HE'S only been at Dean Court for five minutes, but already new owner Paul Baker is a fully paid-up pupil of the Alastair Saverimutto medical school.
After describing ailing Cherries as a football club on a life support machine in Saturday's Daily Echo, Saverimutto's Holby City-esque analogy was given a second airing by Sport-6 chief Baker at Dean Court yesterday.
And as the farcical side of Cherries' administration process slowly dissolved before the eyes of the press yesterday afternoon, a little bit of repetition was more of a relief than a chore.
"The football club has been on a life support machine for the past five months and it is in a period of intensive care," Baker reminded the media.
"Jeff Mostyn, along with Steve Sly, has held the intravenous drip throughout that period, but we're now getting very close to the period where the club will come out of intensive care and into a period of aftercare."
On first impressions, the pairing of Saverimutto and Baker is not a million miles away from that of Mostyn and Sly, who are set to move into non-executive roles following the Dean Court boardroom re-shuffle.
As well as his business interests, Baker oozes supporter enthusiasm in the same way as life-long Cherries fan Sly, with Saverimutto, or Savi as he is known, more comfortable in front of the cameras á la Mostyn.
But while Mostyn is often roundly criticised for his lack of communication with the fans and brisk "no comment" statements when hit with a difficult question, Savi, in his own words, "doesn't do off the record".
Away from the PR and into the finance, however, Baker told the media: "Any money coming into AFC Bournemouth is there as investment.
"Our initial share capital is set at £250,000 to meet the requirements of the Football League. The investment is seven figures and we've put significant funds in already to help the period of administration.
"At the present moment, we don't know what the sanctions are going to be from the Football League so I don't want to pre-empt anything the league may or may not do. I can't say any more than that."
When asked by the Echo if he considered the purchase of the club a bargain, Baker replied: "I think going forward it's the potential and the infrastructure that appeals.
"It's not the money to acquire the club that is important - it's the investment and how you deal with it.
"People will ask me, If you had £100,000 to go and buy a player, who would you get', but I would much rather spend £100,000 on the centre of excellence than on a player.
"That money is then in the infrastructure of the club to make sure that the building blocks are in place for a solid structure. I'd rather put the money in at the bottom and watch it grow from there."
With Cherries' transfer embargo partially lifted to enable Kevin Bond to bring in some much-needed strength in depth, Baker, whose business interests include a franchise in courier firm UK Sameday, was quick to confirm a manager's budget will be put in place.
Baker, however, would not be drawn on Bond's future should life in League Two get off to a less than satisfactory start.
He added: "We've had some great news today with the embargo being partially lifted which will enable Kevin to bring in some players.
"It's obvious we need to strengthen the squad in certain positions.
"A football manager knows he is in the results industry but we will give Kevin absolute support."
So, all very straightforward and clear-cut then?
And for once, it does actually appear to be exactly that - when was the last time a long-suffering Cherries fan could say that?
After the failed bid from EU UK earlier in the year and the Mostyn camp's split with Priory Homes owner Alan Pither's investment party (not to mention the ongoing Dean Court land deal with Pither's Bournemouth Holdings Ltd), the Dean Court support is an understandably sceptical animal.
But there does genuinely now appear to be some light at the end of the tunnel.
As a clearly relieved Mostyn said after yesterday's press briefing: "I'm as confident as I've ever been that this is it now."
