#324. Death Threats & Bankruptcy at AFC Bournemouth - Former Chairman Jeff Mostyn

0:00We're live on air. You can do whatever you want, but you cannot use any expletives. I leaped literally down three flights of stairs. Literally, it just went absolutely viral. Alan's given me the biggest spanking of my life. What's been your biggest ever achievement as the chairman of Bournemouth Football Club? It has to be taking the football club to the promised land, the Premier League. because that was the platform to take the football club forward and put the club into administration. Because we discovered they had massive debts at the time. Do you remember what debts they were? Well, this is what I was understood to believe.

0:42Roundabout to HMRC. Tell me what the vibe was like at Bournemouth Football Club when you became chairman. Well, when I had death threats and my family had death threats, Adam afforded me almost 24-hour protection. Hold on, hold on. You had death threats. Yeah. Sorry. It's no problem at all, Jeff. Take your time, mate.

1:13Welcome to the Eventful Lives podcast. I'm your host, Dodge, and I'm the founder of Bournemouth Sevens, the world's largest sport and music festival. On this podcast, I speak to proper characters of all lived eventful lives. Do us a favour and hit that follow button and be sure to check us out on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok at Dodge Wooden, where we've now had over 100 million views. Jeff, welcome to the show, mate. Dodge, honestly, what an honour, real honour being with you. Thank you, mate. Thank you. I really appreciate that. And we've been speaking for a while now and we're finally here to hear the story of the chairman.

1:45Let's roll our way back. What's been your biggest ever achievement as the chairman of Bournemouth Football Club? Well, it has to be taking the football club to the promised land, the Premier League. You know, I think there's been great achievements. You could say saving the football club was my greatest achievement because that was the platform to take the football club forward. But, you know, in everybody's eyes to achieve the impossible, you know, we did it. Yeah, amazing. So just for the listener out there who is a football fan but doesn't know the whole history of Bournemouth Football Club, what you've done from the start when you got involved, when it was Division 4, four tiers down to take them to the Premier League in such a short space of time, where did it all start and how did you get involved with the club?

2:29So for me, it started in 2006. I got a random phone call one day from Kevin Bond, who was manager of AFC Bournemouth at the time. Kevin's been a lifetime friend of mine over 45 years now. So I'm born and bred in Manchester. Kevin was playing for Man City, who were my hometown club, and his dad was manager of Manchester City at the time. so um they actually moved into manchester next door to my best friends that's how i got to know them and then became part of the inner sanctum so you know my sort of history is i only ever wanted to be a footballer so there i am living my dream you know through the bonds and met kevin reeves who's a local lad as well uh to bournemouth and i used to drive revo to the grounds on a saturday fantasizing that I was a player, you know, in the, yeah, you know, in the, in the players' car park.

3:27And then one day Kevin phoned me, he was manager and he asked me if I wanted to come down and meet the chairman for lunch. So I thought, this is great. I didn't even know where Bournemouth was. Okay. So you were living in Manchester when this happened? I was living in just outside Newbury at the time. So I'd moved, literally just moved south with my own business, but never been to Bournemouth in my life. I've got some stories about that, which I'm sure will unfold. So I literally came down, and what I didn't realize was that the reason that the chairman wanted to meet me is the club were almost going out of business.

4:04They had massive debts at the time. Do you remember what debts they were at the time? So it's circa, well, this is what I was understood to believe, around about a million pounds to HMRC with a winding up notice already in place. and it was circa between half a million and a million that was needed urgently so the chairman at the time abdul jaffa he was going to put together a consortium abdul jaffa yeah the chairman before you were chairman yes so he was i i became chairman in 2000 officially in 2007 abdul jaffa was the chairman in october 2006 when i arrived at the ground and um the the whole rationale of me meeting him was he introduced me to the associate directors directors of the club with a view to putting in round about a hundred grand or between 50 and a hundred thousand of your own money of my own money part of this consortium to try to save the club so those were my first steps what was it what was it you saw in the opportunity back in 2006 and 7 to to to be the chairman putting a hundred grand of your own money when you're seeing that this was like a sinking ship at the time yeah well I suppose the the first thing that came to mind is I should have been sectioned um because as you say this was a car crash waiting to happen my heart ruled my head you know I've had a love of football all my life and then suddenly my best friend is manager of the football club and I thought you know I had I was duty bound to try to help him and the football club but it was almost like a victor kayyam moment for you know anybody listening that remembers victor kayyam you know i walked through the door of the football club and liked it and finished up buying it uh but you know christ almighty i literally could have been sectioned because no no no carry on carry on you know it was a car crash waiting to happen but somehow for me it was almost fantasy football yeah you know this was my one opportunity of getting involved in football and at the time I didn't see it as a huge risk because I was led to believe I was going to be one of a consortium of 10 people so I thought in for a penny in for a pound I just sold my own business so you know had a few shekels that I thought I could put in and of course I had no idea what was in front of me.

6:34In the end how many people did chuck in money at that time? Well you can forget the people that just you know threw in you know a couple of shillings and I'm not talking about our supporters here I'm talking about those that were totally committed to putting money in as part of the consortium. There were 10 people that I'd met over the period of about three months so from october to january only one person really stood solidly by my side and that was steve sly steve sly local businessman and um you know funny stories you know with steve because um again it's interesting with my book you know never judge your book by its cover but i hope people judge this one by its cover it's a difference a different different it's a good cover by the way we'll talk about this later the chairman that's just going to be launched very soon Jeff Mustin the chairman very much looking forward to having a look at that thank you Dodge honestly it only arrived on Friday it's a proof copy and god I spent you know the first two hours just stroking it what about the book I knew you were going to say that yeah it'd take me longer than two yeah it'd take me longer than two hours at my age I'll tell you get a bluey down you it'd be fine Jeff yeah did he come in five

7:57so i tell you that steve was um i was introduced to steve he was an associate director and um abdul took me down to the various boxes of god this can only go one way i actually i actually fear the worst here listeners

8:18quality quality so abdul takes me down the corridor to the hospitality boxes and he said this is steve sly one of our associate directors so i said oh amazing steve you know pleased to meet you steve was about 18 stone you know given an ounce and he's got a short sleeve shirt on shorts he's got tattoos all the way down his arm and when he lifted his arm he needed his other one to lift it up because he must have had half of Brink's mat on his arm. And then he had a stoop because the rest of Brink's mat was around his neck. And I thought, Christ almighty, this is an associate director. It doesn't sort of fit the usual football bill.

9:01That's right. Especially coming from Manchester, you know, where I've been used to rubbing shoulders with John Bond, who's like, you know, Malcolm, you know, Malcolm Allison, all those people, the fedoras. These are true Oscar Wilde gents. So then the piece de la resistance was when Abdul said, oh, and Steve's a second-hand car dealer. I thought, oh, my God. How am I going to get involved with this? But it is true. Never judge a book by its cover or the closer man stands up in. Because Steve was by my side. He's been a Bournemouth supporter since the age of… Is he still with us today? He's still with us today, yeah.

9:40Fair play to Steve. I meet him regularly. He owned St. Christopher's Cars at the time. Okay. And then he's now gone back into antique. How much did Steve put in at the time? Steve, you know, there were thousands. Yeah. You know, thousands of pounds. We're not talking underground. No, we're not talking that. 10s and 20s. Yeah. Okay. But, you know, it's all relative. Yeah. You know, for Steve, his business almost stood on standstill while he was trying to help me save the football club. Yeah, okay. So we were the last two men standing. What did you see then? you're going into a football club you've put in 100 G's Steve's besides you besides you putting in 10 or 20 and just being a good supporter of you and the club and this is like a community club you've got to remember anyone listening out there and it only holds 11 ,700 people and I'm sure I remember going to to the club and I remember getting a phone call and I said would you like to get involved in Bournemouth Football Club at the time and I went there and I was seeing I went to Homegate it must have been like 2 ,000 people at best I was like my god I can't see where this is I can't see where this is going so great vision from you when you look back like 19 years on to look back and go, Jesus, that was a ballsy move.

10:45Tell me what the vibe was like at Bournemouth Football Club when you became chairman, the set up, the staff, the supporters, just the whole ambience of the club. I'm silent, you know, simply because there was no ambience. It was like a morgue, really. The staff were incredible. We had about half a dozen key staff, including the chief executive. We've got a guy there, Mark Luther, who's still working in the finance department today. And there were times that we couldn't make the wages. So at the time, you know, just for the avoidance of doubt, at that stage, I hadn't put any money in. It was only when I got involved that I realized Abdul couldn't pay the wages.

11:33so I became part responsible for the wages and the wages were about a hundred thousand a month wow that we had to find okay I mean it sounds ridiculous you know these days now you know that's what a player's earning you know while you and I've just had five minutes conversation but then you know it was about 1.2 million was the the overall wage bill for the players and the staff yeah it was a massive undertaking and i literally even at this stage i was running on adrenaline and running with my heart not my head yeah and steve and i had to somehow find a way to bring in investors into the club so that was my vision okay not just to you know self-fund this well you can't you can't i'm bearing in mind i didn't even support bournemouth at the time you know so here's a man from manchester you know comes to bournemouth i'm a city fan i'm thinking what am i doing throwing all this money into a dark hole where i'd spent 25 years building up my own business to be successful almost throwing it away on a football club i didn't support that's the crazy thing yeah so i'm bunging in you know whatever the residual part of a hundred thousand a month is you know we might have brought 40 in every other week because remember we're only revenue sources on a match day and then with limited numbers average maybe four thousand four and a half thousand it wouldn't have taken the brains of an archbishop let alone me to realize that the you are not making ends meet it doesn't add up so did i have a vision i've got to be totally honest with you i had no vision at all it was hand to mouth me and steve were driving from Land's End to John O 'Groats trying to find investment almost with a mirror you know people said to me well how did you find investors you know what told you this person could be a possible investor and I would say I used to bring the mirror out put it in front of their mouth if it steamed up they were fucking possible you know investor for the football club you know because they were still alive so just get your checkbook out yeah yeah yeah exactly and it was as it was as hard as that Steve has written in my book and he said we were almost in old money you know our plans were on the back of a fag packet yeah you know those were his words not mine and that's literally it was hand to mouth when did you on your journey when did you start seeing it change and improve of getting the right people in place whether it was the right manager whether it was the right commercial director when you start building a business as we all know we built businesses you're building a squad around you when was it when you actually when you actually look back to go that was the year that we actually created something special bringing in the right people so i think the catalyst was having to take a step back or three steps back and put the club into administration so bearing in mind my profession you know was a financial advisor and you know oh my god you know the story i wouldn't even take financial advice from myself now you know having bought a football club you know it's probably the worst thing you could possibly do and we know today that you can't be a butcher baker a candlestick maker and buy a football club you need to be a millionaire a billionaire or a consortium to be able to even fund one the catalyst was we had to make a decision to put the club into administration because we discovered the best part of four or five million pounds worth of non-disclosed debt.

