If you were to ask google – What is an icon? The description that would come back to you would be “a person or thing widely admired especially for having great influence or significance in a particular sphere“.
That seems a pretty fair description of Kieffer Moore’s impact at AFC Bournemouth, despite the 31-year-old’s relatively brief spell on the south coast with the Cherries.
AFC Bournemouth signed Moore at the very end of the January transfer window in 2022.
However, injury would limit him to just three minutes of action, until the end of April.
He would come on as a substitute with 28 minutes remaining away to Swansea City, the Cherries were chasing automatic promotion but found themselves 3-0 down.
Moore would go on to score a brace, including a dramatic 90th-minute equaliser and whilst an impact like that was enough in itself to send Kenwyne Jones into AFC Bournemouth folklore, Kieffer Moore wasn’t done there…
We’ll never forget this moment ❤️
Wishing Kieffer Moore all the best as he moves to Sheffield United.
MOORE. MOORE. MOORE. pic.twitter.com/NWv1FuEMK6
— AFC Bournemouth 🍒 (@afcbournemouth) July 15, 2024
He also scored the goal that won AFC Bournemouth promotion to the Premier League, by defeating Nottingham Forest in a game described as a play-off for promotion before the play-offs, as whichever side won, would be practically certain of promotion to the top flight of English football.
His goalscoring touch continued a week later, scoring the winner on the final day of the season to beat Millwall and then score once again on the opening day of the Premier League season to beat Aston Villa.
Overall Moore made 46 appearances for the Cherries in all competitions scoring 10 goals. Not a bad ratio considering only 15 of those appearances would come as actual starts.
Two years after his arrival Moore would go out on loan to Ipswich Town for the second half of last season, his golden touch continued, scoring 7 times in 18 appearances (14 starts), helping Ipswich Town to an unlikely automatic promotion ahead of the likes of recently relegated Southampton and Leeds United.
However, Moore’s time has now officially come to an end with a permanent move to Sheffield United.
Moore has penned a three-year deal with the fee officially undisclosed.
The move came as quite a surprise to Hull City, the Hull Daily Mail reported that not only had “Hull City had agreed a deal with Bournemouth”, but Moore had already gone “through a medical with the Tigers” and “was expected to board a flight out of England to link up with Tim Walter’s squad at their training base in Turkey”, before changing his mind to join Sheffield United.
“Moore’s decision was based around his family and his wife, who is preparing to give birth, wanting to remain in South Yorkshire” added the Hull newspaper.
Croeso, Kieffer! 👋 pic.twitter.com/7nFCuez5rY
— Sheffield United (@SheffieldUnited) July 15, 2024
Speaking to Sheffield United’s official website, Moore said…
“Everything fits perfectly in what I want from a club and their ambition matches mine. When you get a chance to join a great club like this, you always want to take that opportunity.
“I’m very familiar with the area and it is always nice to come back to places where you’ve experienced success, it will help me settle in as well. I have fond memories of both Rotherham and Barnsley, so for me to come back to the area is something I’m looking forward to.
“I’ll buy into everything the gaffer says, we’ve had some good conversations already and although these decisions take some thinking about, once I spoke to the manager I made my decision.
“I’ve always wanted to be somewhere where I’m playing regularly, so not doing that at Bournemouth was hard, last season I wanted to go and make an impact by playing some football and thankfully I had a fantastic time with Ipswich.
“I want to bring that experience and knowhow to the group and add to what is already here.”
Your say…
billythekid said…
Sorry to see him go, seems a really likeable bloke and his goal against Forest put us back in the Premier League which will be remembered for a long time by our fans.
Didn’t get many starts in the Premier League, but was a good professional and never seemed to complain.
Best of luck to him in his move to the Blades. – To join the conversation, click here.