Monday 2 September 2013

A new era at AFC Bournemouth

I can't help but think that the departure of Eddie Mitchell is a watershed moment. How Maxim Demin takes the club forward has no doubt been a matter of discussion over the last few months. We know that he does not like to show his face much around Dean Court, but surely he has to change and he'll have to speak up or get somebody to do that for him.

The vision of reaching the Premiership is clearly the goal for Mr Demin. The timescale is probably privately kept somewhere, but there is no doubt that the aspirations of the Russian ownership is to take the club to the next level. How much changes around AFCB's family club remains to be seen. I hope it does not become unrecognisable.

Eddie Mitchell's words as he left the Chairmanship were to reiterate that dialogue has to continue and that there was a harmonious need for it. But it comes as a shock to most of us that Eddie Mitchell has decided to leave now. I do hope his health is good and that the reason is more that he felt he had taken the club as far as he could.

If you look at the Premiership clubs, all of the leading ones are under foreign ownership with wealthy backers. To be successful at the higher levels of football it is probably what you now need. But with Eddie Mitchell's decision to make way only made after the Huddersfield game it still is not clear why he decided now was the best time move over. At least there is a 11 day gap before our next game and a chance for things to settle down. Whether you liked Eddie Mitchell or not the club has lost a familiar face at the helm and things won't be exactly the same. I do hope some one has bottled Eddie's passion and enthusiasm.

We have already seen some great developments at Dean Court and I hope that continues. Investment is great when it is used well. What I would say is that the relationship between Eddie Howe and Jason Tindall with Maxim Demin now comes very much to the fore. Eddie Mitchell is no longer a go between who will be there every day. I imagine that being able to bring in the players that he has wanted will have pleased Eddie Howe and if Maxim looks where AFCB is in the table that will be pleasing him. The difficulty will come when there is a hiccup and the team does lose form. I don't ever want to think about Eddie Howe's job coming under pressure, but the security he has had at AFCB may just have become less secure when he has a bad run of games.

So I may be one who is not thinking only good can come from a change at the top. I sincerely hope that it is the right decision for the club to reach its ambitions. If we know anything though about this club it is that nothing ever goes that smoothly. 

Trust Eddie Mitchell though to grab the headlines on transfer deadline day! I'm just glad that he has gone out smiling. Now the fans can reflect a bit on what he has achieved for AFCB. And as Eddie himself said, UTCIAD!

2 comments:

  1. What a time for my computer to die on me, I survived with limited internet access through my phone, but probably much to the relief of many, I've been unable to voice my views on recent events. Have to say Peter, your view regarding Eddie Howes security is right up there with my own view. I don't doubt Eddie's ability one jot, but I doubt there will be any sentiment when it comes down to on field matters, or off come to that. Maxim and co will have big plans I suspect, plans even if dreamt a couple of years ago we'd of been reaching for the medication. Oh right, just me then, but I sense we are heading into the realms of pure football fantasy, for those witnessing it now, WOW!!! superlatives will fail to even begin to describe the next couple of years and beyond. I don't subscribe to the "OH no, we're going to be another Pompey" brigade, I'm more of the "we could be another Swansea" one.
    I can't shut up without touching on the departure of Mitchell... Hmmmmm, sorry, but I don't subscribe to this "I love Eddie" cry either. It's certainly fair to say EM was probably the ONLY person with an ego big enough to push through much of what's been achieved with other peoples money, and without a shadow of doubt, MUCH HAS been achieved. In THAT sense he has to go down as the best chairman we've had, no matter how much I hate to admit it. But there is SO much else that people quite happily gloss over, because to ME, he was also the Chairman who VERY nearly came an ace from completely crucifying us, and yes, that does matter. Without harping on much longer you'll be pleased to know, consider this!! HAD Demin not come on board, we'd of been left with Groves, probable relegation, administration and obscurity. It's ok to say well that never happened, but ask yourself this, if EM did such a good job, have you seen the accounts for BLE(Bournemouth) and BLE(Poole) recently?? If the losses I've seen quoted are correct, that's an absolute disgrace. I'm not saying any more, the facts are there for everyone to see if they wished to open their eyes to see.
    So I thank EM for bringing Maxim on board, I thank him for his vision and energy, other than that, hearing he'd been bought out was the best thing since MAXIM brought Eddie Howe back, MAXIM NOT Mitchell!!!

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    1. It is great to hear your strong views afcbpete. A bit of balance on Mr Mitchell's time at AFCB. I think we all know he sailed close to the wind at times and the accounts are going to look poor. Maxim though was encouraged by Eddie to invest in AFCB so some credit, pardon the punn, is due. One thing, I thought it was Brenda Mitchell who said go get Eddie Howe back :-).

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