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Bournemouth are the latest club to go into administration. Given that they were re-launched as the first community club in 1997, it is worth looking at what has happened to them since then. Things went well at first: in its first year as a community club a profit of £200,000 was recorded. But the deal between the receiver and the Trust Fund left the club with hefty repayments and the cost of building a new stadium also hit the club hard. In 2002 the idea of selling the stadium was first raised. The board considered selling it for £4m and leasing it back for £350,000 a year, but instead fans raised £750,000 through a Cherryshare scheme which was enough to prevent Dean Court being sold. In 2004 major creditors Bristol and West Investments applied to repossess the stadium to recover a debt of around £300,000, leading to the launch of Cherryshare II. In 2006 the club tried to persuade at least 40 fans to transfer around £50,000 of their pension rights to the so-called Supporters' Pension Scheme and purchase the stadium from the club. Not surprisingly, this scheme never got off the ground.
In 2005 the club entered into talks with a property company called Structadene which was prepared to buy the stadium for £3.5m. This proved to be very divisive when the Community Mutual threatened to use its 51 per cent golden share to block the sale but it went through as there wasn't really a viable alternative. That enabled the club to stave off a winding-up threat from the Inland Revenue by making an immediate payment of £500,000. But the club's £7m debt had only decreased to around £2.24m. Earlier this week, it was revealed that the club was facing yet another winding up petition from HM Revenue and Customs leading to the decision to put the club into administration. It is very difficult for a club like Bournemouth to make money and the only alternative is wealthy benefactor, but there are not that many of them who want to invest in a lower league club.
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