Bournemouth have the smallest stadium and the smallest revenues of all the clubs in the Premier League and although they are already punching well above their weight, their American owner, Bill Foley, says their status as minnows is about to change.
A new training ground is close to being finished, plans are
advanced for a new stadium on the site of the present one that will close to
double its capacity, with Bournemouth at the “pinnacle” of a multi-club
ownership model.
Foley’s investment group, Black Knight Football Club, is
close to completing a deal to buy Moreirense, a mid-table club in Portugal’s
top league, having already taken over Lorient in France and New Zealand side
Auckland, who are top of the mainly Australian A-League, and taken a 25
per cent stake in Hibernian.
All the clubs will emulate Bournemouth’s high-energy,
high-pressing style that has brought unprecedented success under their Spanish
head coach, Andoni Iraola.
In an interview with the US-based Men in Blazersmedia
network, Foley said: “We are following through on the multi-club model that we
talked about. We’re just about to sign a deal on a Portuguese team in their
Premier League, and we have one other one that we’re fooling around with.
“We should have our stepping stones all the way, because we
have to find some way to compete with the big guys with their sovereign wealth
funds and financial sponsors. We’re
small fry. And so we’ve got to figure out how we can recruit players and drive
the transfer market so that we end up paying ourselves as opposed to paying a
third party. I think our Portuguese club
is going to be a game-changer for us because it gives us direct access to
Brazil.”
He added: “We’re also trying to develop our multi-club
model, a like style of playing across all of our clubs and we’re getting there.
Any club that we own a majority interest in, they’re going to scout the way we
want them to scout, they’re going to play the way we want them to play, the
coaches are going to be developed the same way.
“Their technical directors are going to be fully engaged
with ours at Bournemouth because Bournemouth is really at the top of the
pyramid.”
Foley, 80, is a billionaire who was a captain in the US Air
Force before making a fortune in financial services. He bought an NHL ice
hockey franchise for Las Vegas in 2017 and within six years his Golden Knights
had become the champions. In 2022 his Black Knight group bought Bournemouth for
£120million.
The Vitality Stadium has a capacity of 11,500, and Foley said the plan was to “dig down” in the existing footprint and increase the number to 19,000 seats or even up to about 23,000. There would also be a big increase in the number of hospitality and premium seats.
“We have a waiting list of 15 or 16,000 people that want
tickets, so we’re not going to have trouble filling the stadium,” he said.
Foley predicted Bournemouth would be playing European
football within five years of his takeover in 2022. That could come a whole lot
quicker — they are now in seventh place in the Premier League, with a
host of high-profile scalps having been claimed already.
“We’re a little ahead of schedule,” he told the Men in
Blazers co-founder, Roger Bennett. “I thought we’d be in Europe next year. We
may have a chance this year if we can keep on going and keep on playing well.
Pep Guardiola recently picked out Bournemouth as one of the teams in the division he feels encapsulate “modern football”, because of a tendency to be “not positional” and their capacity “to rise to the rhythm” with direct play and high pressing.
Iraola constantly makes tweaks within matches, structurally
and positionally. Bournemouth typically press from a base 4-4-2 shape (against
an opposition back four), keeping compact as a unit and allowing teams to play
wide before they jump to keep them there. When the No 9 and No 10s close down
defenders and in doing so vacate opposition midfielders, Bournemouth’s
centre-backs cover big spaces to keep them marked. The pressing is hybrid,
before locking on man-for-man.
Notably, Bournemouth have forced the fewest offsides (23) in
the Premier League this season. Iraola has spoken about their defensive line
not being as aggressive as those of other high-pressing teams. Instead, the
focus is on pushing teams into hitting long balls or baiting opponents into
traps where regains — or fouls — can be made.
Once Bournemouth win the ball back, they attack quickly on
the transition to catch out the opponents before they can return to their
defensive shape. Looking at
Bournemouth’s possession regains in the attacking 60 per cent of the pitch in
the league this season, 12 per cent have ended with a shot within 10 seconds —
the highest share in the division.
Bournemouth took a risk, backed their new head coach,
recruited smartly, refined their style and are now one of the Premier League’s
best teams to watch — and worst to play against.
As someone who does not support a Premier League club, I have found Bournemouth one of the most exciting and innovative teams to watch this season.
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