Bournemouth chairman Jeff Mostyn has insisted that the English Premier League football club will not be held to ransom by its stadium landlord.
Mostyn's comments come after property investor Structadene, which bought Bournemouth’s Vitality Stadium in 2005, told the club it would significantly increase the price of rent if the ground’s South Stand were to be expanded. Bournemouth currently leases the ground from Structadene as part of the deal signed between the two parties in 2005.
With a capacity of just 11,450, Vitality Stadium is comfortably the smallest ground in the Premier League. Bournemouth has been given planning permission to expand the South Stand and Mostyn feels Structadene is using the club’s status as a Premier League outfit as a bargaining chip during negotiations.
“We’re not going to have a gun held to our throat simply because we’re a Premier League club,” Mostyn said during a supporters’ forum broadcast on BBC Radio Solent.
Bournemouth owns the land on which the South Stand is located and the club is keen to not only expand the stadium but purchase it outright to capitalise on its recent success.
Mostyn added: “The landlord gave me an analogy of saying, if I wanted to buy your house, would I offer to put an extension on it before agreeing a price?
“The answer quite simply was no. If we were to expand the South Stand, he was going to increase the price quite dramatically. We’re adding to his value all the time. There will come a time where we say to the landlord, we will be looking for an alternative venue. This is our home, this is where we want to stay. This is what we want to expand.”
Share this