The man who saved AFC Bournemouth

0:21David Cushman

0:30Very good. That seemed like it was a preface to another question. No, I just think we should cut to the chase. You were at the sumo on Sunday. Well, I was and I will go into it, David, but I do think we should explain what's coming up on the podcast first. In a break from our tradition, let's explain what's coming up on the podcast, shall we? Okay. Well, you, I saw you in here just a little bit earlier with a couple of guests, actually. Yes. So a little bit later, we are going to be hearing my conversation that I recorded earlier with Jeff and Janine Mostyn, a father-daughter duo. Jeff Mostyn was until 2022 the chair of AFC Bournemouth, a businessman with a colourful career who stepped in to rescue AFC Bournemouth, who were in dire straits in the mid-2000s.

1:21Jeff became a part owner of the team in 2006, became chairman in 2007 and rescued them from, well, put them into administration quite quickly and then rescued them from that. They went all the way down to League Two, the bottom of the professional pyramid of football here in England. And when he left in 2022, they were established as a force in the Premier League. And this year, they're on something of a charge and are being widely ticked perhaps to finish in the qualification spots for Europe this year playing fantastic football. I was looking for them on the league table and I didn't look high enough.

2:06Where are they? Fourth-ish? Yeah. They're doing very, very well. And Jeff's story is a fascinating one. The reason that he and his daughter Janine were here today is partly because Jeff's got a book out, David. And that book is called The Chairman, The Man Who Saved AFC Bournemouth. It is essentially an autobiography, but it does tell the tale of one of the most connected men in football, in sport, and the roundabout way, the ups and downs that he went through, and the Mostyn family went through on the journey to saving AFC Bournemouth. Yeah, it's a fascinating book and a fascinating conversation.

3:01Janine, one of four children of Jeff's, although, of course, not a child anymore. Janine has sort of followed her dad into the world of sport. She's the managing director of Huckleberry Sport. She's a recruiter and works with some of the biggest organizations in sports, media, tech. They're the exclusive recruitment firm for Football Manager, the popular video game. And she also works with the likes of Pokemon, ATP Media, Williams, and many more besides. But as you'll hear from the conversation, they're very much two peas in a pod, these mostens um a really interesting conversation coming up well a unique conversation i think hopefully yeah certainly uniquely recorded uh conversation uh we use the traditional recording sure but um no jeff's on um jeff's obviously on a bit of a promotional tour um getting behind the book which is released on the 30th of october um but i don't believe he's done anything with Janine in a studio and I don't know whether he will again.

4:18No, it was really nice to have them both in. They're both incredibly warm, vivacious figures and they share a kind of a quality. They're just very good with people and clearly they have that in common with each other. Good stuff. That to come. Yes. Now, you were at the sumo on Sunday. Ah, yes. I went to the sumo. Of course I did. And actually, I was looking back at, I can't remember what I was doing, but I was in the archives for this podcast. And around about this time last year, we must have done about three episodes in a row where we talked about the sumo wrestling coming to London. And my excitement about that prospect was palpable.

5:03There was a piece on the BBC website a couple of days ago at the end of the five-day grand sumo tournament at the Royal Albert Hall saying that the world of sumo, but the sumo wrestlers had charmed the City of London by not only their performances at the Royal Albert Hall, but also in some fantastic footage, some fantastic imagery of them. well essentially roaming the streets of London, checking out all the big tourist traps, knocking about on a line bike at one point and generally having a fantastic time I guess while they were you know out of competition. Yes I would suggest that the Japanese tourism board and the London tourism authority probably be quite pleased with the output across all sorts of social media platforms these uh amazingly clad massive men um in their traditional kimonos um wandering around london taking beautifully sort of naive is the wrong word but like there's there's nothing sort of knowing it's very simple well it's just standing outside a zara but just just you know enjoying enjoying a half pint of of beer on the the street some fish and chips yeah exactly uh standing at the departure gate and just wonderful enthusiasm for being out and about in uh in london um and there are a couple of uh sporting tours undertaken by a couple of the um the wrestlers uh so hoshorio um who was the ultimate champion um the the yokozuna who won the tournament on the sunday he's a chelsea fan and he uh seemed to have a guided tour of Stamford Bridge.