15:08So, you know, would you go back and sue the previous owners? No, they couldn't afford a program. So, you know, there's just no point in, you know, throwing money, good money after bad. And I'd already had due diligence and ignored my lawyers. This is verbatim. My lawyers phoned me and said, right, Jeff, we've done the due diligence. You need to listen. We're talking. We want you to get in your car, drive as fast as you can back to Manchester, never think about Bournemouth again in your life. And I just ignored them. And I might as well not have employed them because I knew what I was going to do.

15:41I was still determined to try to save the club. Fair play to you. Fair play, Jeff. Fair play. Massive respect. Just even hearing this, we're only sort of 14 minutes in. Massive respect for what you achieved just in that period there. When you go into administration, what did that mean for the football club? It meant stability in a very, very strange way because what happens in administration, you appoint the administrator. The administrator then is the person responsible for running the football club, especially economically. So you may still be chairman, but he or she, in our case, Gerald Krasner, pulling the strings.

16:23he only has one thing in his mind that's to find a buyer to take the football club forward okay so the football club is now effectively for sale but what it does it gives you the breathing space because all debts are frozen okay so they're not written off but they're frozen so instead of us getting a winding up notice every day you know people that we bought kit from raiding the club shop yeah well they're not raiding it they're actually taking back this stuff that they belongs to them because we haven't paid for it the landlord you know putting a lock on the door you can't play on saturday or sunday all that's frozen and it's a shame because there's a lot of local business people that rely on the football club and their money is frozen as well that must have been a relief it was a massive relief but you're in your own mind what you have to do is try to compartmentalize the fact that you've now lost all the money that you put in so there's no way of bearing in mind i say in round figures i'm paying a hundred grand a month what i had to do before i put the club officially into administration was have a meeting with gerald krasner and david hinchcliffe david hinchcliffe is his lawyer so you've got the administrator you've got the lawyers supporting all the legal aspects of it.

17:50And I had a meeting with them at Chute and Glen. And this is a funny story because I had no idea who was paying for this. It finishes up with me. If I'd have known that, we could have met at the fucking post house, you know, for the Ibis. You know, so Chute and Glen, I'm like, oh, have another sandwich. You know. 35 quid later. Yeah, yeah. You know, which was two players' wages. So it was, you know, really, really interesting. and Gerald said I had to commit half a million to for him to take on the job okay the half a million would have been his wages his staff's wages and at least four months wages for the players and staff at the football club otherwise he said you know we can't just do it on a month by month so I committed that on top of what I'd already put in so you'd already put in a ton I put in a hundred what else you put on top I was putting in a hundred a month of your own money of my own money you're joking me Yeah, up until this stage.

18:49So you can say by the time we're into administration, it's well over a million pounds, you know, of my own money. I don't think anyone knows this, Geoff. Well, you know, my wife does. Yeah.

19:02So if you're listening, sweetheart, thank you for standing by my side all this time. And the housekeeping, she'll probably ask for more money now than the housekeeping. Just a quick one. Shout out to your wife. What's your wife's name? Rosie. Fair play Rosie. Rosie, the love of my life. Fair play, Rosie. 44 years, always by my side. We can't be the entrepreneurs and risk takers without having someone amazing by our side. No. It's impossible. No. People always said to me, you know, what did she, you know, think about or did you ever think about putting in all this money and losing it? You know, were you worried?

19:37And I said, no. And they said, why? I said it was her money. Cheers, Rosie. I'll get it back to you soon, I promise. No, I'm only joking. It's our collective money because that's what you're working hard for, you know, for financial security for you and your family. But it's a really important point here because people see chairman these days. Oh, you're a multi-millionaire, you're a billionaire, you're a trillionaire. As a chairman, you've done well for yourself, but you weren't sitting around in ridiculous amounts of money that you could afford just to lose this money. You know, this was hard-earned money that you'd built up over the previous 20, 30 years building your businesses.

20:16Absolutely. Real money. I was just a normal person. Well, I am. I'm a humble person. My mum and dad, bless them both, always taught me, be humble, remember where you come from, and say please and thank you. And I've always remained humble, which is why I have this incredible relationship with my supporters, with the players, with the staff, probably unlike any other chairman. Agreed. everyone loves you Jeff thank you like from being around in Bournemouth for 20 years everyone around the town loves Jeff's master and what they get from it is like if you had a chat with Jeff it'd make you laugh he's got stories what a lovely humble guy and you've got what I like about you is you have time for everyone and that's a wonderful trait and another person who has time for everyone is Harry Redknapp he has time for people and it's a beautiful trait to have thank you yeah you know coming from you especially is you know again that I am humbled by your words and you know I do really appreciate that and of course the relationship with Gerald you know grew and grew and grew and we were still trying to find buyers and the the crunch came when there were a couple of people from the west country that offered to buy the club like everybody else you know they have a photo shoot on the the on the pitch or in the stands with a scarf over the head.

21:36It was an absolute blessing in disguise that these guys had come along and were going to be the preferential creditors or the preferential bidders for the club. And once the administrator appoints somebody preferential, then it's their responsibility to have proof of funds. Rosie and I disappeared to Spain. I mean, I literally couldn't wait to, you know get out of bournemouth at that time year roughly what year the pressure so this is 2008 2008 9 okay so it's only a year after you know i'd actually taken over and i'll never forget it um we're in um in marbella and just literally having a glass of wine the clock strikes one and it's gerald krasner and i'm not gonna i can you know his voice will will stay with me forever and especially this call he said you know in his yorkshire accent which i'm not going to try and emulate but it was a lad get your ass back to bournemouth the deal's fallen through you're still at the helm right words to that effect okay and anybody that's watched our documentary minus 17 gerald states this on the flight back me and rosie decide i cannot do anymore you know she said sweetheart you've done so much over the last 18 months to try to save this football club the figures don't add up and a hundred thousand pounds is not going to save them then it's another month and another month and another month i always at this stage you know need to take a you know get my composure god it is emotional so that day i leave home it's going to say to Gerald that I cannot go on.

23:26Gerald meets me at the football club and it's a press conference. So he had a duty every month. You'll remember those days. Every month he used to have a press conference at the football club where he would bring everybody, supporters, staff, creditors up to speed and above all else, the EFL, bring them up to speed so that they give us a stay of execution in not saying we're not getting the golden share here you know the club's liquidated so I arrive at the football club he said right Jeff this is what's going to happen we're having the press conference live you're going to stand at the back of the room you're going to nod when I ask you for another check for another hundred thousand pounds or you're going to shake your head if the answer is no if you shake your head i will liquidate liquidate the club live on air today the club will not reach the weekend and if you have a look at the statement on the front of my book that's exactly what it says so this is not my fantasy or me making up this these are the words of gerald krasner so his gerald krasner here in the front of books is without Jeff the club would not have survived the weekend wow so I'm I'm at the back of the thing at the press conference knowing that the decision that me and Rosie have made is that I'm not going to do any I'm not going to help the club anymore he asked a question I can't even hear it I'm literally my mind is all over the place so Gerald said Jeff I'll just ask you the question one more time are you going to give me another check today to take the club forward and as he's talking again I'm not really listening but I knew what the question was because he told me before the press conference started I'm thinking that 110 years of football club history is literally going to be wiped off the map while I'm standing at this press conference there's quarter of a million people in the conurbation you know i think we've got about 400 000 in the conurbation now that's going to affect every single person because i've always thought in life the universities are the center of education but football clubs without any doubt are the center of influence agree in any conurbation in any city in any town this is wiped out so i nodded and he said with that nod you saved the football club and on reflection for your first question what's the greatest achievement that I have ever made as chairman of AFC Bournemouth I've got to say that that nod was far more relevant than taking the club to the Premier League because but it wouldn't have got past the weekend.

26:31That's powerful. That is really powerful. Massive respect. Thank you. Massive respect. Moving forwards, did you employ or bring Eddie Mitchell on board to the football club? So the answer to that is yes. So when the club came out of administration, I'd spoken to Eddie incidentally previously to see whether when we were looking, when Steve and I were looking for prospective investors. And just let the listeners and the viewers here know who Eddie Mitchell is. Yeah. So Eddie Mitchell is a local entrepreneur, you know, a very high profile. In the property world. In the property world. You know, Seven Developments, I believe, you know, was his organization.

27:20and many of the you know glamorous art deco miami style properties that you see in sandbanks you know have got eddie eddie mitchell's signature on so it was understandable that i would be reaching out to him um you know because he was a flamboyant character i didn't really know much of his background um probably even today um you know don't know much of his background and probably you know i wouldn't want to miss an opportunity to pass on my heartfelt condolences to brenda and the boys and joe you know his family um following eddie's passing so thank you for allowing me you know to do that today so when we went into administration um um and we funded it i the the club was taken over uh by a couple of characters called uh paul baker and alistair savramutu

28:22isn't uh savramutu wasn't he a rugby player he was he was that's i remember now because he called me in for a meeting this is like years ago well okay and said you want to get involved Yeah, so his background was rugby. Okay. But he turned out to not be the character that we all thought. And I clocked that straight away, and that's what put me off. Yeah. Well, Rosie always thinks, and my PA at AFC Bournemouth, Alice Jeans. She's lovely, Alice, by the way. Alice is absolutely adorable. Rosie said there was three in our marriage, and Alice was the other one. you know because I couldn't literally turn left or right without Alice actually making arrangements for me she was just incredible and the credit for her sort of her ride through the football club goes to Neil Blake because Neil had said when we got promoted to the premier league Neil Blake's commercial director no Neil Blake was the chief executive chief he went straight into CEO yeah because he was Eddie Mitchell's son-in-law right so when so when I brought Eddie in but just going back a stage Paul Baker and Alistair bought the club from me and Steve and it was on a contract they defaulted on the contract and I think I don't blame Paul in any way shape or form Paul owned one of the UK's largest logistic companies UK same day coincided with the 2008 financial crash his two biggest um i suppose clients were hmv and walworth both went bust along with zabi you know so you know he just had it so they defaulted on the payment so we actually got the shares back by default okay and that's a blessing by the way it was a blessing in disguise and i can tell you something that i've never shared with anybody before but we played Blythe Spartans in the FA Cup and had we beaten Blythe Spartans we were guaranteed around about quarter of a million from the next round because we I think it was Sheffield that we were away in the FA Cup that was going to be televised and I knew that those two were waiting for that payday to keep the club alive.

