AFC Bournemouth owner Bill Foley is reportedly the preferred bidder for the Australian Professional Leagues (APL) expansion franchise in New Zealand’s largest city, Auckland.
If a deal is completed, it will take “Black Knight Football Club” ownership in football clubs to three, alongside AFC Bournemouth and French club Lorient. Bill Foley’s sports team portfolio also includes Ice Hockey side Las Vegas Golden Knights and Foley holds ambitions to expand further.
Ten months ago, just days after his formal takeover of AFC Bournemouth was announced, American businessman Bill Foley announced his multi-club ambition.
At that point in time, the plan was to purchase a Ligue 1 side in France and a top-flight club in Belgium, before looking to expand globally with a potential club in South America.
The purchase of Ligue 1 side Lorient came at the start of the year, Foley had acquired an initial 33% shareholding with the potential to increase that stake in the future, more recently however Foley has stated that Black Knight’s stake in Lorient was set to rise to 100% over the next few years on a phased basis.
However, a deal to purchase a club in Belgium has yet to materialise after being linked with a potential takeover of Sporting Charleroi.
But, it would seem that Foley has seen other opportunities to expand the portfolio. Foley recently revealed interest in purchasing a Scottish Premiership club and now has his sights on moving into a new continent.
Foley holds business experience in New Zealand, with Foley Family Wines and Foley Hospitality owning various vineyards, bars and restaurants in the country.
The Australian League announced plans to expand the division to 14 sides, including 2 clubs in New Zealand. Wellington is currently the only side in New Zealand in the A-League and this new expansion side would become the second.
But whilst the expansion clubs are showing big potential and plans for Football down under, Foley would reportedly see this side as the bottom of the ladder in regards to his clubs under his stewardship.
In an interview with Men in Blazers podcast as quoted by stuff.co.nz, Foley said…
“I believe that if we can end up with four or five economic interests in various clubs, that we will have the system in place for players to advance and to move on to the next club, [then] to move on to the next club,”
“We will have similar analytic staff in place and technical directors that will look for the right type of players that they know can play ultimately for AFC Bournemouth.”
Your say…
kitso wrote…
It’s not a great league by any stretch of the imagination. Seen a few Phoenix games and we’ve had a few good journeymen from England, Paul Ifill and Chris Greenacre. Now David Ball. Large turnover of players and managers as they end up going to one of the Australian teams or Indian league.
Auckland already have had a team, the Knights funnily enough, but they went bust years ago.
Not sure if there’s the appetite or fan base to be honest. What with rugby union and league having a strong foothold and adding to that the only largish stadium is either Eden Park, which isn’t really practical, or Mount Smart which is old and needs major refurb I’m struggling to see the attraction to be honest.
Maybe Bill will ship over Dean Court to kill two birds with one stone. – To join the conversation, click here.
