A BRIEF pause is followed by a bout of uncontrollable laughter.

Jeff Mostyn has just been asked whether he has retired.

“I can hardly be retired if I’ve got four full-time jobs!” quips Cherries’ charismatic chairman.

Since first arriving on the AFC Bournemouth scene some eight years ago, Mancunian Mostyn has forged a strong association with the Dorset club.

In the early days, when complicated ownership issues were a recurring theme, some Cherries followers were sceptical of Mostyn’s involvement.

It was a messy period in the club’s history when Cherries’ fortunes on the pitch paled into insignificance compared with talk of takeovers, consortium members and golden shares.

Fast forward eight years and things are very different.

The days of Mostyn buying the club, funding it through administration and working tirelessly to ensure it would not go to the wall have long gone.

“The football club is being put on a global stage,” said Mostyn, who was asked by owner Maxim Demin to return to the position of chairman in September 2013. “I know that might sound grandiose but it is a fact.”

Mostyn’s capacity as one of only two elected Football League representatives on the FA Council has allowed him to spread the word.

“Wherever I go, I talk about AFC Bournemouth,” added Mostyn, who has been re-elected three times by his peers. “What gives me as much pleasure as anything is flying the AFCB flag.

“I get to meet some of the world’s leading sports individuals, including heads of FA federations from all over the world. Everybody gets an invite to the Goldsands Stadium because I want to bring the glitterati of world football to Dean Court to show them how much progress this club has made.”

As a member of the FA council, Mostyn, who has retired from his own business, is also on four sub-committees – Challenge Cup, youth, membership and disability – and helps determine the rules and regulations and the governance of the national game.

“The Challenge Cup committee is responsible for setting out the rules of the FA Cup, vetting all the applicants, ensuring matches are conducted and carried out in the spirit of the cup, overseeing the draw, ground allocation, match officials and replays.

“On the youth committee, we are responsible for youth football in the UK, from children playing on the parks at five, six or seven through to ambassadorial roles for England under-16s, 17s and 18s.

“The membership committee has a wide-ranging remit. It makes sure all clubs operate in the spirit of FA membership and we discuss meaty subjects such as name changes, applications for change of grounds, change of club colours and any misdemeanours.

“And the disability committee is responsible for all disability football in the UK. I have an ambassadorial role for the England elite blind team and the FA learning disability team. We also have responsibility for the cerebral palsy team and the England paralympic teams.”

Discussing his various roles, Mostyn said: “Like any responsibility, you have to take the good and the bad. The things that give me the most enjoyment are working with the disability teams and being an ambassador for the England blind team, the learning disability team and the England youth teams.

“I get an amazing amount of personal satisfaction from travelling with the England team and learning from them. I get to sit in on training sessions and de-briefs and to be shoulder to shoulder with future stars of English football is an absolute privilege.

“I am proud of what I do on the FA council and for AFCB. I don’t think anybody in the past has flown the AFCB flag with more passion and enthusiasm as I do.”

  • This interview was first published in our eight-page Cherries supplement which was inside Saturday's Daily Echo.