AFC Bournemouth chief executive Neill Blake is to leave the Cherries at the end of the month to take a new role with Black Knight Football Club (“BKFC”).
The move officially ends Blake’s direct involvement with AFC Bournemouth, something that started when Blake joined the Cherries after the club was taken over from former Dorchester Town owner and Blake’s father-in-law, Eddie Mitchell in 2009.
Blake was initially Director of Operations but worked as an employee of Mitchell’s personal company Seven Developments until early 2010 when he became AFC Bournemouth Chief executive and officially became employed by the club.
During that time AFC Bournemouth have had two takeovers, with Maxim Demin and now Bill Foley becoming majority owners, the football club have won promotion from League Two in 2010, won promotion from League One in 2013 and won the Football League Championship, and with it promotion to the Premier League in 2015.
Following relegation from the top flight of English football in 2020, the Cherries bounced back at the second time of asking with automatic promotion in 2022.
BREAKING:
AFC Bournemouth have confirmed that long-standing chief executive Neill Blake is to take on a new role at Black Knight Football Club (“BKFC”) after the closing of the summer transfer window.
In my opinion a huge part of the success at #afcb over the last 15 years.
— Mark McAdam (@markmcadamtv) August 29, 2024
Big news coming out of Vitality Stadium tonight…
Neill Blake is leaving his role as chief executive at #afcb after 15 years.
He’s moving to a new position at Bill Foley’s Black Knight Football Club where he’ll oversee the company’s multi-club model. @solentsport
— Jordan Clark (@jordanclarkcouk) August 29, 2024
According to a brief statement on afcb.co.uk, Blake will be…
Neill will help oversee BKFC’s multi-club model. BKFC, and its shareholders, owns the Cherries and A-League newcomers Auckland FC, while holding minority shares in Ligue 2’s FC Lorient and Scottish Premiership side Hibernian FC.
The statement concluded adding…
Everybody at AFC Bournemouth would like to wish Neill all the best in his new role and looks forward to continuing to work with him in his new capacity.
Your say…
Kudos said…
Gets a few million a year off the AFCB books and is probably the best person internally to appoint to also look after the new football club. – To join the conversation, click here.
