New AFC Bournemouth owner Bill Foley made his first match appearance on Saturday against Crystal Palace, promising the club the "proper resources" to avoid relegation and also to "really start investing in new infrastructure," according to Tom Prentki of the London TELEGRAPH. Foley took to the field alongside co-owner and actor Michael B. Jordan “before kick-off to greet the club’s supporters.” He said the club is "not going to be relegated," as they currently sit 15th in the 20-team standings. Prentki noted Foley's comment about infrastructure “may mean the redevelopment of The Vitality Stadium or a new site entirely to increase the current 11,300 capacity” (London TELEGRAPH, 12/31). The BBC’s Mark Mitchener wrote Foley and Jordan were “introduced to the Bournemouth crowd before the game, with a touch of Las Vegas glitz added to the pre-match atmosphere as half a dozen pitchside flamethrowers, more usually seen around the boundary in Twenty20 cricket, greeted the players' arrival on to the pitch” (BBC, 12/31).
MULTI-PRONGED APPROACH: THE ATHLETIC's Shooble & Tanswell noted Bournemouth are “wasting no time in constructing their multi-club model” under Foley. Foley said plans for a multi-club model is “really to control our destiny; to develop players in other locations and buy clubs that have great academies that are developing their own players.” Foley added, “We believe we’ve settled on a really interesting opportunity in Ligue 1 and that process is moving very quickly.” Foley: “We’ve had some starts and stops with the Belgian clubs. We’ve looked at a couple of them and they haven’t quite worked out. We do have one other opportunity that we’re following up on. But we’re not limiting ourselves to Belgium. We’re looking all over Europe.” The Ligue 1 club Foley is referring to is Lorient, currently sixth in Ligue 1. On expansion beyond Europe, Foley said, “We looked at two or three already and they’ve either been too expensive or in one case it’s a club that got relegated, so we don’t want to get involved in that.” Foley: “We’ll have a third European club that will maybe be a level below Ligue 1 and then we’ll take a look at South America and really start investigating that because that’s the feeder system. A Uruguayan club that can feed into a Belgian club, that can feed into a French club, that can feed into a Premier League club. We’re controlling our destiny" (THE ATHLETIC, 12/29).