30:52Now, who knows, had we beaten Blythe and they'd have got a quarter of a million, we might today still be in Division 2 because those two guys might still be in charge of the football club. I don't know that for sure, but what I knew is the fact we were knocked out of the cup was the catalyst behind the default. So we got the shares back and um eddie came on board um uh along with brenda they own 50 of the shares and i own 50 of the shares and i gave steve some of my shares for all the support he and the risk that he took the risk he took and given me and he was literally as i say by my side and loyalty is for me one of god's greatest gifts you don't see it often but you know with jeff mostyn you get loyalty with it you get me with it anything i do so eddie before he came in and eddie was a shrewd businessman and he knew that probably you know he had me you know by the the nuts at the time because i needed a partner you know to come in to help fund the football club and eddie previously had said jeff you know i'd be interested but not until the club has wiped out its debt so he was using his head where i was using my heart yes and that's all credit to him and you know whilst i'm embarrassing myself saying that i am who i am and i can't do anything about that so eddie also insisted on a one percent option on my shares so at any time he could exercise that and he would be the 51%.

32:31And again, you know, I think because my energy levels, you know, were so low, I was just grateful that somebody was cup A, that we'd saved the club. Secondly, that somebody else was coming on board to share the financial burden. And that was Eddie Mitchell. Fair play to Eddie. Fair play to Eddie. And of course... He got a lot of stick. He got a lot of stick. And I found it very difficult to understand because I would go to the games and then I would walk the dog around and then I would see the car park being done because the car park was terrible and he tarmacked the car park and he brought it together, the club shop, and he had this vision and the finances to make something like this happen.

33:13Yeah. Well, I think that, you know, a lot of things that, you know, happen, you know, happen for a reason. And you've suddenly got a partner, you know, and I say that sort of loosely. you know but we are partners effectively because of our shareholding you have somebody who has this vision of glamour yes um you know that's his houses you don't build you know miami style houses you know in sandbanks you know unless you love the glamour and everything about you know his development and this is a compliment it's not it's not you know it's not being negative it is what it is and if you've got a few million to share why wouldn't you buy one of his properties so you can't go from um living on the mall you know to then you know living in a prefab yeah you know where if your wife gets out of the car she's got to change her shoes 15 times before she gets to the front door of the football club so one of the first things that eddie wanted to do was tarmac the car park.

34:21And it was that you only get one chance of a first impression. I hate cliches, but I like that because I don't see it as a cliche. I see it as a fact. Yeah, absolutely. If you only get one chance, then that's what you get. So he wanted to tarmac the car park. I'm thinking about paying wages, not the car park. So there were always times when we saw things through different colored glasses. And that's what makes, I think, a strong partnership as well and you know he helped you know with the different ideas that we had in fact our board meetings were really strange you know him and Neil would be sitting on one side of the desk me and Steve would be on the other right what are I who's got the best ideas for fundraising and you know when you talk about a vision we have all all had a vision of keeping the club alive You know, what is the objective of this consortium or partnership is to keep the club alive.

35:18We didn't think about getting promoted. We didn't think about the future. The future was tomorrow. It was almost, you know, these are the minutes. You know, I could read the minutes of a board meeting before we actually had the agenda. You know, the minutes were, these are the wages. How much have we got? Yeah. Right. Date of next meeting. Yeah. Simple as that. That was the struggle. And we managed to do it. You know, we had the bricks campaign. We had the dedication, you know, outside the front door of the football club. You know, have your, you know, own dedicated brick. You've put your name in a brick, couldn't you?

35:56And that would be on the floor. Exactly. Amazing. And we had the wall, you know. You know, mine is still there. And we had the vice presidents, you know, this, you know, vice president package of, you know, tickets for life. I think everybody had, it was about£10 ,000 a ticket. Bearing in mind, you're in League One, you know, at the time. Nobody thought we'd even get to the championship. So everybody that bought these vice president tickets was doing it to support the club. And again, thank you all if you're listening. You know, I'm so grateful to everybody that, you know, donated even£5 from our supporters.

36:35All helped to save the football club. How much did Eddie put in for his 50 % shares at the time? Very little. Okay. And what was the deal look like? So the deal looked like initially that he would fund the football club going forward, you know, for those shares. And from my perspective, and I believe he got Paul Baker's shares, which in all this mix was Adam Murray. Adam Murray. So Adam Murray, what a wonderful man. And he brought the consortium together. So there was me, Steve, and Adam. Adam Sharp. Yeah, Adam Sharp as a razor blade. Very Sharp. And also, you wouldn't argue with him. No, you wouldn't.

37:18You know, as a cage fighter. Absolutely. Well, when I had death threats and my family had death threats, Adam afforded me, you know, almost 24-hour protection. So, you know, these are other things. Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. You had death threats? Yeah. Tell me. You know, death threats, you know, all anonymous. But death threats, you know, when I say they're anonymous, we certainly knew the focus of a couple. A couple of people felt they'd invested in the football club when they were going to buy it. And Gerald Krasner refused to refund the money. um because he said you know that was your commitment you didn't complete it for peace of mind and peace of security from for me and my family i actually repaid that personally which i shouldn't have done you know adam said i just wouldn't would never have been able to sleep at night yeah so those kind of things go under the radar no one knows because i never stand you know I don't want to stand up and pontificate and say this was all about me.

38:27This was about a group of people who were trying the hardest to take the club forward. As I say, there was Eddie and Brenda on one side, and then there was myself and Adam and Steve Sly on the other. I bet Adam Murray wouldn't advise you to go and pay those people off. Well, he would have, yeah, but it was a different kind of payoff. Right, absolutely, absolutely. Yeah, you definitely want him on your side. Yeah, it was like, you know, total payoff. Yes. But that wasn't my style. How did it make you feel knowing you had a death threat on you and your wife and your family? Well, you don't understand.

39:05You know, I could never understand, you know, why people would think badly of me where for the previous 18 months I was throwing money into this dark hole. but there was always this early suspicion lack of trust you know why would somebody from manchester come and buy our football club and then screw it yeah it's all about that person making money what you don't understand is even in the premier league it's hard to make money because it all goes in the dressing room yeah you know or reinvested reinvested in in an investment so it was a misconception but steve was the the solid man because he's born and bred in bournemouth so you know all the cherry supporters you know know of steve sly and just how passionate he was about the football club so that was the stage where we probably saw a vision and then the one vision that eddie had and you know in my book i've you know praised him for this because i'm the common denominator you know of being the one of the only chairman in football history one of only four chairmen in football history to have ever been chairman of the same football club in all four divisions is that right yeah so john motson yeah the late great john motson who's a dear dear dear friend of mine um told me this in the boardroom he went on to say that again allegedly jeff because, you know, Marty always kept the 1 % litigation, you know, free.

40:43But he said, whilst there's been four chairmen that have been chairman of a football club, the same football club in all four divisions, he said, to the best of my knowledge, there's only been one chairman and one manager that have been manager and chairman of the same football club at the same time in all four divisions, and it's you and Eddie Howe. Wow. So that was something... What a lovely feeling that is. I mean, oh my God, you know, it was just amazing. And then I just planted another bottle of red wine in front of him. And that was, you know, Motti happy for the next eight minutes. What was Motti's club?

41:19Was it Cov? I can't remember what club John Watson was. Watford. Was it Watford? Was it Watford? Yeah. I'm not sure. Well, it was all his... Boys, can you have a look at what club John... Motti was. Yeah, Motti was involved. And of course, he was a resident of Bournemouth. You know, he had an apartment. place down here yeah how much did you have to pay off those people to stop the death threats um 75 grand yeah so this imagine you're you're 80 today yeah you look phenomenal thank you so much so bang on the ball thank you like i when when we're chatting today i was thinking i must be late 60s well yeah you look fantastic thank you thank you but you roll you roll back i don't know what we're 20, 25 now, you roll back to maybe 16, 17 years ago.

42:06Yeah. Early 60s. You don't need this pressure. When I'm looking in now and hearing your story, death threats, putting in 100 grand, having to pay the bills, someone's about to buy your club, fantastic. I've done my best for that club. I'm walking away. And then they pull out and then something else happens and they pull out. For you to stick by this club and put your money where your mouth is and put your wife through the pressures that you and your wife were going through when you're meant to have a nice, happy retirement is extraordinary. Yeah, thank you. I mean, a lot of people think that. I've just got this insatiable appetite for work.

42:47My dad, again, bless him, said there's only three ways you can ever be successful. The first one is to work hard. Second one is to work hard. and the third one is to work hard. And I think that, you know, I understand that now because if you have an incredible work ethic, you can be taught any skill that you need of your chosen specialist subject to help you become successful. You could be a child prodigy, on the other hand, who doesn't have to work and you'll never be successful in your own right. You'll be successful because somebody else has planted, has given it to you. So that is my, you know, one of God's greatest gifts to me.

43:28Who brought Eddie Howe in to be the manager of Bournemouth Football Club? So this was part of the consortium at the time when, of course, decisions were, you know, having to be made to, you know, change the management. We were in a perilous state. When I first got involved, we were in Division One. Kevin was the manager. and we were relegated on the last day of that first season that I was chairman. Another irony here, it was the day of my daughter's wedding. So during the week, Radio Solent had this phone in, would the chairman go to Carlisle or would he go to his daughter's wedding? Which one did you go to?

44:10Well, of course, Carlisle. No, I'm only joking. I wouldn't put it past you, to be fair. But Radio Cellular were brilliant because they delivered me a single frequency earpiece that I had in my ear. And as I'm sat in front of you, true as I'm sat here today, I'm walking my daughter down. The result comes from Carlisle that we drew one all. And the bottom side, Cheltenham, beat the top side away and we were relegated. I'm the most emotional person God's put on the planet. I burst into tears. everybody present at the wedding thinks I'm crying because I was giving my daughter away I've been trying to fucking give her away for about five years

44:56and that's you know that you just think what is happening to my life here yeah you know everything I'm doing you know is conspiring against me and funny enough that day at my wedding um Kevin's father john bond um you know his mom his sister tony his wife trina were with me at the wedding so you know this suddenly became more like a funeral yeah you know than a wedding in the end because you know they realized that um you know their son just you know been manager of a club that's relegated what's happening for his future okay so oh my god you know you couldn't write this story in fact you know i know i just have but but it's funny that is called determined i'm not even sure whether i put that in the book right this is uh ladies and gentlemen there's a second a second book in the making here it might turn out to be a mr man book but at least this one's got a place on the bookshelf so coming back to eddie the and you asked me the question and And probably I'm surprised even at my age, I'm going to still remember the question.

