CHERRIES: MOSTYN: WHY I CAN'T WALK AWAY (From Bournemouth Echo)

CHERRIES: MOSTYN: WHY I CAN'T WALK AWAY

7:00am Monday 29th June 2009 in

Exclusive By Ian Wadley »

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A HINT of a smile creeps across Jeff Mostyn’s face as the question sinks in.

It is probably the one he was expecting – and the one most Cherries fans want answered – following his appointment last week as vice-chairman on the club’s new board.

Mostyn, the former Cherries chief, is inextricably linked to a difficult period in the club’s history. Having been the linchpin of the regime which put the Dean Court outfit into administration, triggering relegation, points deductions and further problems down the line, he is far from popular sections of the fan base.

Yet with all that still fresh in the memory, just why has Mostyn chosen to reignite his involvement in Cherries?

In an exclusive interview with the Echo, the likeable yet much-maligned character today lifts the lid on his reasons for not walking away.

As he is quick to declare, a passion for Cherries is the driving force behind his decision to return and, despite all that has gone before, he is a man pleased to be back and hopeful of a brighter future.

When asked if he had a message for his detractors, Mostyn makes a strong case, highlighting the money he supplied to fund the administration process and keep the club afloat, and the dire state of the club’s finances when he took the helm, claiming the debts of more than £5million left little options.

“I’ve taken an awful lot of personal abuse, stick and comments because I just happened to be the chairman at the time,” he says.

“You could say, technically, I put the club into administration because I signed the document, but it was unanimously agreed by the board.

“We were bordering on trading insolvently and you couldn’t allow the club to go on. At the time, it was thought we were going to get a 10-point penalty.

“The choice was to go into administration and try to come out of administration as a stronger football club going forward, wipe the slate clean and that was the choice we had.

“At that stage I could have absolutely 100 per cent walked away. I’d put a substantial amount of money in but I chose not to.

“I don’t think our supporters will ever understand how much pressure I was being put under to keep writing cheque after cheque after cheque.

“Initially he (administrator Gerald Krasner) said to me unless I was prepared to commit to funding the administration he would liquidate the club – that was the starter for 10.”

Looking back to last summer Mostyn, who paid tribute to the work of Adam Murry during the recent takeover talks, adds: “EU UK put in a bid that was accepted by the administrator.

“I went on holiday with my wife to get over all the trauma of the previous few months.

“Their bid was accepted on the Friday, I said my farewells on the Saturday and at 12 o’clock on the Monday, I got a phone call from Gerald Krasner saying the EU UK deal had fallen through and unless I get a cheque for £100,000 to him by midweek he was going to liquidate the club.

“Again, for whatever reason, I chose to write another cheque for £100,000, believing that I’d walked away. If ever anybody doubted my commitment to the football club, I think they should look very carefully over that period. Not as me being the bad person that put the club into administration and, as a consequence, we suffered a points deduction. I just happened to sign the paper but I’d done everything in my power to finance the club personally pre-administration and I actually stood up and was counted during the administration.

“I surely have to have some credit for not walking away and abandoning the club and saying ‘I’ve done my bit, it’s in administration, I don’t care anymore’.

“I care deeply about this football club.”

Since the Murry Group, a consortium which includes new chairman Eddie Mitchell, Mostyn, Murry, Steve Sly and Neill Blake, officially completed its takeover of the club last week, the person most people were probably waiting to hear from was Mostyn.

Despite showing deep pockets during his tenure and continuing to cover many miles up and down the country to support the team – even when he was not directly involved – Mostyn is yet to find favour with all of the club’s long-suffering supporters.

But, hopeful of a positive future, he insists: “What do I bring back to the club? I bring a lot of experience of what can go wrong and I think that was a very, very costly experience both for me emotionally and for my family, as well as financially. I’ll certainly make sure that doesn’t happen again.

“My job now is totally different to before. My job is now to support the chairman, Eddie Mitchell, and all the members of the board and, as a consequence along the line, to support all the players and staff.

“While people might have mixed emotions about my continued involvement, I can’t demonstrate enough how committed I am to want to come back for more.

“The emails I’ve had and the comments from players, Eddie Howe and all the members of staff would absolutely warm your heart. These people know that I’ve put my heart and soul into the football club and I intend to do that in the future.”

Comments(32)

cherrychris31 says...
8:15am Mon 29 Jun 09

What is happening? Everyone is honest and open. Needs some getting used to. I think everyone knows JM personally bankrolled this club to keep it alive. I think the problem with him was he made promises he couldnt keep and then disappeared. Hopefully now we can put the old regime behind. JM is obviously positive and as long as he's here we havent got to find the money to pay him back, Eddie M and his Son-in-law are singing the right songs, just Mr Murry now to join in and it'll be a party. Mostyn i'm sure will get the usual idiots on here slagging him off. The same idiots that wouldnt be happy if he bought season tickets for every supporter, signed Ronaldo and had hired Beyonce for half time entertainment. The club seems to be on the up and hopefully JM's next job is to get the Football League on side. Eddie's brother Steve Lovell has been released by Falkirk, personally i think would be a cracking signing.