New AFC Bournemouth owner and chairman Bill Foley has been doing the media rounds since the completion of his takeover from former owner Maxim Demin.
Foley, has sat down (virtually) with afcb.co.uk, Sky Sports and the BBC in recent days, completing more media interviews in one afternoon than Demin completed in a decade of ownership.
What is evident is a contrast of styles between the two, Demin was quiet with an air of the unknown around him, even to date, with plans for the club kept as a closely regarded secret. Whilst Foley appears to be more a “cards on the table” character with short and long-term ambitions set out, even before the takeover was completed and ratified by the Premier League this week.
In October, Foley discussed the plans for heavy investment in infrastructure, including both the training ground complex and either a stadium redevelopment at Dean Court or an entirely newly built stadium.
''I'm a dictator and I need to be the captain of the ship''
New #afcb Chairman Bill Foley has spoken to @LewisCoombes🍒
👇 Listen to the interview in full 🔊https://t.co/lThXx2epDj pic.twitter.com/9JQIuBZy6Z
— BBC Radio Solent Sport (@solentsport) December 14, 2022
Speaking to the BBC, Foley spoke in more detail about the logistics of the process over the next few years.
“The first priority is the new training facility and a new academy, putting the academy out on the land the club already owns.
“So we have to get that built because as soon as that’s built, the team, the business office, can move to the current training facility and get out of the stadium, which gives us more opportunities for hospitality.
“At the same time, until we get the team out of their current training facility, we really can’t start a new stadium, if we want to go that route, because the stadium is going to basically be where the pitches are right now.
“It’s going to be very frustrating because it is going to take us a few years to do all this. But we are already underway at the training facility, one pitch is already finished, the indoor pitch is under construction and we’re accelerating.
In his Sky Sports interview, Foley however didn’t rule out remaining at Dean Court but all but confirmed that the Cherries future would be remaining in Kings Park…
“…We will do an evaluation, should we try and improve Vitality Stadium? Which means we would buy it and try and build second decks or should we go the other route and actually build a new stadium? That’s all contingent upon getting the practice facility built so that the team can get out of it’s present practice facility so the business staff can move to the practice facility and then we can really get underway on the stadium.
“It doesn’t mean we can’t do a lot of things at the same time but we do have a series of steps that we’ve got to take and I can’t tell you whether we’ll stay where we are or build a new stadium yet. We’ve really got a lot of different ideas, we really want to improve the hospitality aspects of AFCB, we need to have more venues within the stadium, we need more suites, we need more seats.
“The fans are fantastic in Bournemouth, but, we only have 11,300 of them and if you look at the stands they tend to look a little bit like me, older white men. So what I really want to do is expand our fan base and bring in younger individuals.
Foley also revealed that he has the intention of creating a triangle of clubs across Europe, with discussions already being held with clubs in France and Belgium. In his interview with BBC he continued…
“We have a multi-club concept.
“So, we are actually in negotiation today with a Ligue 1 team and we’re in exclusivity – and with a first division team in Belgium.
“That would give us that kind of little triangle that we could move players back and forth. I have always felt that if I’m going to buy a player, why not buy the player for myself instead of somebody else?
“We raised adequate funds to really fund all of these transactions. I am pretty excited about how much progress we are making. I look forward to doing a release as we get closer to finalisation on these other two acquisitions. I think everyone in Bournemouth is going to be excited about this.”
In his Sky Sports interview, he also added potential ambitions in the future to look at purchasing another club in South America.
“The next step will be a South American team, whether it will be Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay, Argentina, I’m not sure yet. I need to make sure the economics are right and sometimes in some countries things happen that are not and I’m a pretty straight arrow, a pretty straight guy and I don’t like to have any issues.
“These first two teams that we are very serious about, they will be the foundation for our multi-club concept. It’s not original, obviously Man City has done it in a big way and many other teams have.
“Richard (Hughes), Neill (Blake) and I are committed to developing players and developing players in multiple countries and then getting the immigration points and then bringing those good players up to Bournemouth. Bournemouth is the parent, that’s the one we’re going to support, that’s our number one goal and the other teams need to support Bournemouth.
More Bill Foley…
“I’m committed, I’m engaged, I’m one of them.”
“I’m a simple army guy that got fortunate with some investments.”
More on https://t.co/7JKnc7x0cK pic.twitter.com/q3yQA90wL4
— Mark McAdam (@markmcadamtv) December 15, 2022
Your say…
fore15 wrote…
EXCITED WOW!!! The last 10 years from promotion to the Championship, to the Premier League, relegation, and back to the Premier League (THANK YOU MAX!!) and now a new owner with HUGE plans and it seems big pockets. Having watched Div 1 & 2 for the majority of my life with the Cherries, I really have thoroughly enjoyed the ride, did I think it could get any better……of course not! HERE TO THE NEXT 10 YEARS AND BEYOND, WELCOME AND BRING IT ON BILL AND CO.!!!
thegazzyb said…
It will be interesting to see how high his personal stake is, should they take over another club. Here he wanted his 30% or so before divvying up the rest between his mates and his investment company. Also, we need to find out if he buys a house there! 
I suspect that we are Foley’s baby, hence his interest in the area etc. and that if he can have a little network of other clubs “in his close circle”, which may be of benefit to AFCB and vice versa, then why not?
I would expect him to maybe facilitate other purchases but maybe not be the majority shareholder in them.
thegazzyb added…
Excited !!!
Looking forward to the media team’s regular updates on progress at the training facility from here on in
Bill has a history of treating his athletes well and providing them with world-class facilities. Can’t see him scrimping on this development, it’s his first chance to make a big statement about where they see us in the future as well!
I know we’ll never get to use these facilities but I’m excited nonetheless.
It would be great if we really did end up with a truly world-class centre of excellence thingy, maybe putting a few noses out of joint in doing so ( no names ! ). Or a truly world-class anything for that matter. Well, anything that isn’t a car park obviously. We know that the car park is right up there with the best of them, we’ve known that for years
Excited !!! ( did I mention that yet? ). – To join the conversation, click here.