46:05Let alone where am I? I woke up. My God, I've just woken up in this. I'm over here, Jeff. Yeah. Woke up in this dark room with a pair of cans on and a fucking mic stuck in front of my mouth. So Eddie, and this was, I think, the turning point of the football club's history. Yes. He built a house for a guy called Maxim Deming. Yes. Maxim, as you know, history has it, became owner of the football club. So just to let people know, we're talking about Eddie Mitchell here. Yes. And not Eddie Howe. Yes. So Eddie Mitchell brought in Maxim Deming, who was the Russian. Russian. Yes. OK. What year? 2011.

46:4911. 11, okay. Yeah, so I was introduced to Maxim by Eddie with a view to Maxim investing in the football club. Okay. It was a question of where he was going to invest and how. Okay. So that was the time when Eddie exercised his additional 1%, which I'd forgotten all about. so he obviously now is the major shareholder and he can make the decisions but the one decision he couldn't make was for me to sell my shares yeah the 49 the 49 you know it doesn't matter you know who you are you know you cannot force a shareholder to sell the shares and I decided that having been bitten once by Alistair Saviamutu and Paul Baker that I wasn't prepared to sell my shares until I knew the person that was going to buy my shares was the real deal was the real deal so suddenly we've got these two Muppets you know from you know Lancashire well you know certainly one I'll you know reiterate that you know I still have you know great respect for Paul Baker but here's a Russian that you know I've only met on a couple of occasions and whilst I understand his wealth what is he going to do with it why is he going to do with it is it another toy you know a lot of people go shopping for a football club nowadays contrary to popular belief in Hamlet's on Regent Street because you can buy toys there yeah and you know toys have premier league names to some owners so i wanted to make sure you know he was the real deal he was more than the real deal he became a really dear friend of mine his parents blessed them both were almost my surrogate parents such was our relationship and we suddenly found this inner sanctum of you know eddie mitchell myself neil blake um jason tyndall and eddie howell yeah and then later that's a good combo by the way oh my god when you look back that is a proper combo it's absolutely formidable yeah absolutely and if you look at how insecure you know clubs are now you know with managers owners chief executives and then Richard Hughes joined our little inner sanctum you know once he became the technical director so in my book I've acknowledged that you know without Eddie introducing Maxim the club may not be in the position it is now.

49:30And I never take credit for anything that I don't believe I'm responsible for, even though people know I saved the club twice. First of all, I bought the football club and then with Gerald Krasner's famous nod, I saved it again. I still believe that without Maxim, and Maxim I remember saying to me once that Jeff, even in Russia, we build houses from the ground up. When I was lavishing him with praise, he wanted to reciprocate with what he thought I had done and my legacy for this football club which I really appreciated so you asked me the question when did I actually have a vision that the club could go forward it was then Adam said we need a manager we can't afford a manager so we've got somebody who has the potential to be a manager because he's got Bournemouth through and through and that's Eddie Howe.

50:24Eddie's been with us since about the age of six. You know, went to Pompey for a couple of years, had his bad injury, came back and of course I first met him in October 2016 when he was working under Kevin Bond. So there's Rob Newman. 2016? Sorry, 2006. I beg your pardon. Thank you. Just keeping you alright. Keep me on my toes. So there was Rob Newman, assistant manager and then you know eddie was looking after the the kids yeah so you know you knew that if you cut eddie in half you know afc bournemouth you know was literally tattooed you know around his bloodstream so we gave him the opportunity and of course again the rest is history you know he kept the club up um eventually went to uh burnley um there were a few politics you know you know in that which you know out of respect eddie was the chairman at the time i stepped down after the administration to become vice chairman okay because i felt it was the honorable thing to do having put the club into administration yes through no fault of my own yeah you know it wasn't anything operational that we could have saved it was the bundle of debt it was the right move it was the right move And in fact, that move was, you know, probably far more, maybe the best decision I'd made to date.

51:51Better than buying the club, because that was with my heart. The decision I made with the help of the board members at the time, Peter Schofield, I think needs a mention at this stage. It was made with my head. It was the only thing to do. So I was introduced to Maxim, built up a relationship with him. And in late 2011, I sold him my shares at the football club, continued in my role as vice chairman, which I was thrilled to do, which was a unanimous decision. Neil Blake continued as chief executive. and then in 2013 um quite randomly ed um maxim bought eddie mitchell shares so bought him out of the football club he was almost gone in a day yeah and um so he now has 100 percent 100 okay and i'll never forget 17th of september 2013 just a few days before my birthday it's actually my birthday is it september 17th oh you uh mine the 21st is it virgos two virgos my god i mean excuse me listeners i'm just gonna i've got to reach over this great table here to shake this man's hand special people virgos jeff yeah you don't often get two virgos in a you know speaking together or even in a club yeah so he i get this phone call in the morning um Jeff it is Maxim I'm not that's the Was he Welsh?

53:32That's lovely I've replied that's lovely Maxim how is things? And Maxim said Jeff I am talking you're listening that was verbatim Okay He said congratulations you are the new chairman of the football club once again I learned two words from Eddie Howie He said shoe in and it was a shoe-in um so there in my i said to him first of all which is why he said i'm talking you're listening yeah how can you have a board meeting when i'm not there yeah you know there's you there's neil there's eddie and there's jason yes i'm in bournemouth that's when he said you're listening i'm talking and he said that he's that was the proudest day of my life they all came back a couple of days later and we had a breakfast at Rick Stein's.

54:26Lovely. I was in tears. I bet. I bet you were. You know, my emotions were unbelievable. You're an emotional human being anyway. Oh, my God. I'd imagine that would have been a relief and all sorts of happiness. It was just unbelievable that they had the confidence in me still to be the chairman of this football club. And, you know, obviously, with Eddie, there were a few issues that came up. Yeah. everybody's aware of the supporters and the run-ins with different people and he just felt that right enough was enough that's his prerogative and you know i won't go into you know anything that was done behind closed doors especially out of respect for um for eddie yeah um and i was just elated that um after all these years they called me back so you know wonderful and i had my birthday we played Sunderland away the girls in the in the boardroom had made a birthday cake for me which was amazing this was you know in fact I think we play Sunderland in a the not too distant future away that will be the first time we played them away since I became since I became chairman we drew the game 3-0 with a known goal from Jonathan Woodgate which was amazing which I reminded him when he became manager He said, how did I get the job?

55:46I said, because you scored that equaliser. How much did Maxim Denman pay you for your 49 %? That would remain confidence. Okay. And do you know how much he paid Eddie Mitchell for his 51 %? And again, that would, I would only have because, you know, there's non-disclosure agreements. Yes, I understand. I respect that. But Maxim made one pledge to me that he never, ever let me down. He said, you will always, always be looked after. This is not a transaction that I'm buying your shares. While I am the owner of this football club, you will always be respected and you will always be looked after. And till the day he sold the football club, officially in October 2022, he kept his word.

56:34and you know what an honor what a privilege for me to be chairman of this incredible football club you know there are only 20 20 people at any one time that are chairman of a premier league football club it doesn't matter you could be chairman of shell you could be chairman of ici you know british airways but only 20 premier league chairman and maxim demin and the board and his supporters back to back me and also Neil Blake to continue as chief executive and on the basis that if it's not broken don't fix it so when you look at Maxim's role when he came in and board with Bournemouth football club what deal did he put on the table to say that you knew he was the right person mentally to know that he's the right man to know that yeah he's definitely going to be definitely back in Bournemouth he lived down here in Sandbanks but actually how much was he putting on the table to say, right, we're going to grow this club.

57:28There is 10 mil or 20 mil or 30 mil. Was there a number? There was no number. But did you know how wealthy he was? I knew how wealthy he was. Probably not quite to the extent of his sort of vast array of investments. But I knew he was wealthy enough because we sat down and spoke about where he wanted to take the football club. And there was never this talk at the time that we're going to the Premier League. The first thing was to stabilize the football club, then invest in Eddie and Jason on the pitch. And people have often criticized Maxim because, especially in the wake of Bill Foley and his new regime, where we've now completed this incredible performance center.

58:14Unreal. Bill has the visions for expanding the stadium rather than building a new stadium. but I remember at a fans forum people sort of just getting a little bit agitated and a bit excited that nobody could get a ticket so the first thing was you know when are we going to get a new stadium when we're going to get a new stadium and I just made this sort of off-the-cuff comment that I said you know we do understand everybody's frustration you know we do need this extra investment people often say what's the turnover of the football club i used to say that the broadcasting money plus a mars bar and a kit kat you know because in in practical terms that's what it is compared to you know manchester united they will earn more money on one match day than we'll earn all season so i just said what you have to understand is this football club we have a duty to you our fans, we're only the custodians.

59:13You know, I learned from James Beattie many years ago, you know, Beattie was my next door neighbor, that chairmen come and go, directors come and go, players come and go, managers come and go. The only common denomination of loyalty are supporters. You get a footballer kissing the badge. The next week you'll kiss somebody else's badge. I've often joked and said some of them will kiss anything as long as it's got the king's head on and it folds up and goes in a back pocket. And it's pink. Yeah, and it's pink, yeah. Are there any other colours? I think that's it. Yeah. So, you know, that's being cynical.

59:52But, you know, with the egotistical world that you find, that is also a fact. So I just said the one thing that I know and Maxim knows and Neil Blake knows is that if you build a new stadium, unless somebody that's present at this fans forum can tell me something different, we have never seen a seat in a new stadium jump up and score a goal that keeps you in the Premier League. But we have seen footballers do that. And that was my interpretation of why Maxim only wanted to invest in keeping this football club at the highest level of football, globally, a member of the elite.

