“We finally got round to hearing the new lads sing their songs for their initiation last night and I think some of the other guests in the hotel must have thought it was the cabaret! Callum Wilson set the tempo with a little Motown number which went down really well with the lads. It spurred on Dan Gosling who did an RnB number which, mixed with his Devon accent, sounded a bit like the Wurzels!

“Junior Stanislas was still a little shy and had to be coaxed on to the floor. His choice of song wasn’t the best but proved to be quite apt after something which had happened earlier in the day. He did Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and it made Smudger (Adam Smith) feel a lot better because he was licking his wounds after a hiccup in the afternoon.

“Some of us went for a bike ride to the shops and Smudge was like a kid at Christmas with his new mountain bike. He was showing off and doing a few bunny hops. However, what he failed to realise was that he was wearing a pair of baggy shorts with no zips on the pockets and he smashed his phone to smithereens. He is still missing his mum and dad a bit so Junior singing one of his favourite songs helped him get over this mishap!

“Alex, the new Mexican kit man, wasn’t shy at all and he stole the show with his performance of La Bamba. Pete Barry, the football liaison officer, offered to do a Perry Como number but we weren’t having any of that!

“It was a quiet night and most of the lads went to bed early because the Argentina-Holland game was so boring. Everybody had a good night’s kip which was good because we have been training hard ever since we arrived.

“In preparation for the game tomorrow, we stepped up training on the tactical side this morning. With the game in mind, the gaffer lowered the work-rate and it was a good opportunity for him to get the ground rules over and what he is looking for in certain situations.

“This afternoon, we had a quiz and the staff challenged the players. Pete Barry was quizmaster and he had big boots to fill because Big Fletch used to do them and he was excellent. Pete stood in and I can honestly say it was the worst quiz we have ever done. He seemed to think it was the Pete Barry Show!

“As Pete is a member of staff, some of the players were convinced they were getting all the easy questions and we were getting the hard ones. I mean, how is Ryan Fraser supposed to know the national flower of Scotland and Benji Buchel the capital of Liechtenstein?

“There were suspicions that it was rigged and the players decided to have a mutiny and downed tools. We have lost Richard Hughes, who was our main man on the Friday night quizzes, and replaced him with Dan, Junior and Callum. We were so far behind that we all agreed to give it the swerve and I don’t think the staff were too happy because they were so far in front and there was a few quid at stake.

“It has been a fairly low-key and quiet 24 hours because everybody is starting to get their heads on the game. We are looking forward to playing Copenhagen because it is going to be a great test to start the friendlies with. We prepare and treat these games as if they were league games. We are due to train again in the morning and then rest before kick-off.”

  • As Cherries are kicking off their pre-season friendly campaign against FC Copenhagen tomorrow, this will be the final diary piece from Tommy Elphick. Many thanks to the Cherries skipper for his help with this.