How it turned sour for Cherries

He promised fans "honesty, trust, loyalty and integrity" from the newly-formed Trust Fund and claimed the Cherries would be profitable and successful. Never again would the club find itself owing millions and at the mercy of aggressive creditors.

Yet nearly a decade later, the club is as vulnerable as ever and worse still, its most serious threat since 1997 has come from one of the founding members of that very same Trust Fund.

The recent court action brought by former company secretary Andrew Noonan sent shockwaves through the club and prompted current chairman Peter Phillips to launch an investigation into the events surrounding the 1997 takeover.

The end result is that fans reminiscing about 1997 now speak not of integrity and honesty, but of possible police involvement and further legal action.

Mr Noonan has not gone public with his side of the story but Mr Watkins, who has not been formally involved with the club for five years, said it saddened him to see the once-triumphant trust now embroiled in controversy.

"In 1997 we openly said we are a group of supporters trying to save the Football club," he said. "We did what was necessary to ensure that there was a football club.

"We've fought every day for eight-and-a-half years, four of which I was very proud to be involved in.

"The only dispute I've seen at AFC Bournemouth is this one that's just happened. Everyone else gave their time for nothing."

Mr Phillips, who was not involved with the club until 2002, said it had to be remembered that back in 1997, the club was in receivership and on the verge of being closed down.

But he added the 1997 company voluntary agreement (CVA), which set out how much money would be repaid to creditors, appears to be "one of the worst ever done".

It ensured the new football club started life with more than £2.5 million of debt and only a lucrative trip to Wembley and some highly-profitable player sales kept the club alive.

Mr Phillips said: "The average losses in the four years running up to the time I got involved, excluding player sales, were over £1 million a year.

"In the middle of that, they built a new stadium which added £3 million to the debt.

"That's what we took over in 2002 - there was simply nothing left. To quote the judge at the recent High Court hearing, the club was completely insolvent."

When asked for his view, Mr Watkins points out that every club in the country, except a privileged handful, is losing money heavily.

"All that has gone wrong is that football has changed tremendously," he said. "1997 is a very different world to 2005. The transfer market has disintegrated, the football club was hit by the collapse of ITV Digital and we never hid the fact that it was going to be a stretch to build the new stadium."

Despite the financial turmoil, the club did get a new stadium, which although not properly completed, represents their best chance of future financial stability.

But Mr Noonan's threat is not the first Mr Phillips has had to deal with and it's not likely to be the last.

This week, the club was supposed to have handed over £1 million to Stanley Cohen - the man who was once touted as the club's white knight.

Mr Phillips is desperate to take Mr Cohen up on his offer of slashing his overall debt by around a third in return for a lump-sum payment.

But the club can't find the money until it has either sold the land around Dean Court to property developers londonewcastle or sold the stadium to a Supporters' Pension Scheme.

And as Mr Phillips points out, even if the club settled up with Mr Cohen, there's still the Inland Revenue and numerous other creditors to keep happy.

"We're making progress but we're hindered by these enormous debts," he said. "When I became chairman and we started to try and drag ourselves out of this huge hole, I said we could only survive if people close to the club who were owed money remained patient.

"That includes Stanley Cohen who is owed a great deal of money and also people like Andrew Noonan and Tony Swaisland."

He said Mr Cohen was under pressure from his companies for repayment but was "working with the club" to arrive at a fair and affordable solution.

"The frustrating thing is that despite all the problems, we've managed to whittle down the number of dangerous creditors to a core four or five," said Mr Phillips.

"Refinancing could clear all of those away but it won't make us a rich club. We will still be a skint club but we will be a skint club without any dangerous creditors. That gives us a fighting chance."

Business plans and financial forecasts are a virtual impossibility in football, where so much depends on on-the-pitch success and a lucky cup draw.

"We've done everything we can to build up non-football related income but for the forseeable future, the vast majority of our income comes from football and that's a very volatile business," said Mr Phillips.

Despite the off-the-field troubles, the club has taken a huge step towards becoming a true community club by transferring the 51 per cent golden vote to the supporters through the Community Mutual.

In return, the same fans that supported the club at the Winter Gardens crisis meeting and the Ken Dando Stadium Appeal launch are continuing to dig deep and support a myriad of fighting funds, including Playershare, Playerpledge, Cherryshare, Cherrychange, the Community Mutual and Cherries Hotshots.

And with no white knight on the horizon and no sign of the footballing authorities implementing a fairer funding policy, it looks like they will continue to be the club's best chance of survival.

The countdown to AFC Bournemouth's financial predicament

Jan '97: AFC Bournemouth is placed in the hands of receivers by Lloyds. Two thousand fans pack out the Winter Gardens and raise £35,000 in one night. The Echo launches a Save Our Club campaign with the aim of raising £300,000.

Feb '97: Receiver Alan Lewis is given three weeks to find a buyer. An Inland Revenue winding-up order is heard at Liverpool Crown Court. The Football League is asked to consider a "new co" option whereby the club reaches an agreement with creditors and starts again with a new investor. The Trust Fund, led by Trevor Watkins, reveals plans to raise £1.5m in a week and buy the club. Norman Hayward puts himself forward as a white knight but his request for £50,000 to kick the receivers out of Dean Court is refused by the Trust Fund.

Mar '97: The receiver sets a deadline for anyone interested in investing in AFCB. Only offer received within deadline is from the Trust Fund, which is turned down by Mr Lewis because of outstanding issues with Lloyds Bank. Pop promoter Mel Bush submits an offer of £600,000 three days after deadline.

Apr '97: Mel Bush describes the Trust Fund's rescue package as a "recipe for financial disaster".

Jun '97: The Inland Revenue drops long-standing winding-up order, clearing the way for "new co" to start. Football League confirms club will be included in the fixture lists; Trust Fund buys the club.

Aug '97: Matty Holland is sold to Ipswich for £800,000. Ticket prices are increased.

Oct 2000: The council agrees to fund new stadium with £250,000 and loan another £250,000.

Dec 2000: Ken Dando Stadium Appeal launched at the BIC. £100,000 raised in one night. Work on stadium starts.

Apr '01: Plans for Tony Swaisland to take over as chairman from Trevor Watkins are announced.

Aug '01: AFCB start the season playing at Dorchester.

Nov '01: AFCB play their first game at the new Fitness First Stadium.

Jul '02: Trust Fund agrees to support a sale-and-leaseback scheme which would see the stadium sold for £4m and the club paying rent of £350,000 a year.

Aug '02: Cherryshare launched and raises around £750,000 - enough to call off the sale-and-leaseback scheme.

Dec '02: Club launch appeal for £250,000 to pay Barr Holdings.

Jul '02: Peter Phillips appointed chairman two weeks after joining the board.

Jan '03: Peter Phillips reveals he staved off a winding-up threat from Bristol and West Investments PLC.

July ''03: Former chairman Tony Swaisland resigns from board.

Feb '04: Company secretary Andrew Noonan resigns and is replaced by John Piper.

Jul '05: Andrew Noonan serves winding-up order on the club and goes to the High Court claiming £267,943.00. Judge rules the vast majority is in dispute and orders AFC Bournemouth to pay £81,198.

Aug '05: AFC Bournemouth go back to court and successfully apply for winding-up order to be quashed.