IT was hardly a surprise to see local MPs and councillors piling in to claim their share of reflected glory within minutes of the Cherries’ return to the Premier League.

Noticeable for their deafening silence during ‘Boscombe’s’ two year spell in the Championship, both Tobias Ellwood MP and BCP deputy leader Philip Broadhead were suddenly banging the drum big style.

Curiously, rather than concentrate on the level of sporting achievement, they elected to focus on how much Premier League football will boost the local economy.

Of course, that will be the case but, as a Cherries fan for 59 of my 64 years, I am surprised that BCP leader Drew Mellor and sidekick Cllr Broadhead have missed a major trick.

They usually have their fingers on the pulse when it comes to the key issues concerning BCP voters, such as achieving city status for Bournemouth...not, and are about slip up again.

The football club is unable to make any improvements to the 11,500 capacity Vitality Stadium/Dean Court for the simple reason that it is a tenant rather than owner.

BCP Council, with the political kudos seeking pair at the helm, has the chance to work closely with the Cherries to find a site to build a new ground worthy of an ambitious Premier League club.

Building a new training ground at Canford would be a start but there is still the lingering feeling that the Cherries are a useful weapon for the BCP when they are in the Premier League but fade into the background when they are not.

I am not asking for Old Trafford or the Etihad, but somewhere such as the Brentford Community Stadium, with a 19,000 capacity and achieved with the help of a West London authority able to grasp the importance of pushing on with aplomb.

I can’t see it ever happening with the BCP but now it is over to them to prove me wrong.

ROSS TAYLOR

Plympton, Devon