CHAIRMAN Tony Swais-land has welcomed proposals for fans to raise funds to help strengthen the Cherries first-team squad.

The innovative scheme - known as Playershare - is the brainchild of Cherries supporter Peter Phillips, a box holder at Dean Court.

Playershare has been set up as a private limited company and will make funds available for the club to buy new players and also invest in existing squad members.

And as an added bonus, the scheme - which will eventually be open to all fans - also offers participants the chance to earn a return on their investment.

Cherries boss Sean O'Driscoll has also given his blessing to the scheme and is due to meet Phillips for further discussions later this week.

Dean Court chairman Swaisland said: "Our financial situation at the moment is extremely severe so we are looking for any help we can get and I think Peter Phillips's initiative is a good one and we are backing him to go forward with it.

"Initially, I wasn't happy about fans buying pieces of players and I said if you want to invest in the club, then invest in the club, but this seems to be a more appealing way of getting into it and I welcome it.

"I would emphasise that there are other schemes going on with regard to catering and banqueting facilities where fans are getting involved.

"Our fragile financial position has not improved due to relegation or with the severe problems we are having as a result of ITV Digital. Therefore, any help we can get is good news."

Phillips added: "The main purpose is to help the club be able to finance a stronger squad and hopefully help get them back into Division Two as quickly as we can.

"That's why we've kept it to supporters to start with. To make it interesting and easier to raise money, we've added this little incentive that if we found a Michael Owen, you might make a lot of money.

"The basic intention is to provide money for the club and if we do make money, most of it will go straight back to the club to buy another player so nobody is looking to make vast fortunes out of it. It makes it a bit more fun and more of a gamble than just giving money to the club.

"The innovative things about the scheme are that people could make money out of it and the fact we are going to invest in new players as well as the existing squad.

"As I understand it, the idea is that any money we put in whether it's for existing players or new players, will go to strengthening the squad and add to whatever budget Sean may have been given already and won't get shuffled off to pay off loans or other debts."