HE MAY have taken a decade to reach the top but Marc Pugh still finds himself at the bottom of the stairs.

Tradition means everything to Eddie Howe which is why he has recognised Cherries’ leading appearance-makers in the way he has.

Action pictures of the top 10 adorn the wall on the staircase in the players’ pavilion at Vitality Stadium.

The list starts with John Impey, Cherries’ battle-hardened skipper of the late 1970s, who is just behind Ronnie Eyre, the club’s record goalscorer.

As the climb continues, the names of Paul Morrell, Tommy Godwin, James Hayter, Keith Miller, Ray Bumstead, Sean O’Driscoll and Neil Young all appear in numerical order.

On the top step is Steve Fletcher, whose tally of 628 league appearances for the club is unlikely ever to be beaten.

However, one man whose record will soon be passed is Howe, with Pugh having drawn level with his manager on 262 after lining up against Huddersfield.

The winger’s next appearance will see him become 15th in the hall of fame – with a plaque charting his running total fixed to the wall at the foot of the staircase.

“It will be a proud moment,” said Pugh, who reached the Premier League with Cherries 10 years after making his debut in the Conference during a loan spell at Kidderminster Harriers.

How times have changed since the popular Lancastrian upped sticks from Hereford to join Cherries for the then astronomical sum of £100,000 in June 2010.

“I remember it well,” said Pugh, with the fee having been determined by a transfer tribunal. “Jeff Mostyn had kittens when they said how much I would cost!”

It has without doubt been a case of money well spent by Cherries, while Pugh’s memoirs would certainly make for interesting reading.

“I have enough to write a good book!” he laughed, when asked to recount some of his memories, good and bad.

“It was difficult for me and my wife when we first moved here because we were so far from home. At the time, it was a very big decision.

“I signed for Hereford after two good seasons with Shrewsbury. The manager Gary Peters moved on and Paul Simpson came in. He phoned and said he wanted to cancel my contract.

“I was on my honeymoon and, all of a sudden, I was jobless. My agent got me a move to Hereford and I scored three times against Bournemouth that season.

“I had just got married and knew it would be make or break. I had to take a pay cut which wasn’t easy because we had a mortgage and bills to pay.

“Bournemouth came in for me and I met the gaffer and JT (Jason Tindall) in Prezzo. We clicked instantly. You could see they were genuine and hard-working people. I wanted to give it a crack and it proved to be the best thing that ever happened to me in my career.”

Although Howe and Tindall left for Burnley little more than six months after Pugh had signed, they returned to find the club’s newly-crowned supporters’ player of the year still on the playing staff.

“It has been a crazy time and I always look back at a few incidences,” said Pugh. “I was left out of the team for the last few games of 2010-11 season under Lee Bradbury.

“I had started the season really well and had scored nine goals when I slid off the pitch at Orient and damaged my knee on a sprinkler. We were in League One and I had a few clubs chasing me at the time.

“I am a firm believer in things happening for a reason. If I had stayed fit or if I had played the last few games of that season, I may have moved and not achieved what I have here.

“Quite a few players left that summer and moved on when bigger clubs came calling. Fate has played a big part in everything falling into place and me staying at the club.

“It is an amazing job coming to work and doing something you love. You have to make sacrifices along the way but I have loved every part of it.

“I have always played with a smile on my face and tried to entertain people. I go into every game thinking what is the worst that could happen?

“You see people around the world who are suffering with illness et cetera and we just go out, kick a ball around and have a good time.

“Results mean a lot but as long as you give your all and can look in the mirror every day and say you did everything to try to win, that is the most important thing.

“Perhaps if I had started at the top and just continued, I wouldn’t have appreciated what I now have. I will never lose sight of how fortunate I have been.”