This season Prostate Cancer UK is the official charity of The Football League. To celebrate, we've asked bloggers from each of the 72 clubs to count down their top five strikers to have worn the No9 shirt, in recognition of the fact that prostate cancer affects one in nine men.

Keeping up appearances: Steve Fletcher has played over 600 games. Photo courtesy of Action Images

 

Here the bloggers from narrowtheangle.com select Bournemouth's five best No9s… and one to forget!

5. Colin Clarke (1985-86)
Clarke's time at Bournemouth was brief, but in his one-season stay at Dean Court he plundered 26 goals and helped Harry Redknapp's side build a momentum that would ultimately see them win the Third Division title in 1987. Clarke had moved on to Southampton by then, but his forward play is still remembered fondly by Cherries fans and his performances in a Bournemouth shirt got him into the Northern Ireland team for the 1986 World Cup.

4. Phil Boyer (1970-74)
A busy and skilful forward, Boyer would create chances for others as often as try to score himself. His intelligent movement and accurate passing meant he was a perfect foil for another on this list, Ted MacDougall. Amazingly, the two played together at four different clubs - York, Bournemouth, Norwich and Southampton - as various managers came to realise that one without the other just wasn't the same. As well as his supporting role, Boyer was quite predatory himself too, averaging one in three for the Cherries.

3. Ron Eyre (1924-33)
Some nine decades ago, Ron Eyre joined the Cherries from Sheffield Wednesday and set about scoring enough goals to ensure that he's been the club's all-time leading scorer ever since, with 202 league goals. On two separate occasions, once in 1925-26 and again in 1928-29, Eyre hit hat-tricks in back-to-back League games and it could be many more decades before his remarkable goalscoring exploits are bettered.

2. Steve Fletcher (1992-2007 & 2009-)
Jostling for top spot as Bournemouth's most legendary player, let along No9, is record appearances holder Steve Fletcher (617 appearances and counting). Never prolific, Fletcher has always been more about holding the ball up, winning headers and generally making a powerful nuisance of himself. He is a master of the art, as evidenced by defenders' ashen faces when he comes on as a substitute boasting biceps the size of their thighs.

1. Ted MacDougall (1969-72 & 1978-80)
A prolific marksman, talk of 'SuperMac' still sends Cherries fans of a certain vintage all gooey-eyed. MacDougall was a good all-round footballer, but he was predominantly a predator with a penchant for acrobatic flying headers. He lived and breathed goals, averaging one in two across his long career, and once scored a treble hat-trick in an 11-0 demolition of Margate in the FA Cup in 1971.

And the worst…
George Lawrence (1989-92)
There were so many options for this category, but Lawrence was the pick on account of being blessed with raw power, plenty of pace and absolutely no idea what to do with it all. An ex-Southampton player and nicknamed 'Chicken George' after his passing resemblance to his namesake character from the US TV series Roots, one Saints reference book notes: "Lawrence would, when remembering to take the ball with him, completely perplex opposing defenders and cause havoc in the penalty area." Sadly, his shots would cause havoc for spectators in the back row of Dean Court, too. Yet Lawrence was a trier, rarely booed by fans, and his inclusion here comes with a certain amount of fondness.

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