It has been announced that AFC Bournemouth have been trying to buy the stadium back from Structadene, who are the landlords of the football club following a sale and lease back agreement struck 6 years ago with then chairman Peter Phillips.
In a statement, on the Clubs Official Web Site, Eddie Mitchell is quoted as saying: "We have tabled two bids to buy the stadium back. We've got a window of opportunity, where we can raise the finances. Our highest bid was £4.5 million, which was considerably more than it was sold for. I don't think it makes sense financially to increase the bid above that ceiling. At this moment in time that offer has been rejected. We've got to look at what options we've got, where we invest and when we invest and how much we invest. There's always other avenues, there's other venues. We don't want to go to other venues, the club's been at Dean Court for over a hundred years and we don't want to change that and we've got no desire to move. We have got an ongoing lease at the club, which does secure our future playing here providing the rent is paid. I wouldn't like to draw a line under it, but for the foreseeable future I don't think we would want to increase that bid, so that's where we are".
Regarding the open end of the ground, the Club is planning a hotel and spa complex, with Mitchell insisting that the plans would not jeopardise the progress made on the Clubs finances over the past few years.
It is also being planned to rejuvenate the training pitches between the football and athletics stadiums as the Clubs mains training facilities, with Mitchell being quoted as saying: "There's already two pitches there that are derelict, and we would have to spend somewhere in the region of £400,000 or £500,000 to renovate the pitches and to landscape around there. We think it would be a good investment, and we've spoken to the council and by and large they're in agreement with what we want to do. We have put the plans in, and hopefully we can get cracking with work just before Christmas. We are looking to achieve a management agreement with the council where we can develop two training pitches and bring the youth back in house, train and perform alongside the first team. I'm sure that will help future local players come through to the first team and give us more strength in depth".