1:00:44And that was sat on for a long time, wasn't it? And I think the frustration, what happened was the fans knew that you'd be able to win a game. bought that site, which is a wonderful site. Everyone's like, why are they not investing money in there now? All this money coming from the Premier League, why are they not investing in there now? And I understand why, because maybe they needed even bigger, deeper pockets with someone with an even better vision that Maxim had, which is now Bill Foley. Exactly. But remember that it's very easy to go into a house. I'm only using the house as an analogy because of what we've spoken about with Eddie you can go into um an empty house and you know even if you have you're not an interior designer you can have a vision as to how you want to turn it um because it's already built so it was easier in the nicest possible way for Bill to have a vision because the foundations the house was already there all he had to do was build something on it.

1:02:06So Maxim had done an amazing job but still because players were costing more, wages were costing more so whereas when we bought the land it may well have been a vision that we'll get that started it suddenly became a priority to keep putting money onto the pitch. But also on that point there Jeff, it's interesting because you've gone from all the divisions, all of a sudden out the blue, you jumped into the Premier League that's a different ball game but you've kept the same team around you from the commercial director to all the different directors in the same team you've gone into a whole different league that must have been a shock when you now start seeing the finances that are coming in but to to keep your team in that Premier League you've got to pump the money back into the players you have that as I said earlier it all finishes up in the dressing room you know whether it's with the players the manager the staff I mean we've got more sports scientists as I sit in front of you today and we had supporters when I bought the football club you know we've got analysts you know sports scientists nutritionists you know anything with an ist on the air you know we've got 10 of them that's right um and that's what you need to run a premier league football club it was a quantum leap but what I like to think you know I created along with the executive team and I've said in my book is we created two dressing rooms first of all we had a siege mentality because you know we had 10 points deducted the first season then 17 10 points 10 points 10 points from the administration yeah yeah 17 points the next season so it's a total of 27 points and then we had a 12 month almost a 12 month transfer embargo so we couldn't even improve the team which is where eddie was a genius in improving players yes the four inches between their ears.

1:03:53Most importantly, getting them to believe they were good enough for the next division where normally you see every transfer window, clubs are refreshing. You need new blood in, otherwise you become, you tread water and relegation looms. So, you know, Eddie is, you know, the master of, as he's done, you look at Joel Linton, you look at Almiron, who, you know, I know has moved on. Two players, I mean, Joel Linton couldn't hit a goal if the goalkeeper was on the floor with a blindfold on. Suddenly, he's just unbelievable. Eddie gives lots of people confidence. He has this aura of respect around him.

1:04:33I've also given a shout to Jason Tindall as well because they're a proper pair. It's not just the Eddie Howe show. It's Eddie and Jason, but also rolling back a little bit further as well. Going back to loyalty, there's a guy at the Bournemouth Football Club called Rob Mitchell, commercial director, been there for years. good friend of mine, massive respect to Rob Mitchell, what he's come through, being loyal with the club all this period and taken through this whole period alongside you and everyone else. It's special. When I look at the 2013, when you've got Eddie Howe and Jason Tindall and you're going through the leagues, talk to me about that moment, that day when you were on telly, live on telly, when you just got promoted in 2015, we're all at the stadium and you go into the changing rooms.

1:05:15Well, first of all, I just want to endorse your endorsement of Rob. Yes. because Rob was probably the closest person to me in the football club because my skill set is marketing, you know, selling, marketing. If I've got a mouth and a pair of hands, it'll move. You know, don't worry. And, you know, I lent my expertise to Rob and his team willingly because, you know, he joined about 18 months after I bought the football club and has remained constant. Nearly 20 years. Yeah, you know, right through it. Lovely, lovely guy, lovely family. Very good at what he does. Very good at what he does. But coming back to that, you know, infamous day.

1:05:51Rob, hopefully there's a pay rise there for you, mate. Yeah. Yeah. I hope so as well, mate, because it's not me that's going to give it you this time.

1:06:01Just shout out to Bill Foley. Give Rob Mitchell a pay rise. Yeah.

1:06:07So 2015, we're at the home game. Yeah. Bolton. Bolton. Bournemouth get promoted. You in the changing rooms. All the sky cameras are there. And I watched it again this morning. It is genius. Just explain that moment. So what happened was I was up in the double box upstairs. So, you know, on a match day, normal match day procedure, I look after the boardroom, you know, the away directors, the hospitality with Rosie. So Rosie and I have literally run that, you know, for 17 years like our home. And I'll come back to what, you know, a very famous chief exec said about that, but keeping on the track.

1:06:46we're upstairs in the box in the double box and literally you know there's maximum all you know every every stakeholder is up in this box well within 10 minutes we've had more shots on target with vodka than the boys had on the pitch you know during the entire 90 minutes against bolton i don't know what day it is and i'm suddenly thinking shit i haven't seen the boys every match day my ritual i go and see them before the game in the dressing room very simple wish you lots of luck boys leave that's eddie's dressing room go into eddie's office just inside the tunnel with eddie and jason just have a you know a catch-up wish you lots of luck today go back to the boardroom after the game win lose or draw very rare for a chairman apart from when they win always go in give everybody one of Jeff's famous cuddles they need to know they've got your support more when they lose than when they win anybody can walk in there so I'm still upstairs thinking shit I've not seen the boys unknown to me at that very minute sky cameras have gone in the dressing room and said guys we're live on air you can do whatever you want you can take your clothes off you can swing from the chandelier but you cannot use any expletives i don't hear this message i leap literally down three flights of stairs burst the doors open and the next thing is i fucking love you boys you know with that it's just off the richter scale they've lifted me up that's right callum's giving me the biggest spanking of my life and a funny anecdote to that was at the um Callum Wilson Callum Wilson at the awards ceremony um which you know we had at the BIC so this is the end of season dinner I always used to open it so all the staff are there Maxim families and I'd used to say well you know I've got so many people to thank you know for this incredible season you know but I want to start off tonight by thanking one person in particular and of course everybody's thinking oh my god it's going to be me it's going to be me i said the person i want to thank more than anybody else in this room is callum wilson i said cal me and rosie have been married 44 years and she now knows spanking's normal

1:09:16quality is that your one-liner that's my one and it was absolutely that's how we that's how we open it was just absolutely brilliant unreal i literally it just went absolutely bonkers on out viral yeah i had no idea that it was live you know because I'd missed all the introductions but when I look back I started off the next day thing and this is the most embarrassing moment of my life it's now turned out to be wherever I am in the world doing any public speaking I'm introduced with that on the screen yeah amazing because what it showed was all the players the love the love the love and the camaraderie that I had with my players with the playing staff and with Eddie and Jason and I was literally well blown off my feet you know by the love that was in that dressing room and on the pitch yeah so it was it will literally you know live with me forever yeah and um I could you just couldn't write that script you couldn't i did say that it was the impossible you know we achieved the impossible and by you know very nature of the interpretation of impossible you can't achieve it but we did yeah and i remember having a microphone stuck in front of my face on the pitch that day and they said jeff what what's going through your mind now and i don't know where i dragged this from but i said if hans christian anderson could ever have written a fairy story about football this would have been it yeah this should never have happened we thought we were going to implode in the championship and we kept winning yeah but this run can't keep going on and it went on and on and on and finally we did it and when you think back to 2008-9 when we put the club into administration that only six years later we were going to be in the premier league you would have been sectioned yeah literally if any you know i'm a great believer in dreams you know you know live your dream but be realistic but fantasies you know very seldom come true dreams can come true but we turned everybody's fantasy into reality and i remember walking around the pitch that night in tears from the minute I put my feet on the hallowed turf of the Vitality Stadium as I'm walking around there were people who were older than me in floods of tears and I've only got to see a tear to you know react it's like a mirror reaction and I wasn't crying for me I was crying for them that suddenly my I cast my mind back to buying the club which was the worst thing I'd ever done in my life to the nod which I shouldn't have done because Rose and I had said we weren't going to do it and with great team effort we created these two dressing rooms and I've said this in my book I'm so proud of this we had Eddie and Jason's dressing room downstairs we had our dressing room upstairs that me and Neil had created with our executive team but this is the key to AFC Bournemouth even today we had one common heartbeat that brought both those dressing rooms together yeah great there's no other club like it and that night the heartbeat shone like a star for the supporters who had lived this hardship if you like for over a hundred years those that you know were present that night where you'd spent all these years bar i think three years in division one and division two we were now going to be rubbing shoulders with the glitterati you know with the elite of world football not just local football and our job was to try to ensure that you know we had a team that were going to be capable of retaining our position because, you know, there was no thought of, are we going to go to Europe?

1:13:41You know, the nearest we were getting was probably playing cows, you know. So it was stable, staying in the... And that's what we did for five years. That, me and Eddie have spoken many times. We believe that was a greater achievement than getting there in the first place. You look at Notts Forest, Leeds, 20 years or so. You know, 20 years to get back to the Premier League. After we were relegated, we were back the season after we were relegated or two seasons Isn't it crazy like the home games like pound for pound the Vitality Stadium is fantastic pound for pound for noise 11 ,000 people in there 11 ,700 packed every week you're close to the pitch you've got a manager everyone wants to play for Jason and Eddie you've got up the board where you are everyone's loving you and your energy and everything else all the fans have come together you cannot beat that It's like those three things, the team, the manager, yourself, the fans, you communicating with the fans.

1:14:38And now I look in as a massive West Ham fan and I see the disconnect between David Gold and the fans and the stadium we're in, we're in a 60 ,000 capacity stadium. The players aren't playing for the manager, the manager's getting sacked. Everyone's upset with David Gold as the chairman. Like there's lessons to be learned here. Like anyone out there to have a British chairman, and nothing against foreign chairman, I think they're fantastic as well, but to have a British chairman with everyone behind you for the one mission of that football club. And that's how it used to be years ago. And I feel like we lost that in the Premier League right now for many years.

1:15:13And as a fan, you're getting a disconnect via the chairmen, which is giving you a disconnect to your club, which you were also disconnected because the atmosphere is not good at the London Stadium. All these things are happening right now. I know a lot of my family and a lot of West Ham fans what's the let me just take a breather when you've been supporting a club for so many decades from your great granddad, your granddad, your dad and we're all West Ham fans I think this has got to be one of the most the point where this is the most amount of frustration we've ever had as a club you as a chairman of a club if you were to be a chairman of West Ham, what's the first few things you would do?

1:16:02Well, you know, it would be wrong for me to be talking about what I would do because it gives the clear impression that David is not doing what I would do and what he's doing is wrong and what I'm doing is right. Let's not use this. Go on. But, you know, all I can, I can only say what I did at Bournemouth, what I felt was right. when I bought the football club there were two decisions that had to be made literally outside of the football club per se the first one was do we keep the academy and do we keep the community trust and that was going to be a cost of about half a million a year Steve Cuss Steve Cuss yeah brilliant Steve I adore in fact my current role at the football club is I'm ambassador for the Community Sports Trust.