6:53Quite right too. And then one of the, this got me down to one of the oldest wrestlers. He is so old that he's 39. And he, I can't remember his name. You're thumbing through the official program. Sadanumi. Sadanumi. So he's an Arsenal fan. He did a little tour of the Arsenal stadium. Fantastic. 39 year old. I saw him in action actually. He's very good. I got a soft spot for the older wrestlers. Is that old in sumo terms? Well, I think it's old in sporting terms, isn't it? That is true. Yeah. The oldest wrestler is 40. And he was very good as well. A wily old fox. His favoured... So you and I both watched some of this.

7:36We watched quite a lot of this. It's great that it was on the BBC. It was streaming on the BBC as well as on DAZN. But the oldest wrestler, a 40-year-old sort of wily old fox of sumo, the commentator Japanese bloke who was doing English language Hiro Morita Hiro Morita who was fantastic Brilliant He must have told the same story Well they're doing it night after night almost for the people in the venue as well They're doing it night after night I don't know whether you came across the story that he tells about the oldest wrestler where he says that he's so old that I challenged him to a sumo bout because he's 40 so I assumed I could beat him him but i did not he got me in his famous chokehold and threw it threw me against the wall i almost passed out uh he was fantastic hero as the sort of he was the hero of the uh of the week yeah and it was great it was great to watch the the uh quite a lot of the coverage uh on the bbc and this and what was interesting and be genuinely interesting your views in the uh you know from being there in the Royal Albert Hall.

8:46But the thing about sumo is it's, yes, it's sport, but it's talked about in terms of performance. And actually this, one of the interesting things about this is it was promoted effectively by an arts promoter rather than a sports promoter. And there's obviously elements of great history and tradition and spirituality. At the same time, like everything else it's it's got a little commercial edge to it and there's sponsor you know albeit in a sort of very um traditional looking way there's sponsor boards which play quite an integral role in the uh the competition as well yeah how was it in inside the venue yeah really and good fun i mean and yes it was promoted by an organization called askinus halt who i think work with the royal albert hall quite a lot and they are principally an arts and culture um organization they specialize in cultural exchange.

9:43And I think what that means most of the time is they take orchestras abroad from the UK, but they were involved, in fact, integral to the original sumo exhibition here in London 34 years ago, which took place at the Royal Albert Hall as well. Askenis Holt helped put that on and bring the sumo association of japan over the the little bit of it's not just that link um the man who runs the japan sumo association now hakaku um was at the time in the 90s um competing at the top level yokozuna and he won the london tournament so he's you know has a special place in in his heart um interestingly i um sat you know when you go to sports events and I personally like to do a bit of people watching in the um in the expensive seats you know like look around and see who's there who's who's being shown off at the spot this is particularly good at NBA events or if you know where the particular boxes are in sort of big stadium events football or NFL and you can sort of see who the guests are in sumo um that also exists You know, there are the best seats in the house are actually little cushions at the front.

11:06But I was sat not quite in the best seats in the house, but I had a pretty good view in the row behind Hakaku's son. So who is a child, but the son of the chairman of the Japan Sumo Association. He had all his mates there and two adults looking after them who were amazingly dressed, Japanese women in traditional kind of kimono. But yes, he's got a ragtag bunch of mates. I can tell you that. There's also a little bit of jeopardy in those seats because... Oh, it wasn't quite that close. But yes, no, absolutely. You don't want to be right in the front row. You don't want to be on the front row at the sumo because you can get crushed.

