For the last decade, the title of English football’s greatest story has been widely accepted as Leicester City's extraordinary Premier League title in 2015/16, defying the 5000/1 odds set by bookmakers before a ball was kicked.
Now, AFC Bournemouth stand on the verge of challenging that crown, with only two games separating them from a fairytale ending to their ascent from the brink of collapse to the threshold of Europe’s elite competition.
In 2008, Bournemouth were written off after being placed into administration, docked 17 points, and left stranded at the bottom of League Two.
The club faced the threat of liquidation and extinction, with fans even holding bucket collections on matchdays to help fund basic staff wages and running costs.
Alongside the points deduction, Bournemouth were also hit with a strict transfer embargo, preventing them from signing players for nearly 18 months.
With the club firmly rooted in the relegation zone, they turned to Eddie Howe on New Year’s Eve, then just 31 and the youngest manager in the league.
What followed was a remarkable surge in form, which led to a dramatic survival on the final day of the 2008/09 season, as Cherries club legend Steve Fletcher etched his name into south coast folklore with a late winner at Dean Court.
Now, only Manchester City and Nottingham Forest stand in the way of the Cherries completing their 17-year journey.
AFC Bournemouth stand on the verge of Champions League football
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Bournemouth's rise through the ranks as they battle to secure Champions League football
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Champions League qualification would require Bournemouth to either climb one place in the table or finish 6th, depending on other results, while also relying on Aston Villa winning the Europa League and finishing 5th.
Bookmakers rate Villa at around 75 per cent to win the final and 50 per cent to finish fifth, leaving Bournemouth supporters with reason for cautious optimism.
A GB News analysis suggests that the odds of Bournemouth reaching the Champions League within 17 years of their 2008 position would have been between 5000/1 and 50,000/1.
Those figures would eclipse even the improbability of Leicester’s 2015/16 title win.
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In 2008, Bournemouth were written off after being placed into administration, docked 17 points, and left stranded at the bottom of League Two
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In 2008, the Foxes had just been relegated to League One for the first time in their history. A bet on them winning the Premier League within eight years would still have seemed far-fetched.
But compared with Bournemouth, Leicester were a historically larger club, with a bigger fanbase and stronger infrastructure already in place.
Their financial recovery also appeared more plausible, meaning they required promotion and then a single extraordinary season to complete their transformation.
GB News' analysis places Leicester’s Premier League win within eight years at somewhere between 10,000/1 and 20,000/1.
Cherries club legend Steve Fletcher etched his name into south coast folklore with a late winner at Dean Court
|PA
Other notable contenders for English football’s greatest modern rise include Wigan Athletic and Luton Town.
Wigan rose from non-league football to the Premier League and famously won the FA Cup in 2013, while Luton have completed a remarkable journey from non-league football back into the Premier League after years outside the top divisions.
But if Bournemouth were to complete the journey from -17 in League Two to the floodlights of Europe’s elite nights under the Champions League anthem, English football may yet have its greatest underdog story.
As the club motto tells its fans, "Together anything is possible".
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