1:16:53So I worked closely with Steve. We made a decision to keep them, even though we couldn't afford it, because that half a million could have gone to paying the wages for the staff and the first team. So we made that decision. That's because it's a community. I understand that Bournemouth, that AFC Bournemouth is part of this incredible community. and you know bearing in mind you know i'm a born and bred mank but i like to think i'm now after 17 years you know suddenly accepted you know within the bournemouth community you know as a local you know which i'm i'm really proud of so i go back to what um james beaty said to me the only loyal people you know life and you've just alluded to it you know father grandfather the great-grandfather are the supporters so the first thing you have to do is engage with the supporters I was able to engage with ours in a far greater way than probably any other Premier League chairman a because of the size of the football club so it's easier to and I'm trying to be as generous as I possibly can with my interpretation here that I had the ability to hug you know every supporter that i can on a saturday and you know they've got used to that now whereas and i know most of the names you know i know all the names of the staff i know all the names of the players again without being disrespectful when you've got 76 000 supporters does jim radcliffe actually know the names of all the members of staff and all the names of the players, let alone who are the supporter groups?

1:18:41The answer is no. It's half the stuff. It makes it easier, doesn't it? Just for that reason. Do you know what, Geoff? I'm not going to know all the names. I'll get rid of half of them. That makes it easier for me. Actually, my name's Peter, Jim. Oh, sorry. Right, you're gone as well. Where's Geoff? Where's Geoff?

1:19:02So, I think that, you know, I've just, I made a point of just being that chairman, the people's chairman. And I like to think that that's who I'm recognized as. I remember a young girl, I think when I was in schools with Steve, so with the Community Sports Trust, and Steve said, you know, we're thrilled to have the chairman here today, Jeff Mostyn, and are there any questions? This little girl puts her hand up and she said, Jeff, what is a chairman? I thought, Jesus, nobody's ever asked me that before. I hope the board don't ask me that. You know, I've got away with it for 17 years without them knowing what I do.

1:19:44So I just very quickly, I am quite quick on my feet. You know, I turn around and I said, I probably liken myself to your headmaster. So the headmaster has responsibility for making sure your teachers are giving you the best education, which I know in this school, they're incredible.

1:20:05and that you get the best education you know possible so I said what I do at the football club I've got this incredible executive team and my chief executive Neil Blake has the delegated responsibility for running the club on a day-to-day basis I'm there to support Neil and all the rest of the team but what I do every day that I'm at the club which is quite rare for a chairman I said that because the club is almost on one floor, I can go into every single office and tell everybody in the football club how special they are and how valued they are. Then they get a Jeff hug. Yeah, amazing. Now, I said, if I did nothing else as a chairman, only that, that would be an intangible benefit that you could never put a price on.

1:20:53Yeah, great. And that's what I believe I've done. god didn't give me very much you know only recently found out he was dyslexic because i asked to be six foot five and he made me five foot six but that aside he gave me a shed full of enthusiasm which i think is god's greatest gift yeah and the other the other greatest gift is you giving self-belief into your team thank you yeah that's a beautiful gift you know it's making people feel special i can't make i like to think i make everybody i meet in my on my journey feel special you can't be everything to everyone and i remember getting depressed at times when i used to read articles especially in the struggle days uh in the echo you know and then your finger is literally on the keyboard shaking like this because you want to read the comments every comment is almost you know kill him get back to manchester expletive expletive expletive and I remember speaking to Eddie one day and Eddie Howe and I and you know he kind of you know he's like my son and he said to me he said chairman why do you read the notes and I said you can't help it you want everybody to like you he said I'm going to tell you something now in round figures and these were the days we had 20 ,000 supporters you could only get 11 in you know at one time but in round figures 20 000 people he said 19 980 worship the floor you stand on and mine he said the 20 but they never write in because they don't they love you they don't need to the 20 are the keyboard warriors who are all posting under a pseudonym yeah and he said chairman we could be in the champions league you're still going to get that so stop doing it and i remember a few years later, Eddie was very low at one stage.

1:22:47This was towards, you know, the latter part. And there was a lot of anti-Eddie comments, the times, you know, right for him to go. And I just reminded him of the advice he gave me five or six years earlier.

1:23:05Tell me the figures when you were in the championship, the change of revenue, the turnover coming in was X. When you got into the Premier League, what did it jump to that you had that pot to play with? Oh, it's an absolute quantum leap. You know, you're talking of 80 million, you know, 80 million plus. You know, again, I know all the figures are in the public domain. Now, it would be, they call the championship playoff a 200 million pound match. I don't know where they get those figures from. maybe that's over the the the period of three years because you're almost guaranteed the parachute payments okay so but you know certainly in the in the first year you're 80 million better off which is why i said to you earlier our revenue was the broadcasting plus a mars bar and a kick-up okay now it's grown dramatically because we've got a lot of extra partners due to the new ownership and Rob's hard work that we didn't actually have before.

1:24:06So there were so many different things that we had to do. I remember our Premier League induction because we were right at the end of the season. You had about 12 weeks to suddenly change the face of the stadium. These were all the requirements. We built the pavilion, which had... At the back of the club, wasn't it? Yeah, it was like a mini-me. If you compare, say, you know, Tottenham's or West Ham's or Manchester City's. They're like containing units you built, wasn't they? It was incredible. And that was Darren Booth, you know, shout out to him, you know, who masterminded that, getting it built in no time at all.

1:24:44Yeah, I remember. But we had, it was like a mini-me version of a Cairo chamber, you know, an underwater treadmill, an altitude chamber. Whereas Man City might have eight, you know, we had, you know, what they threw out, you know, two seasons ago, but it was revolutionary for us. So it was incredible. But we had to change the infrastructure of the stand. So the main stand, we had to create a bigger press area for UK. And then in the east stand for overseas, we had to have underfloor cabling for global television. we'd only just spent a fortune on upgrading our floodlights from league one to the championship each each one has a different lux requirement so okay come on are you impressed with that this is good oh my god this is good information just remembered this look i don't know where i dragged that from so um i'll check out what it is in a minute uh so we just replaced the um the championship floodlights so we had to increase that for about 24 different remote cameras for international and uk broadcasting and then we had to have um a medical center we had to have a separate entrance for the players who used to go in through the main door we had to have a new press center we had to have um press interview rooms for global television so each one named you know bbc itb you know sky whatever whatever they were all just plugging them you know plugging the cable you know whereas before we've got 600 weight of cable on somebody's back you know and um you know a camcorder that weighed 15 ton all that needed to be done and then the classic was we needed to have under soil heating and richard scudamore's written in my book so richard is mr premier league because everybody knows.

1:26:39He was down at the induction and said, this is what you're going to do. You're going to have this. You're going to have that. This is so-and-so, so-and-so. You can't do that. You can't do that. We have a match day here. Need another medical person. Oh, my God. It was like war and peace. That was just the first chapter. Then he said, now we're going to need under-soil heating as well installed. All this is within this 12-week period of going up in May to the season starting in August. Yeah. Wow. Okay. Any questions? I put my hand up Jeff what would you like to say oh I said Richard you can forget the under soil heating I said you know where you are I said this is Bournemouth for Christ's sake I said we've got a microclimate here so he said um sorry I I don't think you heard the question so Jeff you'll require under soil heating that was the end of the conversation we've he's actually written in my book and he's he's actually mentioned that because whenever we got together after that and I didn't really know him at that time but i thought no i'm not having that yeah but yet picture under soil heating it costs you know so many i think it's something like 30 million if a game is cancelled in you know potential broadcasting revenue i don't know what the figures are now they're astronomical so you could never even in bournemouth it might not have snowed in bournemouth you know for 6 000 years i'm not taking a risk that it's not going to snow next season so that's what it was all that had to be done and it was in a three-month period yeah and we we were there yeah i know luton had you know when they were just recently promoted because there was there was a rumor there was a rumor going around that bournemouth couldn't get promoted because because the stadium was too small yeah it was just literally it was just people that didn't actually understand the rules had changed decades before i think there was a rule very early on because this is like because I'm also going 2015 I've got something else I want to bring up it's just triggered my mind but actually imagine having your team of people there in place your Neil Blakes the CEO all of a sudden he's jumping into a whole new world of dealing with agents coming to him now knowing that they've got a pot of 80 million quid going you need this player you need this player this is the best player in Europe this is the best player in Great Britain he had to cut all those he was the man who was cutting all those deals right yes and this is a man who was an ex-policeman back in the day.

1:29:00It was just... And he was a chairman of, I think it was Wimborne Town Football Club, Dorchester Football Club, which is a tiny little club around here. Exactly. The rise that he's gone has been outrageous, hasn't it? It was a learning curve. And I think this is where my greatest strength was being able to help him with my business experience. And, you know, the journey, you know, my areas of expertise were totally different to Neil's. And I think had we both been the same, I don't think we could have survived in the same room, you know, for nearly 20 years. So we complemented each other. He looked after the team, you know, along with Richard Hughes, when Richard decided to hang up his boots.

1:29:43And Eddie brought him on to the recruitment side. So that's where he was to start. Then became technical director. I attended all the EFL meetings during this journey. I attended all the Premier League meetings. I attended the Premier League AGMs. If there was anything, we had issues with financial fair play one season. That took me the best part of two years. So I looked after all that. And of course, also because I was elected by all the 20 Premier League clubs to represent them on the FA Council, which was one of the proudest moments of my life. There's the Players Player of the Year and the Sports Writers Player of the Year.

1:30:23both huge respect. The only one you want to win, well, you want to win both of them. The one you want to win is the players because you're elected by your peers. So for me, you know, little Jeff Mostyn to be elected by the Premier League to represent them on the FA Council, that was amazing. How much of a shock was it for you when you bring in 80 mil, you probably spent, God knows how much you spent on that 12 weeks and you're left with a pot of money. Was your mindset spend all that money on the players we need to stay up? Or was your mindset, can we spend 50%, keep 50 % in the bank? Because if we get relegated, we've got a parachute, but we've still got 50 % left plus the parachute.

1:31:04Well, I have to say that those decisions were, David Holiday is our finance director. maxim doesn't need an abacus um you know or a computer or you know even a calculator to work out what is necessary and i think between you know between us all but maxim was driving this so although i was the chairman this was where maxim was driving the economy okay and we would you know maxim would say this is what we want that's what we would deliver eddie and jason you and Richard will come to the board meetings. This is my wish list in every position. That's the same with every club, not just with Bournemouth.

