Moore money for Bluebirds after Cherries hit the jackpot
BOURNEMOUTH’S promotion to the Premier League has triggered a clause which will see Cardiff City benefit to the tune of around £1million.
The Bluebirds sold Kieffer Moore to the Cherries back in January for a fee believed to be worth £3.5m. However, as is typically the case in these scenarios, several add-ons were included in the deal which would see Cardiff net more money if certain clauses were triggered.
Well, that happened on Tuesday night. The Wales striker netted the winner in Bournemouth’s crunch promotion decider against Nottingham Forest, a 1-0 triumph that saw Moore’s team go up.
Moore was signed by Scott Parker in January as the manager believed the striker would give his side an end-of-season boost to get them over the line. However, back in February after just three minutes in a Cherries shirt, the 29-year-old sustained a broken foot and was out for 10 weeks.
He made up for lost time, though, scoring twice off the bench against Swansea City to earn a crucial 3-3 draw last week before crisply slotting home a well-worked free-kick deep into the second half against Forest. He almost single-handedly earned Bournemouth four points in the space of a week.
It’s been some journey for Moore, whose journey from non-League to the Premier League, via Norway, England C and Cardiff City, has been quite remarkable as well as establishing himself as a Wales international. Some Bluebirds fans will begrudge him for tabling a transfer request three months ago, but others would look on with admiration for his climb to the top.
And, after the match, he was left speechless after realising his dream had come to fruition. “I can’t put it into words,” he told Sky Sports.
“I’m speechless. When I came here, I had one goal. To have a setback like I did wasn’t ideal.
“I’ve dreamt of this moment from the start and thankfully we did it. I’m glad [the injury is] behind me and it’s hard to put into words what it means. I have dreamt of this moment as a kid and thankfully I get to live it.’’
After he was handed the man of the match award by team-mate Phil Billing, Moore turned to the camera, pointed at the award and said: “That’s for you, grandad!”
Cherries boss Scott Parker also heaped praise on the Wales striker’s resilience following his agonising injury setbacks over the last few months.
“If I were to show you what Kieffer has done in training, you will be gobsmacked,” said Parker. “Kieffer, at Swansea, had trained one day.
“He had a setback with his foot and because of the needs, he put himself available on the bench. I said to myself, 10 minutes maximum at Swansea if we can get him on.
“Desperate measures, we’re 3-0 down and need to bring him on. He scores two goals, massive. And then again he gets a winner to put us into the Premier League. So an amazing story.
“A real shame we’ve not had him for when we brought him in, because I think we’ve seen over the last two games what he’s brought to this team. But he deserves this moment, I’m pleased for him.”
Moore’s goal came through a clever, quick-witted set-piece, where smart thinking from Philip Billing played a disguised pass to the Wales forward, who slotted in a first time effort towards the far post.
“It wasn’t off the training ground,” smiled Parker. “I would like to say we as staff could gain credibility for that. But a lot of detail we put into these players. Loads and loads of detail. Very intense in what we do in our planning but that was off the cuff.
“That was good players using their initiative. Philip Billing was incredible and executed it. That was brilliant.”
And Parker was delighted his team had made it over the line for automatic promotion.
He said: “It is part and parcel of the Championship that there will be bumps along the way, but the fans stuck with us and that is why we are in this position and going to the Premier League.
“The atmosphere was incredible and that probably got us over the line. The fans were our 12th man and that helped us massively.
“I want to say ‘thank you’ to the owner and the people involved in this club.
“I have nothing but the utmost support and that gives me the opportunity to do the best job I can.”