EMOTIONAL Paul Baker described AFC Bournemouth's D-Day as both "momentous" and also "one to forget".
Baker and new co-owner Alastair Saverimutto were last night offered an 11th-hour deal to ensure Cherries could stay in the Football League.
They were told the club could keep their place in League Two, providing it accepted a 17-point deduction for the new season, which starts tomorrow.
And the club must also agree to pay around £500,000 to its unsecured creditors, the amount offered when a company voluntary arrangement failed earlier this year.
Acceptance of the offer would see Cherries' Football League share transferred to the new company and also lead to the club finally exiting administration.
Cherries have been given until noon today to agree to the conditions, although speaking to the Daily Echo last night, Baker said signing the documentation would be a formality.
He added: "We are relieved and have got no choice but to accept. All everybody wants is to see us playing in the Football League at three o'clock on Saturday.
"My heart sank when I heard it would be 17 points. I was expecting 15 or fewer but we've just got to get on with it. There are other teams in similar or worse positions.
"It's one of those days when you think thankfully, we're still playing football but there are penalties attached.
"None of it was our fault and we're having to deal with the consequences but we knew that from the day we decided to take on the football club.
"It's great to know that the town will still have a league club and now we need the people of Bournemouth to support us and recognise we've still got a huge mountain to climb."
Asked whether Sport-6, the club's new owners, could foot the bill for the CVA payment, Baker replied: "The administrator will deal with that.
"He will tell us what terms it has got to be paid over and, once we know that, we will be able to speak to the unsecured creditors and take their views on it.
"We realise a lot of them are friends of the football club and we recognise that they have had their fingers burned in all of this.
"But we will try to paint the picture that if they wanted to waive their debt, they could see that it would be put towards making the football club stronger. We believe there will be some people who will be willing to do that."
Baker added: "We wouldn't be here if we didn't have a business plan to make the football club stand on its own two feet.
"We want to be able to put the right structure in place to make sure that it's a solvent football club and we're financially prudent in the way we run it.
"We can't go from coming out of admin and start throwing money about for the sake of it. We will make calculated decisions to strengthen the football club every step of the way."
Baker and Saverimutto, who jointly own Sports-6, a Liverpool-based sports marketing company, recently struck a deal to buy the club. They will form a new board of directors with current chairman Jeff Mostyn and vice-chairman Steve Sly.
Mostyn told the Daily Echo last night: "I'm absolutely thrilled that the Football League has shown the confidence in the new company to offer us the share back.
"I'm thrilled for the staff, the players and, most of all, for our supporters.
"I will do everything in my power to ensure that the club is not faced with the horrendous financial burden that it has been faced with over the past decade.
"I'd like to thank the supporters for their amazing patience and I hope that, once we start playing on Saturday, it will be a vindication of all our efforts to keep the club alive throughout the administration process.
"I'm delighted that Paul and Savi have joined Steve and myself as members of the new board and we will do everything we possibly can to steer the club forward to future success.
"Chairman is a position I've been proud to hold over the past 18 months and I'm delighted to have the opportunity to continue to chair the football club going forward.
"My support for the club will be as visible as it has always been and I will be playing a big part in ensuring that we drive the club forward.
"As a team, we have the right ingredients to take the club forward and I'm as committed to the football club as I've ever been."
