Source: Bournemouth_Echo
Cherries: Mitchell stranded by ash cloud and will miss potential promotion party
MIFFED Cherries chairman Eddie Mitchell will be forced to miss the club's potential promotion clincher at Burton Albion due to the volcanic ash flight ban. Mitchell and family members are among 150,000 Britons who have been stranded abroad since the Icelandic volcano erupted on Thursday. Cherries' majority shareholder, his wife Brenda, their daughter Jessica and chief executive Neill Blake's daughter Jaimie-Leigh left for a two-week holiday in Dubai at the start of the Easter break. And although they were due back in England at the end of last week, their return journey was cancelled as a result of the ban on flights in UK airspace. While planes were due to remain grounded across the country at least until the early hours of today, the Mitchell party will be stuck overseas for another few days. Speaking to the Daily Echo from his hotel last night, Mitchell said: I am going to miss the Burton match and it is really cheesing me off. We were expecting to be back in time for the Darlington game last Saturday but, unfortunately, we couldn't fly due to the situation. Even if they were to re-open the airspace when they hope to, the earliest flight we were able to book was for next Saturday afternoon so I wouldn't be able to get to Burton in time. It is a great disappointment and is going to be hard keeping in touch with events by telephone. Despite missing out on Cherries' eagerly-awaited trip to Staffordshire, Mitchell did concede he could have been stuck in worse places. He added: I am overlooking the Gulf, the sun is out and it's 35 degrees here. It's certainly not too much of a hardship! We are in a lovely place. But I am missing my work, the club's work and I would rather be back. Mitchell was kept informed of events during Cherries' 2-0 win over Darlington by Blake, who is also his son-in-law. It was a fantastic result, said Mitchell. I was in a Chinese restaurant when Neill phoned me to tell me we had gone one and then two-nil up. It was great. I was jumping up and down in the restaurant and the children were looking at me as if I had gone mad!