'NOT FOR SALE'

Baker and his Sport-6 business partner Alastair Saverimutto bought Cherries from administrator Gerald Krasner only last month.

But in the past few weeks, Baker has received two bids for the club - one that he has angrily described as "hostile" and "not appreciated".

He claims the consortium involved this week went public by leaking details of their offer to an unofficial supporters' website.

However, Mark Palmer, who tabled the bid on behalf of the interested party, has strenuously denied Baker's accusations.

He has hit back by claiming Baker was responsible for outing the consortium after telling members of the AFC Bournemouth supporters' trust.

When contacted by the Daily Echo, Palmer confirmed the bid had been lodged on August 19 and said it would be valid until August 29.

Speaking to the Echo yesterday, Baker said: "If Mr Palmer hadn't made the bid public, I would have answered him within the time frame.

"But as he's made it public, he's now going to get a public answer and when he picks up the Echo tomorrow he will see that the club is not for sale.

"We didn't buy the club to sell it within a couple of weeks and we shouldn't expect to receive any bids. The fact we have is most unhelpful.

"There was an opportunity to purchase the club from the administrator and anybody could have bought it. It was on the market for six months.

"We just want to get on with rebuilding the football club. We know we've got a difficult job and it isn't being made any easier by receiving a hostile bid.

"It has always been part of our long-term plan to source further investors and we fully intend to do that within the period we have identified.

"If somebody has the best intentions of the football club at heart and we think their business skills would dovetail with ours, we would talk to them.

"It's not just a case of taking somebody's money and spending it for them. The number one priority is AFC Bournemouth and we would need the right investment from the right people under the right conditions."

Palmer, who was responsible for introducing Saverimutto to Jeff Mostyn earlier this year, is now involved with a consortium of as yet unnamed businessmen, one of whom is from Turkey.

He only agreed to give details of the consortium's bid to the Echo after pointing the finger at Baker for revealing news of their interest.

Palmer said: "We have made a bid of £1.5m to buy Mr Baker's shares. We have said we will show him proof of funding together with brief business plan proposals to put £2m into the club in terms of immediate infrastructure, squad strengthening and team resources.

"We invited Sport-6 to take up our offer by midnight on Friday. I've also made my diary available to them all this week to meet around the table. In my opinion, it is very much in the club's interests for them to be talking to us without delay."