11:51You can get crushed, yeah. But it's interesting what you say that I love sumo and in case anyone was in any doubt, but I originally went in 2013 or 2014 when I spent a little bit of time in Japan and it captivated. I just went because of the novelty of it and it captivated me. And there's a particular thing that I find really interesting. And I don't know of any other sport that has this particular mix of history, tradition, ritual, spirituality. And sumo is arguably the oldest sort of sport in the world, certainly one of the oldest sports in the world. It has taken place since the 1600s in roughly the same format that we see it today.

12:40And it started as a kind of ritual, a farming ritual to ward off evil spirits to protect the harvest, to protect the crops. And it was more of a dance than a competition. And it sort of evolved into what it is today. And all of those elements of spirituality and ritual are incorporated into the product that you see today. and James Richardson was sort of co-presenting with Hero. And there are a few nice lines from him because there's a lot of extracurricular stuff that goes into the presentation of Sumo. And most of it is about warding off evil spirits. You know, there's throwing salt on the doyo to purify the competition area.

13:30There's, of course, the foot stomping. It's so sort of tied to Sumo. all of it is to get rid of evil spirits. And James Richardson had a nice line about, well, you wouldn't want to be an evil spirit in sumo, would you? I mean, you'd never get a look in anywhere. But there's all of these elements, which are what make it of cultural intrigue. But the sporting competition is very real. And what fascinates me is how the best participants, the best wrestlers use the ritual as part of their sporting performance. They use how they need to behave in the lead up to a bout in order to gain some kind of psychological edge on their opponent.

14:22And you see it happening and it's pretty intense and just fascinating. Yeah, good stuff. Anyway, the Mostons. Well, it sounds like it's Paris next year for the Sumo guys on their latest international tour. I think Hero might have slightly given the game away at the end. Oh, did he? He sort of announced that. Okay. But we wait for an official announcement. To the Mostins. To the Mostins. Here are Geoff and Janine Mostin. Janine, I'm going to start with you. Could you introduce your father over here to the Leaders Worth Knowing audience, please? I could. well Jeff Mostyn for anyone who doesn't already know who he is ex-chairman of Bournemouth football club industry leader in cuddling I would say I can confirm that I've had a cuddling straight and just um a connector just really very well connected in the industry but somebody who has so much warmth and connects other people in the industry Jeff does that chime with you Anything my daughter says obviously shines with me.

15:29Yeah, it's a glowing testament from, you know, my darling daughter, Janine. And, you know, if I could reciprocate Janine, you know, my daughter, also, you know, one of sports, you know, leading, leading promoters of sport in general, women in sport. she is one of the world's and i say the world's greatest connectors and i think that's also a testament from your chief executive as well in a recent um a recent podcast i think she said janine is one of the best networkers i've ever met she is full of energy she's literally passionate about what she does and passionate about everything she does well said and i concur with that you're both formidable operators it seems and i think we might have tears at some stage i know where are the tissues it was an oversight wasn't it not start we'll start with that one we are here in the leaders studio obviously to talk to you two mostyns um to talk about what you're doing and why you're doing it but we're here principally because of course uh jeff has a book out in the coming days the chairman uh the man who saved afc bournemouth from administration from uh from league two brought them all the way up to the premier league uh and just a couple of years on from the point that you left the the chair jeff they're now i would say they're now competing for the premier league title this year so a meteoric rise largely with you uh with your hands on the tiller.

17:12You're doing a lot of promo at the moment for the book. Janine has been with you for some of it. Janine, have you read the book? I have just got a copy of the book. Oh, you've only just received the copy. I'm about as far, as far away through as you are. Went to the book launch on Thursday. How was it? It was incredible. And probably the key thing I missed off the intro is I'm now author. Oh yeah, of course. Published. You know, that means that's going to go in the british library forever oh wow god yeah that that is really interesting because if i if i may interject i don't know this you know this could be the the 30 day podcast instead i imagine this is the first of many interjections but please instead of the 30s just when you say that when i was actually uh with the with the publishers he just because he knows it's a legacy for my family he just said jeff this will be a legacy not only for your current family but for generations ahead.

