HARRY Arter has backed the “grown men” at Cherries to deal with the brighter glare of the media spotlight – whether coverage is positive or negative.

Cherries have been subject to unprecedented column inches and airtime since they earned promotion to the Premier League for the first time earlier this month.

And that level of scrutiny is highly likely to increase ahead of the big kick-off in August.

However, ex-Charlton midfielder Arter feels the key to dealing with such attention is to pull together as a squad and, as much as possible, ignore the buzz around them.

He told the Daily Echo: “The local media has always given good coverage to Bournemouth but this is a different time for the club and I’m sure there will be lots of different stories that supporters might have to take with a pinch of salt.

“Some individuals may get a lot of praise and some may get a lot of negativity but as a squad we will have to support each other and make sure we stay level-headed and that no one takes too much notice of what is written and said.

“It doesn’t affect me personally but as a squad we probably won’t realise the extent of it until the season starts.

“If we have a few negative results, the media will jump on us in a negative way, so if that happens we will have to try not to let it affect us. Also, if we have a good start, it will be the other way round and they will be saying how good we are. But again, we can’t let that affect us.

“We know what the media is like and especially the mainstream media – they are quite harsh in what they say – and I’m sure the manager will speak to us about that at the start of the season.

“But we’re all grown men and all professionals so it’s up to us to deal with it.

“We understand that the media are going to be there and are going to be on us a little bit more but, ultimately, we will try to ignore what is said and stay as level-headed as we can throughout the season.”

While he has no Cherries fixture duties to fulfil for the present time, the uncapped Arter could yet feature on the field for the Republic of Ireland in the next month.

The 25-year-old is part of Martin O’Neill’s long squad for a friendly against England and a Euro 2016 qualifier against Scotland on June 7 and June 13, respectively, the latter of which could see Arter clash with Cherries team-mate Matt Ritchie.