Bournemouth chairman Bill Foley among three new members to join Hibernian board

Bournemouth chairman Bill Foley is one of three new members of the Hibernian board.

The American has become a Hibs director after his Black Knight Football Club consortium bought a 25 per cent stake in the cinch Premiership club in return for a £6million investment in the club.

Black Knight is the majority shareholder of Bournemouth, holds a 40 per cent stake in French Ligue 1 side Lorient and has been awarded an A-League franchise to start a new club in Auckland, as well as owning several sports teams in the United States.

Foley is joined on the Hibs board by Black Knight colleague Ryan Caswell, who is also a Lorient director.

Hibs fan Leslie Robb is the third new director. The club said the retired asset manager had lived his entire life in Edinburgh and became a Hibs shareholder in 2015. He recently increased his stake to become the club’s largest individual shareholder.

The family of late chairman Ron Gordon are the largest shareholder with his wife, Kit, and son, Ian, both on the board.

Hibernian were granted permission to accept the investment proposal from Black Knight following a series of talks with the Scottish Football Association, before it was approved at the club’s recent annual general meeting.

The SFA’s approval was subject to certain conditions, including that the Black Knight shareholding does not exceed 29.99 per cent and that the agreement does not preclude Hibs participating in European competition because of dual interests.

The SFA’s articles on dual interest state that nobody who is involved in the management or administration of a club, or has any power to manage or influence the management or administration of a club, should be able to do so for another club.