18:10And he said, this is the gift that we'll keep giving. He said, people will even find it in charity shops. It's incredible that I'm going to completely disregard that now, knowing that it's going to be in the British Library. Yeah. Yeah, very much. You'll be finding it in charity shops, sort of underneath table legs in pubs, just holding up that kind of thing. Janine, you're halfway through. We, yeah. Got any bones to pick with your dad over here? Not yet. Not yet. I must confess, I did go straight to the back to reference the pages I was mentioned in and went straight to check those facts. So I'm happy with that.

18:53But look, we're a mega emotional family. We all wear our heart on our sleeve. We love, love, we love just, you know, warmth and being there on Thursday night was another level. It was very emotional just listening to what people say about my dad, our dad. It's unbelievable. And we all know it and think it. But when you hear, you know, other legends in the industry speak of your dad like that, you can't help but get a bit choked up. Yeah. Jeff, what's the experience like for you at the moment doing this? Well, first of all, what's the experience like of getting down all of those memories on the page, reliving them, first of all, getting them down on the page, looking back at it and thinking, crikey, what an undertaking.

19:50you know it's no small undertaking and no small part of your life to have rescued a football club put so much money put so much time into it and the book is a a tale of a repetitive tale of 100 000 pound checks that you're writing to Bournemouth and and the dedication and loyalty that you put in um to that community but what was it like reliving all of that and now as Janine says listening to people kind of pay tribute to you as you talk about it? Well, I think, you know, the word that Janine highlighted, you know, over and over again is emotion. You know, we are, without any question, the most emotional family gods ever put on the planet.

20:33I get emotional watching Coronation Street because, you know, it reminds me of Manchester. But this just started off as a small project to leave a legacy for my family. You know, I wanted, I think I've said in the book, 10 copies of Pronto Prince or whatever the 21st century equivalent is, you know, with a ring binder. And suddenly it went beyond that. And it's quite difficult, very, very emotional. I mean, the people that I've worked closely with, Ed Bowers, you know, one of my book managers, and Neil Veitcher, my other book manager, who's really responsible for the football element of the book.

21:16We've had hours and hours of recordings where I've narrated than they are transcribing. But mixed amongst every single gathering has been tears. I get to a certain point in the journey, in particular when it impacts my family. And my family is the football club. That's the wider family. But my closest family, Janine, her siblings, and my wife, Rosie, it's very, very difficult for me to express myself without getting emotional. And somebody mentioned to me a couple of weeks ago, when I was doing a podcast, that that the reason I get so emotional about the journey is because the decision I made was with my heart not my head and I had my heart broken and that's the emotion had I bought the club with my head the journey probably would not have been as emotional in fact it would have been the opposite I would have been constantly calling myself you know the idiot that I think I possibly was the day I made that decision.

22:27So it's been an emotional undertaking. But, you know, now that I've seen the finished product, it is, I believe, you know, worthwhile. Yeah. I want to go to a few different episodes that feature in the book and try to get a sort of family perspective on them. Because as you say, your family do feature largely in the retelling of this story, particularly your wife, Rosie. But there are a couple of points which I think are very well sort of expressed. And I wonder what the reaction was like in the sort of Mostyn household. And I appreciate that, you know, all your kids were sort of grown up when you went into the football world and into Bournemouth.

23:18So it wasn't like, you know, you're all sort of gathered around the kitchen table. But I imagine the family WhatsApp group or whatever it was, was probably going off. But there's a few instances. So first of all, I wonder whether you could relive or sort of express a few memories from the 5-1 game at Manchester City. So this is the first time that you took Bournemouth up to the team that you support, Manchester City. In the Premier League for the first time, it's really the culmination of this journey that you've been on with the club, rescuing them, bringing them all the way back to the top, back in your hometown at your home club obviously they get absolutely tonked um but you've got your whole family there with you and it feels like that is the a beautiful end to something and i wonder maybe maybe from your perspective jeff if we start what did that day feel like for you oh my god i mean it's it is it's even today it still remains one of the highlights of the journey yeah and i think the reason why it remains such a highlight is nobody in particular me thought there was going to be anything greater that was going to be happening to the football club or to me as the chairman of the football club that was the pinnacle you know to take the club back to my hometown club the directors the owners treat me like the messiah you know when i go back and you know i will be going back in a couple of weeks time actually i think it's the second of november not that the picture's always sort of dear to my heart but to have my family there you know rosie and all the children it was just a absolute joy and there's an amazing picture in the book a photograph of the family in the stand you know before kickoff i'll never forget going down to the dressing room and I'm sure it was Tommy.