1:31:47But if they got everything that they wanted, we probably wouldn't have a football club now. So you've got to manage it professionally, prudently, and make sure that there is sufficient in the system to achieve your goal. There's no point in saving 10 million to lose 80. Yes. But that's the gamble you take, right? That's the gamble you take. And that's why clubs have run into financial issues in the championship, because they're trying to get to the Holy Grail, which is the Premier League. Dangerous game. Dangerous game. So I think we ran the club really well. I think you did as well. And I'm only using, incidentally, 80 million just as a figure of speech, as opposed to it being an accurate figure.

1:32:32So I think we ran it as well as any club could, and we competed really well but we still had that siege mentality. We had players from Division 2 to the Division 1 to the Championship. When we got to Division 1, you're not good enough. We'll show you we are. We got to the Championship. Same players. Puey, Matty Ritchie, you know, Tommy, Frano. You're not good enough for the Premier League. We'll show you. Tommy Elphick. Tommy Elphick. What a man. Francis. Simon Francis. Simon Francis. Yes. Fantastic. Yeah. So, you know, I think the heart, the core, and we're doing the same now, you know, you know, what Andoni has done is absolutely incredible.

1:33:15And, you know, I don't want to upset chairman up and down the country, but I learned very quickly, probably, you know, at my own cost, that the most important person in a football club is definitely the manager. And I think the more people that recognize that, the more you can sit on your ego and squash it. and help develop the only thing that can keep you alive. So I'm a successful businessman. I buy a football club that's almost a car crash. Tony Husband, we're walking around the stadium, my first interview with BBC South Today. Jeff, so why, you know, this club has suffered so many administrations, bucket collections.

1:34:00Why do you think you can change the fortunes of this football club? Tony come on I'm a financial advisor I'm going to create financial stability nine months later I put it in administration things out of your control the one thing that business people that are just randomly buying a football club don't understand is that no matter what kind of executive you have and we had the greatest for me I still love I still call them my staff I know not but that'll be with me forever my executive team my you know all my staff from the first person on a steward at the gates of the car park on a match day they are just as important as the chairman you just have different you just have different titles and they are wonderful but the only people that matter are the players because you can have the greatest ideas the greatest vision if the team fail on the pitch your business model fails the pot because there's no economy you know rob you know rob would be cringing if we got relegated all those contracts what's going to happen where are we going to get sponsorship yeah and i've never thought about that that once people cross the white line you could be bill gates you're completely and utterly out of control.

1:35:25Do you remember how much a player was getting in the championship and then you signing new players what their wages were on a week and did that cause a problem that the championship players know what he's on is a massive difference? Well I think again I'm not going to put exact figures on it for understand or even roughly. Get him one of those Russian vodkas we'll get this out of him in a minute. Hang on a minute. That's half a pint of water, stroke vodka, Jeff. Mate, you're fine, mate. You're in good company here. Honestly, if the listeners are like, I'm just struggling a little bit. I've only just picked up my water glass and it's actually sponsored by Schmirnoff.

1:36:14It was a massive leap. Yes. But I think it's the way that it was managed and all credit to the staff. People understood, you know, you don't need the brains of an archbishop to realize that you know when you're signing a fully fledged premier league player you know jack wilshire for instance you know comes in um and you've got you know somebody earning a tenth of that you can't say to the person uh is on the same wages as you jack wouldn't even you know you know get out the car so it was a question i remember him coming in 100 grand yeah and when he was playing no disrespect to jack because he was fantastic but in his day when he was playing we're like this isn't the Jack Wilshere we all knew Arsenal and different clubs he was at it was he didn't he didn't shine at all but behind the scenes what an example yes and I always said he was a marquee signing you know for us what for off the field for the younger players coming through yeah that's lovely to hear he was amazing I speak highly of all the players the sum are probably no names no patrillo you know I could have you know shot yeah sure or got the laser out did you ever did you as a chairman did you ever clash with eddie howell no no i can i can honestly say that eddie and i over the 17 years that we were together we there was only once in in eddie's room where i can't recall what happened but i was probably right on the edge when i went in the room and I'll tell you a story to back up my demeanor not on that day but my general demeanor of utmost respect um something was said and I literally went out slammed the door um and Neil Perrett was outside the door and he said oh what was that about of course I ignored him you know you know gave him the death stare um and just carried on walking and it was almost like his door went you know a revolving door and it was incredible that on monday eddie came to see me and he said chairman can i just have a quick word and we you know i'm not going to you know say you know eddie was apologetic we were mutually um apologetic to each other about this one incident yes so where my respect came was very very early and i always use this as a i think a really good analogy eddie is a football manager head coach i'm a financial advisor i can't ever imagine eddie coming up to my office upstairs at the football club while i'm i never had a client but hypothetically giving somebody financial advice and eddie just coming through the door saying oh my god why are you giving him that kind of advice so why would i go down to eddie howe's office and try and say yeah why have we picked that formation today why did you leave these five people out and that was why we had so much respect and i'll fast forward if i may to when i stepped down the most 2022 2022 october so december the 22nd officially was when How did you feel that day?

1:39:35Terrible. Emotion. Oh, my God. It's still my family. Even today, you know, my love for our incredible supporters will remain with me forever. And I've dedicated my book, you know, to my family and the supporters. But that day was it was so low. and I remember being in the dressing room and the boys all wishing me good luck standing in the tunnel and just bursting into tears and Chris Geerish who's director of operations there now was probably cuddling me for God knows how long and in fact so long that Rose sent somebody down from the boardroom to find out where I was I was just emotionally you know distressed excuse me mate I'll take your time

1:40:41now you can see just the emotion of who I am sorry it's not a problem at all Jeff, take your time mate

1:40:55So that year, I got invited to Qatar for the World Cup. And I was invited, you know, by the family over there, the whole family, along with Richard Scudamore, Steve Parrish. There was eight of us in this sort of elite group and one very famous manager. So, again, no names, no patrol. So just like I've showed you my emotion, this was all raw. And I literally burst into tears. And, you know, suddenly, oh, my God, Jeff, you know, what is it? And I said, what is really strange about being a chairman of a football club is that's who you're known as. Whenever I was introduced to anybody, this is the chairman of AFC Bournemouth.

1:41:50Then I would have to say, oh, hi, I'm Jeff Mostyn. you know it would have been nice if it were all in one breath so it is your identity yes so i felt like the emperor with no clothes who am i now i'm no longer a chairman you know of a premier league football club or indeed of anything you know what what happens next and the words back were just it was like having an exorcism. I'm going to say two things to you. The second is more important than the first. The first, you're one of the most loved and respected chairman in football. Forget the Premier League. And the reason is, whenever you come downstairs after a game to a dressing room or to the manager's room, you never ever speak unless you're spoken to.

1:42:40That in itself is worthy of respect where so many come down all guns blazing especially if it's been a bad day at the office but and this was where the second part came in we don't love and respect you because you're chairman of AFC Bournemouth we love you because you're Jeff Mostyn lovely and it was an absolute exorcism of the highest order that I went upstairs phone rose you know almost in tears but said that this is you know what has just made me feel better and he followed up by saying if you're ever lonely for the rest of your life just stand outside the front door of the vitality stadium on a match day you'll never be lonely again and whenever I'm at the match I just want to spend time with our supporters the staff obviously the players are changing so I don't have the same intimate relationship that i had but only recently um i was in 1805 you know the chinese restaurant and um when i went in there uh tavs was in there and antoine somenier along with their girlfriends wives and there was a couple of other alex scott was it and um tavs turned around to me and he said oh my god chairman what i love is that tradition in football passed down passed down that you will always be chairman to those players just as eddie will always be gaffer if he steps foot through the door of the vitality stadium as he will be in newcastle and he said um oh my god we haven't seen you for ages you know are you coming to the games so um i said i'm at every game at home as near as damn it well we haven't seen that because you know out of respect you know i don't go in the dressing rooms so well where are you i said literally just sit behind the dugout and he said oh it's amazing he said he come in on Tuesday and we were playing Brighton I said of course I am I said he said are you coming to Tottenham on Saturday on Sunday I think it was or no it was the Saturday so I said of course I am and Antoine turned around and he said Tabs give him a break he's actually made more appearances at the Vitality than you have.

1:44:55Brilliant. And it was, brilliant. That was almost a continuation of the dressing room. Yeah, brilliant. You know, which there was that respect and that love. How good is he? Oh my God. Is he going to get snapped up one of the big clubs? He's going to, I think he's, he's close to getting, this is a big statement by the way, world class. But I feel like he's going to be world class. Well he is. Semeny. If you look at the players we lost who are now playing for, Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, we were probably lucky to hold on to him. You know, I'm not part of the inner sanctum, so I won't hazard a guess of how close or how not we weren't losing him.

1:45:33But yeah, you want to... I've learned now over the years to talk these players down because... Don't anyone to nick them, basically. In my role, one of my roles with the FA was I'm an England ambassador. So I've had the honour and privilege of travelling with the England teams to overseas competitions. And people have always asked me, you know, about Eddie Howe, you know, because we know that, you know, people were looking at him as a possible England manager. And I used to say, oh, my God, he's unbelievable. Jeff, what's his greatest strength? His greatest strength is this insatiable appetite for personal development.

1:46:10That's why players love him, because it'd be like you and your team here. You come in, you know, Billy Big, you know what, yeah I've got the t-shirt I've done it why would they want to listen to you absolutely but if you're still learning your skills every day they are going to think oh my god you bring them on the journey with you 100 and the same as the same as business in here like all the three business we've got with the Bournemouth Sevens Festival obviously the media company with the podcast etc I like to bring I like to give self-belief to everyone I love Gen Z come through make them entrepreneurs in your business they're taking like an entrepreneur but they've got no financial risk and you take them on your journey with you.

