Bournemouth chairman Eddie Mitchell insists the Cherries are not for sale after refusing a third bid from Russian businessmen Vladimir Antonov and Roman Dubov. The deadline to accept the latest offer passed at midnight on Wednesday, which promised an initial payment of around £1.2 million with the promise of further investment which would include buying back Dean Court and the surrounding land.

"I didn't come into the club to make a quick buck and sell it. I came in to stabilise it and believe we have done that," Mitchell told the Bournemouth Daily Echo. "I don't think it would be right to open dialogue with foreign investors whose intentions, I believe, would be to control the club."

He added: "I don't want to lose control while I'm doing a good job and, if asked, I think most people would say that we are doing a good job.

"I don't think that this club, or any other club, really needs vast investment from people who are treating it as a business, only to then find that, when they are not so enthused, they take away the assets and leave the club back where it started."