25:15Everything was a whirl. You know, I'd always go down to the dressing room before every game, just either go in, put my head through the door, wish the boys good luck and then leave because this was the manager's time to spend with the players mentally preparing. But I remember, I think it was Tommy calling me over and saying, oh, chairman, can I just have a word? And two of the players grabbing my arms and then he proceeded to undo my shirt because he said the lads were curious to see whether you'd have a city shirt on. And of course, there's just something about, there's something that doesn't seem right, that a chairman should have another football club that he or she have supported all their lives when every player has a hometown team.

26:01You know, Eddie was an Everton supporter. And it's quite strange. I don't think there's many people from Liverpool or proper scousers that are at the football club. Yet my manager, Eddie Howe, supported Everton. Eddie supported Everton. And we've got another guy at the football club supports Everton. I don't even know where all this came from, but at least I was born and bred in Manchester, so I had a right to support my hometown side. It was just joyous. I don't even remember the result. and it would be sort of inappropriate for me to say the result didn't matter because you live and dream every single result every single result matters when you just promoted to the premier league every single point you know matters almost as much winning as winning a throw-in or winning the toss at least you've won something in a match yeah but the the result passed me by and I think we came to a stage where having lost 12 consecutive matches against Manchester City that there was no longer any embarrassment where half the teams on earth are losing to Manchester City yeah you know every week that there was no disgrace the pleasure was going back to Manchester seeing my you know closest family meeting cousins that had come to the game that day yeah and that that the memory of that day will last with me forever yeah and and janine i guess is manchester your hometown as well yeah you consider that to be here and i am i mean that all the family you know that picture is i think we've all got it on our shelves at home and it the memories of that day one i think because blakey was there and he's the one sibling who probably doesn't follow football a lot so even he came and um i i tell this story a lot even when i'm just talking in the industry the hospitality of man city on that day and i think it was twofold it was obviously the love of dad and knowing it was his club and they just do treat him like a messiah and and and extended that to the entire family but i always remember and also know this from being in the boardroom with dad, you know, there's only so much room, right?

28:21So each away team gets a table and there's eight, 10 seats around that table. So that's four or five couples. So when we want to go to the big games, no chance because the rest of the board want to go and, you know, everybody else wants to go. So it's very difficult to get a seat to those big away games. Man City on that day were like, look, you know, little old Bournemouth in the Premier League. bless them you know let's let's give them a few tables because it's not going to happen again and extend that you know hospitality to the family and let dad have his day yeah which they did and we had multiple tables in the boardroom that day and we probably had more than them yeah little did they know you'd be back when we stayed up the next year and we were like can we come to this they're like no they've put us back down to one table we got taken seriously yeah yeah very good Very good.

29:16Right. There's a couple more incidences in the book that I want to get the sort of family view on. The first one is obviously a seismic moment, which is described really nicely in the book. It's what I refer to as the Kevin Bond lunch. This is the moment where you are originally sort of sucked into the AFC Bournemouth ecosystem. You go out for lunch with Kevin Bond, who's at the time the Bournemouth manager. Bournemouth manager. who you know already is a good friend of yours. And over a few glasses, maybe bottles of wine, they convince you to invest in Bournemouth, right? That's right. That's almost right.

