League One Bournemouth invited national ridicule on Saturday when the wife of their Russian co-owner gave the half-time team-talk, and then their chairman Eddie Mitchell gave a foul-mouthed interview to the BBC.
Irena Demin, wife of the club’s co-owner Max, stormed into the team’s dressing room to deliver a stern lecture after Bournemouth reached half-time 1-0 down at home to MK Dons. But her demand for an improvement in the second half had little effect — the game finished 1-0.
Eddie Mitchell, the other co-owner, defended Mrs Demin’s actions. He said: “She and her husband and I have put a lot of energy and money into the club and she was entitled in my view to express an opinion. She did not go in when everyone was changing and what she said did not affect the outcome.
“She felt frustrated and she felt her opinions and that frustration should filter down to the players. I admit it was probably wrong we went to the dressing room and we would not have done if we were 2-0 up. Our manager Lee Bradbury has our support 120 per cent.’’
Mitchell then gave an interview to Five Live which had to be cut short after he swore three times on air. The BBC was forced to apologise to listeners for Mitchell’s bad language.
Demin, a petrochemicals billionaire, lives in nearby Sandbanks and was persuaded to invest in the ailing club by Mitchell. Bradbury refused to comment about the incident.
In the Championship, Southampton returned to the top of the table on a day when the divisions’s last unbeaten home record came to an end as Birmingham lost to improving Nottingham Forest.
Southampton climbed above West Ham, who drew 0-0 with Crystal Palace, thanks to hat-trick from Rickie Lambert in a 3-0 win at Watford. But the performance of the day came from Forest, who inflicted Chris Hughton’s first home defeat in 40 games as a Championship manager, first with Newcastle and now at Birmingham.
Forest won 2-1 at St Andrew’s through a goal in each half from Dexter Blackstock. Forest Manager Steve Cotterill said: “At this club we are humble about our wins as we haven’t had many.”