Servant Smith continues to deliver
[Getty Images] As Bournemouth's players celebrated Saturday's win at Fulham with the away fans, one of the team whose name was chanted most heartily was that of Adam Smith. As club captain, longest-serving current player and the last remaining link to the Cherries' League One days, Smith knows the scale of the journey Bournemouth have experienced. Smith was still a teenager when he joined the Cherries on loan from Tottenham for the 2010-11 season, having already been loaned out to Wycombe and Torquay.
Returning to Spurs, Smith was then loaned to Milton Keynes, Leeds , Millwall and Derby, while making one solitary Premier League appearance for Tottenham as a substitute on the final day of the 2011-12 season. Former Spurs manager David Pleat, still an influential figure behind the scenes at White Hart Lane at the time, remained an admirer of Smith but by January 2014, after seven loans in five seasons, it was time for the Leytonstone-born right-back to seek pastures new. And it was Eddie Howe, now in his second spell as Bournemouth boss, who signed Smith for a second time with the club now in the second tier.
The form and fitness of Simon Francis meant Smith was initially a back-up, with 23 of his 29 appearances in the Championship-winning 2014-15 campaign coming from the bench. Bournemouth began their Premier League life with the same back four they had fielded in League One three years earlier, but lost captain Tommy Elphick to injury early in the season. With Francis taking the armband and moving to centre-back, Smith had an opening at right-back, never looked back and is now, by a distance, their leading Premier League appearance-maker.
Smith has had plenty of competition for his place over the years, with Jack Stacey and Ryan Fredericks signed but later discarded. Ethan Laird was signed on loan, but barely got a look-in. Max Aarons and Julian Araujo remain on the books but spent 2025-26 on loan across the Old Firm divide in Glasgow.
While Alex Jimenez had looked to be the man to finally replace Smith long-term, he remains dropped from the squad pending an investigation into social media posts, a situation which unexpectedly opened the door for Smith to return to the starting XI and put in a terrific shift at Craven Cottage. Even though their dream of European qualification is tantalisingly close, Smith has been at Bournemouth long enough not to celebrate until it is a certainty. But as a loyal servant for over a decade, he should celebrate it all the more.