in the 1980s and early 1990s, but one that hopefully just keeps going."

Bournemouth's troubled past and their subsequent climb up the leagues is well documented - from bucket collections and facing liquidation as recently as 2008 to finishing 21st in League Two in 2008-09 and winning promotion to the Premier League in 2015.

Source: BBC Sport Open RSS (Open Press / Translated Full Text)