CHERRIES chairman Bill Foley says “community involvement” is at the heart of his next steps at the helm of the club.

The American billionaire bought the Dorset club in December 2022 and has committed funds to improving the playing squad, pushing ahead with plans for a new training ground at Canford and making alterations in and around Vitality Stadium.

Cherries are set for a third consecutive season of Premier League football, currently sitting 12th in the table, 16 points clear of the relegation zone and seven points off a European place with seven games to play.

It is hoped all training activities can be moved away from the current base next to the stadium in Boscombe and over to Canford next season, which will allow for plans to build a new ground to get underway in earnest.

Discussing future plans, owner Foley told Sky Sports: “Now that we’ve moved up the table a bit, which I was confident we would do this year, I believe we’ll start attracting more talent and better talent that will want to stay in Bournemouth.

“They won’t want to move on. That’s our job. A place like this (training ground), the indoor pitch that we’ve built is fantastic.

“We want to play in Europe. Do we get to the top four or top five? Complicated, difficult for Bournemouth.

“But with a new stadium and these facilities, we can keep on doing better every year.

“We have a really good team. The team is motivated in becoming a team, as opposed to a group of individuals.

“If we can continue doing that moving forwards, we’ll be successful.”

Bournemouth Echo: Bill Foley completed his takeover of Cherries a year ago today

He added: “We’re not a sovereign wealth fund, we’re not financial sponsors, we have limited resources.

“So we had to go with a smaller club and try to make it bigger and better.

“We came to Bournemouth to listen and be part of the community, not be the arrogant American that comes in and wants to change everything. 

“We’ve been very consistent in the way we’ve approached our business philosophy. We will continue to. We’ll make mistakes, it’s inevitable.”

Asked what his next big goal is as owner, Foley said: “What I’m really focused on is community involvement. Let’s be part of the community, let’s embed ourselves in the community and have the community embedded with us.

“I believe we can do a better job of that.

“A new stadium is going to help. It will give us an extra 6,000 to 8,000 seats to expand our fanbase and bring in some younger fans.

“That’s really our next big milestone and next step.

“It’s going to take a while to build that stadium, but we’ve made changes to Vitality and there will be more changes made.

“As the players move out here (to Canford), it gives us the opportunity to do some revisiting of some of our stands now and more premium seating.

“We’ll do all that while we’re waiting to build the new stadium.

“So, embed ourselves in the community and have the community embedded with us. That’s my goal.”