1:46:50It's a lovely feeling. And that's where I was. And developing players, like you say. So Dan Ashworth, who was at that time head of FA development, he actually created the DNA. How United got rid of him, you know, I'll never know. Probably just disagreeing with Ameren being the direct, I don't know the ins and outs, I only surmised like you would. But he used to say to me, you know, you are you said you are just building eddie up to somebody we're going to have to take and i said oh my god that you can't you're not taking me seriously are you he's a complete waste of space we we can't afford to get rid of him you know that's the only reason we've kept him and i'm suddenly realizing that you know by talking players up you're attracting so you know antoine if you're listening i absolutely love you and i'm only doing this deliberately so nobody comes in and nicks you yeah hospitality yeah it's a big thing for you tell me around the uk who has the best hospitality in the premier league where you feel so welcome so i've got like everybody else i'm you know what attracts you about person about hospitality is it glitz is it glamour or is it people so for me it's the people so obviously when i when we play manchester city as we are in a couple of weeks time um they treat me like the messiah um again contributions in my book from mike summerby on behalf of the club um and they know i've been a boyhood supporter you know since the age of five but um again just a little anecdote the first time we played Man City at the Etihad, as I've just alluded to, go in the dressing room just to wish the boys good luck.

1:48:45And Tommy said, the chairman can just have a quick word. And two of the boys grabbed my arms. I can't remember who. And he starts to undo my shirt. He said, the boys wanted to know if you had a city shirt on. And obviously I didn't. So it's only twice a year. Tommy Elfick's done a great job for the club as well. Oh, unbelievable. What a lovely human being as well. And Koops. Yeah. You know, the two of them together. I'm pleased they're a pair because that gives them strength. Tommy's a dad at our school as well. Oh. Yeah. So we see each other with a lovely family. He's just an absolute kind human being, isn't he?

1:49:18He is. Knows his football. Inside out. So give me five clubs that spring to mind. You go, I love the hospitality there. Which would they be? So Liverpool, again, comes out of the respect I have for the owners, the Fenway Group from John Henry. you know mike and tom and the chief executive billy hogan um again i can give you a little anecdote if you want we lose nine nil i remember under scotty parker under scott a couple of seasons ago and me and rose were the only two directors rose wasn't a director but the only two executives if you like visiting so he said jeff it's my daughter's wedding that's her daughter's birthday today come and join us on our table there's only you and rosie and every they all love rosie every single boardroom we go in they adore she's lovely thank you nearly everybody that's written in my book 30 perspective writers has written about rosie that gives me more pleasure than them talking about me so uh great team oh great team 44 years married i know what a team it's incredible you don't hear that these days do you love them 44 weeks you know you're lucky yeah you know or ours if it's been a bad night why did i pick her the old tent or two at a club oh jesus in the morning what's happening yeah yeah why am i still in there so um he said what are your plans you're staying over i assume i said yes i said we booked to go to san carlo so san carlo in manchester is one of my favorite restaurants never been to the one in liverpool but we had a we had a reservation that was the end of the conversation lose 9-0 he comes bouncing in um and he said on i'm just beside myself of all the people to literally have this demolition you know you would be the last person and i know he meant that genuinely because you can all you know bullshit after a game you know we're thrilled that you've just beaten us you know then you phone the samaritans yeah you know so nothing was said we go into San Carlo.

1:51:21Rosie said are we going out? I said yes sweet I just need to get out. Go into San Carlo, manager or whoever it was showed it said we've got a lovely table for you this evening Mr Mostyn. Wow that's strange like how does he know my name? And we've got this lovely sort of curved booth and within a minute he said the sommelier will be coming over so but before he does can we offer you a glass of champagne with our compliments? He said I know it's been a difficult day for you. so I said to Rose she said have you met this person before I said no but what a lovely gesture so we get two glasses of champagne sommelier comes over gives me the wine list good striker sommelier yeah Anton sommelier there you go we've got a good new name for him that is brilliant oh my god I've got to get up earlier in the morning to catch you that's the highlight I love that so he said choose anything anything you want on there whether it's sparkling any wine on that wine list with the compliments of billy hogan and liverpool football club lovely that sums up how they are brighton yeah paul barber tony bloom two dear friends of mine hospitality off the richter scale lovely it's hugs and kisses whenever we go in there not just from the two of them but all the staff Crystal Palace you know again I love Salah Steve old school yeah old that's it you know it's absolutely rocking they are incredible you know the boardroom at Tottenham in the new stadium you invited myself and Rob Mitchell and you had this most amazing box when the stadium opened I remember going up into this box you go into this stadium it's like a mix between an airport and a five star hotel mixed with a football stadium do you remember going up and like the lifts and then you go into the box and someone's making sushi and someone's doing cocktails.

1:53:19Yeah. This is like, you couldn't have, Daniel Levy, that design, I know he's not with Tottenham anymore, but massive respect to him for the design that he created, spending 1.2 billion pound on a stadium. You know, he did, but actually to experience it and the atmosphere there, it breaks my heart to say Tottenham's got a good atmosphere as a West Ham fan, but they have. And I think they've ticked all the boxes. What a legacy. legacy that man's left yeah agree you know and it's sad the way things happen but you know once the fans turn they're turning um a turn on the board and hard to get away do you know interesting with uh daniel levy is it true that if you wanted a box there you had to do business with him no idea i heard you had to be an if you're an agent yeah and you want to do business daniel you've got to buy a box on a three-year contract or if you're a sponsor i want a three-year contract which is fantastic no idea yeah seriously but i remember my first premier league um uh shareholders meeting at rudding park so rudding park was there so that's in harrogate okay that's where they have most of the um the premier league it's the agm yes in june so the first person i met there um oh my god this is a funny story sir chips keswick so sir chips absolute blue blood You know, I mean, just an sort of old school, you know, I'm not sure if he was the governor of the Bank of England, but certainly on the Bank of England, high up.

1:54:45And a great statesman. So I arrived. Richard Scudamore said, come the day before, Jeff, because he said, even with your incredible inbuilt confidence, this will be something new to you. You're going to be with the glory boys of the Premier League, of world football, you know, when the chairman and chief executives of all these incredible clubs are all assembled together, like King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, in particular because the table is in the round. So I walked through the door and this gentleman stood there, a gentleman in every sense of the word. And he said, hello, boy, are you part of the group?

1:55:25So I said, yes. He said, Mr. Chips, Keswick, Arsenal. So I was going Jeff Mostenborg.

1:55:35You start talking. Talking, yeah, yeah, yeah. He said, come and join me for a glass of wine, old boy. So off I go for a glass of Sav with him. And he said, how did he get here today, old boy? So I said, I flew down, Mr. Chips. He said, oh, my God, jolly good. You've got your own aircraft. I said, no, on this occasion, I use Flybeam. I literally went upstairs to phone Neil Blake I said you know mate I said we've arrived they think I've got my own aircraft because you've got David Gold landing you know the helicopter on the lawn the late the late David Gold lovely do you know that David Gold he invited me into his box at Upton Park I said to him David I want to own West Ham one day he said Dodge you know what you have to do earn 100 mil but 50 mil in the club because you're going to lose that and give 50 mil to your family to keep them safe.

1:56:28And I'll never forget those words. 2015, just before we moved to the London Stadium. See, I wish you'd have given me advice, you know, in truth, because, you know, I'd have given it all to the family. Yeah. You know, I mean, you know, that is it, you know. But you won't be here to tell the story today, Jeff. I got out of jail free. Yeah. You know, I love that. Hold on a minute. Hold that thought. I got out of jail free. That is so true. So you could have been in a proper financial, you could have been in a financial, there could be financial problems if you hadn't got this get out jail card. I mean.

1:57:01Imagine. Yes, you know, it's hard to. Well, we made that. And we laugh about it now, but it could have been a completely different ballgame, yourself and Rosie losing everything you got. And that's why we made that decision that day not to invest any more money in the club, which I ignored. Why, I don't know. But I was at the Langham Hotel. It was the end of last year, doing a gig with Peter Schmeichel and Michel Roux and finished the gig. And it's about 250 people there. And it went to a Q &A. The first question was, Jeff, oh my God, what a story. You have to write a book. And this is why I've actually written a book.

1:57:43She didn't actually, you know, it wasn't just because of her. Everybody over the last 10 years has actually said, you need to write a book. it's one of the greatest stories ever told so back to her point it must have been the best decision you ever made in your life to buy the football club and i said i pause and i just sort of lull everybody into a sense of false security let the noise settle and then i said without any question whatsoever it was the worst decision of my life but i got out of jail free because of the people that I met on the way in particular Maxim Deming yes and I said you have to compartmentalize a decision if it's the worst one you can't say it was the best because it had a happy ending the decision is either right or wrong and it was wrong yeah and if you think it's right you'll keep making those mistakes so even today it was the worst decision I ever made that turned out to have the happiest ending because of the incredible people I've worked with and the love of the supporters throughout this journey they've given me the strength and the determination to leave a legacy that me and my family can always be proud of wow on that note Jeff we're going to finish up now but my last question to you what do you want to be known for

1:59:18Wow. I want to be known as a genuinely honest, good person that did his utmost to make a community proud of him. Lovely. Jeff, I've absolutely loved this. We could speak. We're speaking now up to two hours. I could go on. No way. Yeah, this is amazing. This is fascinating. Like talk about eventful lives. This is eventful lives. You have lived an eventful life. And you've done it with a smile. And to take Bournemouth Football Club from where you've taken it on minus 17, to take it all the way through to the Premier League, to take it where it is now with new owners taking it on, who have even deeper pockets than Maxim, taking it to the next level, you've got to be so proud, surely.

2:00:02Thank you. So proud. Thank you. And as I've said, so many people, you know, it's all about the group. It's all about the team. It's all about everybody in the dark days that donated a pound, or even less, school children with their pocket money have helped save this incredible club. And then with the team that we had, with Maxim, with Eddie and Jason and the people that followed, even those people that came in and were not as successful as Eddie and Jason still played a part in the journey to where it is today. and all I can do is wish Bill, Jim Frivola and all the team that are under the new ownership including the staff that Bill inherited from me and our executive team every success for the future.

2:00:58Keep the club on the upward spiral. It's just a joy to watch and it's a joy to see the pleasure it gives the community. You're an absolute legend. You really are. And out there, Bill Foley if you're listening out there, Let's get a statue of Jeff outside that football club. It won't cost a lot because it's only five foot six. Three foot two. It could be anything. Any statue, just get it up there. Yeah, even a Mr. Man. Jeff, you're lovely. You're a lovely human being. What a joy. It's absolutely been an honour and a privilege to share this morning with you and your boys. Very kind of you. Thank you for inviting me.

2:01:35My pleasure. You're a good man and you're loved by millions, mate. Thank you. Wow, Jeff, that was really good. Hi, guys. I really hope you enjoyed that as much as I did. Can you do us a favour and leave us a review as it massively helps us grow the show? Cheers, guys.