NEW chairman Jeff Mostyn has welcomed the re-appointment of Ernie Battey on to the Cherries board of directors.

Mostyn and co-owner Steve Sly on Monday gained a controlling interest in the club when their take-over was officially ratified.

And they were joined on the incoming board by Battey, who was elected as the representative of the Community Mutual, a supporters' trust.

Battey, a Cherries fan since 1979, was an integral part of the negotiations in the lead-up to the consortium's buy-out and was also a director on the outgoing board.

Mostyn told the Daily Echo last night: "Myself and Steve are absolutely delighted to welcome Ernie on to the board of directors. He brings 25 years of financial experience to the club.

"He is currently a director with Lloyds responsible for the corporate transaction services, which effectively means he's responsible for designing all of the bank's products.

"As a consequence of that, you can imagine the value he's going to have in helping us to keep a disciplined budget.

"As I've said all along, the most important thing is to bring financial stability to the football club and that will create the foundation for us to encourage other people to invest in the club.

"The more successful we can maintain the budget, the more opportunity we're going to have of ultimately getting free of the financial shackles that restrict progress within the football club at the moment."

Joining Mostyn, Sly and Battey on the new board will be another CM member, with David Musker and Derek Borthwick both believed to be in the running. Peter Schofield remains as company secretary.

Mostyn added: "As agreed in the new articles, they provide the facility for the directors to appoint a second member of the CM to the board.

"It was agreed that the decision would be made by Steve and myself together with the person who was appointed by the CM and that person is Ernie.

"The three of us will be interviewing the prospective candidates and hopefully a decision on the fourth member of the board will be made tomorrow."

Meanwhile, the previous board - comprising Battey, Borthwick, Phil Hordle, Matt Ford and David Stone - has now been officially dissolved.