Controversial Bournemouth chairman Eddie Mitchell has defended his strategy at the football club. He has been under criticism for failing to reinvest in the squad after selling off almost all the players who reached the League 1 play offs last year.
Controversial Bournemouth chairman Eddie Mitchell has defended his strategy at the football club. He has been under criticism for failing to reinvest in the squad after selling off almost all the players who reached the League 1 play offs last year.
Last week Mitchell went on to the pitch and grabbed a microphone, berating fans, as well as offering to fight one. Earlier he had told unhappy supporters to ‘go and support Southampton.’ Mitchell believes he is dealing with a small group of fans ‘who don’t want the club to succeed’, although quite why that should be is unclear.
Mitchell has pointed out that the club has invested in two new tractors and also got a deep plunger for use on the pitch (presumably a scaled up version of the device one uses to unblock drains). New driers and washing machines have been installed.
The accounts for the year ending 2010 showed debts of £3.8m offset by a commitmet to ‘significant activity in respect of player sales since the year end.’ Mitchell says the club is now £1.5m in credit and on a sound footing. Mitchell’s property business, Seven Developments, is the subject of a winding up order on October 31st.
The player sales were all good deals and the youth team has been brought back to the club after training miles away. The club is sticking to a wage structure. They won away yesterday and are now out of the relegation positions. However, it is probably not a good idea for a chairman to argue with fans after a game.