29:57Okay. Yes. So the only correction there is Kevin wasn't at the lunch. So Kevin invited me to lunch with the chairman. And then off he trotted. And then off he went down to the dressing room. Okay. Probably in shame. knowing what he'd done right so you then you then invest in the club janine how does that news trickle through to you i mean you alluded to this earlier that we we were adults and and had left home when dad invested in in the club this is about 2006 yeah yeah so um you know i was you know married with children and and living away from home at that point but definitely remember the conversations and I think it was more a case of there might not be any inheritance children so I'm just letting you know I've bought a football club and you know everyone knows you don't make money from buying a football club unless the probably the one or two occasions so yeah it was that that solemn moment of knowing okay it's fine we love you anyway and clearly with the message delivered like that watch out for the inheritance kids i've just done this clearly you're prescient enough to know that that's not the first check you're writing right yeah and you go on this ascent this roller coaster journey of uh first of all understanding how bad the situation is at bournemouth um having to put your hand in your your own pocket uh pretty much on a monthly basis to support the you know the the salaries of the people who work at the club there is another sort of seismic moment i think it comes in 2007 when the administrators are in at Bournemouth and essentially it is invest again or the club is shut down and there is a moment it's beautifully written I'm not going to try and replicate it but ultimately you do decide pretty much at the last minute that you will invest again and it sounds like that was a big decision for you Janine at that point he's gone in again yeah i think uh i mean rosie should probably be the one who answers this uh i'll answer on her behalf because we're all very familiar of uh yeah you know look there's there's a point where it's like you this is when it's enough enough this is never gonna you know you're not gonna get your investment back you've lived your dream you've bought your football club it's like you know let's move on enough's enough but as we've said you know we're an emotional family dad definitely makes decisions with his heart not his head and um who could be the person that put the nail in the coffin it definitely would never have been dad so beautifully beautifully beautifully articulated sweet heart and i think rose knew even though they'd had the conversation before on route dad decided no i promise you know that's it no no more yeah she i think she knows dad well enough to know if if it came to okay so are you the one that's shutting this down then yeah it not on dad's watch no so there's another moment um uh i think it might be the 2007 2006 2007 season bournemouth are um it's the last game of the season away at carlisle yeah and uh Yeah, Bournemouth in a precarious position.

33:27Win and other results go in your favour and Bournemouth stay up against all the odds with a points penalty for having gone into administration. You, a dedicated, loyal, long-suffering chairman at that point, at every game, you're not there, Geoff. Why was that? Yeah, well, I do really like the wording of how this is. I don't know whether you've read that bit. Yes. Can I say the word? So you weren't there, Geoff? No. Can you remember where you were? I can definitely remember where I was, but there's a sort of precursor to this, because it became known in the Bournemouth community that coinciding with the Carlisle match happened to be my daughter's wedding.

34:17And that just happens to be the daughter that sat in front of me today. Which can I just interject? you didn't have the fixture list when he's well dad wasn't involved in the club at the time when we set the wedding date so you know when you're a mostyn if you want dad to appear at anything you don't do it during the football season that's verbatim yeah like you know i think if there was football on christmas day we would never have a family christmas day so i think janine janine's right and i think i alluded earlier that you know my the football club is my family but obviously my family come first yeah the way janine has just articulated this anybody listening to this podcast today and you know i'm hoping there's there'll be millions of people listening as there always is to this wonderful leaders podcast that um the football club definitely was my family but radio solent picked up the vibe on this and during the preceding week um they did a radio Solent phone-in every morning and they wanted the community to vote on whether the chairman would be at Carlisle or at his daughter's wedding.

35:29What did the community say? Of course, it was the furthest away fixture you could possibly get as well. You couldn't do both. I thought this phone-in was an absolute joke because anybody that knows me and knows the love of my family no i would only ever be in one place and that was carl no i'm only joking it was going to be at my daughter's wedding but they very kindly um delivered on the friday night a single frequency earpiece for me so i could take the game and just you know but i presume that was a three o 'clock kickoff it was a three o 'clock kickoff must have been around about precisely the time It was precisely the time.

