The dream of a new stadium for AFC Bournemouth is dead. A few people, some with inside knowledge, others with educated guesses had speculated to this effect on social media - but it was confirmed by Bill Foley in conversation with his go-to tame podcast 'Men In Blazers'. There would be no new stadium for The Cherries, and the club would instead 'rehabilitate' the existing ground. Plans to move to a newly built stadium on current training ground site are no longer the strategic choice, the owner instead aiming to redevelop the Ted Macdougall stand at the south-east end of the stadium, and dig down to add additional capacity, presumably with additional supporters in the front rows of Main and East stands being seated below pitch level. There may need to be work to increase the rake of the stands to accommodate more seating but we won't know until more detail is made available. Hospitality offerings will be increased, the Main stand will be renovated internally and little will apparently change at the North Stand end other than a new roof. In increasing the current capacity to 19,000-23,000 the club will need to accommodate up to 2,300 visiting supporters. Nothing has yet been said about where they will be located in the new plan. It's possible that the North Stand could become the away end unless there are additional changes made to the East Stand to add further turnstiles and change the internal layout. We'll have to await the publishing of plans that reveal the full detail, but for now the news is heartbreaking. It is Bill Foley's decision of course and he can choose to invest money how he chooses and feels will provide the best value. It may be churlish and spoiled to complain when the result is still going to be an improvement on what we currently have - but acknowledging this doesn't lessen the blow. The idea of a new stadium was not one universally loved amongst fans - this will come as better news to those that did not want to leave the existing stadium. For those of us who were dreaming of a truly world class facility, like those wonderful small stadia that we looked at across the club on this site in our recent series of articles, it's a real disappointment. It represents a massive downscaling of the owner's ambitions and a once in a lifetime opportunity disappearing. On the positive side, this must mean that Foley intends to purchase the freehold of the stadium from landlords Structadene. The owners had previously been accused of inflating their asking price for this to unjustifiable levels - however with the lease expiring in 2030 it may be that there is now a better deal to be done. Doubtless the asset will not return into the hands of AFC Bournemouth Limited and will be owned by one of Foley's companies in the BKFE group - but this is still a preferable situation than the land being owned by a third party. We look forward to the club - finally - communicating directly with fans and sharing the full detail of their plans.