36:09So I have got this earpiece in. And I think that there were visitors, there were people obviously from both families. I think anybody from the groom's family thought that, oh Christ, she's married, her father's got a hearing aid. So I'm trying not to show any emotion. As I'm walking her down the aisle, suddenly the result comes through. so it was later the result comes through that we drew one all but the bottom club Cheltenham had actually beaten I think the top club which I think Neil said it was Doncaster against all the odds and we were relegated I burst into tears instantly now everybody all the guests thought I was crying as an emotional wreck of a father because I'm giving my daughter away as I've said in the book I've been trying to give her away for about five years unsuccessfully.

37:06So it definitely wasn't that.

37:11But it's just, it was, everything seemed to conspire, you know, against me. There was even all the stage light. I mean, it was in the papers all the preceding week. I've still got the clippings because it was just back page after back page of, there was the posed the picture of you right in the speech and the match report program with the wedding you know that the very the wedding the picture of me on the table the like it was a we were just i had friends going oh my god you're on the back page of this and the back page of that and i was like it was actually just hilarious it made it all really good fun for the week and took away from the oh my god i'm getting married yeah but we had so many people in tears because the Kevin Bond's father, mother and father and sister were also guests at the wedding.

37:58The Bonds have been our family friends for like ever. So over 40 years. Everyone apart from Kevin was there. So even Katrina, like his wife. So it was all the Bonds were there in tears. The Mostins are all in tears. All crying about the football. Everyone's like going, what is this family? Yeah. And how was his speech, Janine? Long. Yeah. Long and apologetic. Long enough. Yeah. Well, I've got the signed Bournemouth shirt from that day still. You presented me with a signed shirt that day as well, which I've still got. Yeah, that was the wedding present. That was the wedding. Sorry, I've had time to go out and get you a present because I've been a bit busy.

38:39Here's the signed Bournemouth shirt. But it was, yeah, look, it was obviously a very emotional day. But I also think what a better place for dad to be at on that day to just, you know, just go, it's done. I can't do anything about it. I can't change the result. We've gone, you know, we've gone down and actually have a, he celebrated and put a brave face on and enjoyed the day. I think if he'd not been at my wedding that day, probably would have just, I don't know, sat in a bar and cried somewhere. So it's like at least he could sit in the bar at the hotel and cry with some friends and family around him.

39:17I didn't have to travel for that. Jeff, there's something you said earlier about, talking about the Manchester City game and being a big Manchester City fan, but obviously having your allegiance with Bournemouth. And the fact that that is often the way in football. There are plenty of people working in football whose sort of loyalty, whose fan allegiance is elsewhere. But it strikes me that you forged this amazing connection with Bournemouth and with the community of Bournemouth and it meant and probably means a lot to you. There seems to be a link between, I guess, how you made your money and the business that you built in insurance in the army.

40:01It strikes me that there is a link there and you're so welcomed and accepted by and loyal to the army without that having been part of your personal family background. You weren't in the army, your family weren't in the army as far as I know. And yet you're the sort of adopted son of the army and you've done so much for them and there's a there's a parallel there with bournemouth i think i don't know whether i'm just sort of drawing this link i think there is um you know once again i think you've probably you know read the book you know with a closer vision you know than i have because at the moment you know um i spent so many times going through sort of 9 15 manuscripts you know just making sure that every full stop was in the right place and for somebody that left school at 15 with no qualifications that in itself was a great challenge but I truly believe to this day that my 20 years working within the confines of the army providing financial advice taught me the leadership skills that I took into the football club up until that time you know I had sales and marketing skills communication skills which i think are one of god's greatest gifts but the dedication of the army officers and what they stand for and whereas you can make a business decision that's maybe right wrong you get lucky sometimes unlucky other times the difference in the army it can be life and death so their core values are really really strong and i took those you know core values i believe into the football club and i saw the discipline this exactly the same as the army officers would and the the ncos you know right down to the people that were recruiting um in the the various recruitment areas of the country So there is a parallel.