STARS IN THE BOARDROOM
Who has team spirit? MARION McMULLEN looks at the celebrities who have bought sports clubs
1
HOLLYWOOD stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have become the new owners of Wrexham AFC after their takeover bid was approved by the National League club’s Supporters Trust. They say they plan to turn the Welsh football club into a “global force” and want to attend as many games as possible and “have a pint with the fans”.
2
SIR Elton John (below) became club chairman of Watford in 1976. His ambition was to take the football club from the old Fourth Division to the First Division – and he succeeded. They finished second behind Liverpool during the 1982-83 season.
The Rocket
Man singer stepped down as chairman in 2002.
3
GLADIATOR film star Russell Crowe became the co-owner of the South Sydney Rabbitohs in 2006 with businessman Peter Holmes à Court. The latter stood down two years later, but Russell remains involved with the rugby league club and came to the UK in 2015 to attend the World Club Challenge match between South Sydney Rabbitohs and St Helens at Langtree Park.
4
GHOSTBUSTERS and Lost In Translation star Bill Murray (inset) is a diehard Chicago Cubs baseball fan and is also part-owner of St Paul
Saints and numerous minor league sides. These include
Catskill Cougars, Salt Lake City Trappers, Evansville Otters and Charleston RiverDogs.
5
LEGENDARY comedian Bob Hope (below right) loved sport and was a keen golfer. He became part owner of the Cleveland
Indians baseball team in the
1950s and made a guest appearance on I Love Lucy, set around him attending a game at
Yankee Stadium.
6
BEFORE he became United States president, one of Donald Trump’s ambitions was to own a sports franchise. He coveted an NFL team but was unable to make this happen. Instead, he purchased the New Jersey Generals American football team of the newly formed USFL in the early 1980s. The league would go on to collapse in 1986.
7
AMERICAN comedy actor Will Ferrell is part-owner of Los Angeles FC along with a group that includes basketball legend Magic Johnson and life and business strategist Tony Robins.
8
DAVID BECKHAM, inset, is a co-owner of Inter Miami CF and the team played its first match in March this year. As a part of his transfer to the Los Angeles Galaxy, there was an agreement that allowed the former England captain to own a Major League Soccer team for a discounted fee and he exercised that option in 2014.
9
RICHARD BRANSON (inset) took over as chairman of the London Broncos rugby league club in 1997 with a promise to make them the best in the world. The Broncos finished second in Super League and reached the Challenge Cup final but by 2001 the Virgin boss was gone and a slow decline followed.
10
A KNEE injury cut short the early sporting career of Hollywood star Burt Reynolds. He originally attended Florida State University on an American football scholarship and became co-owner of the Tampa Bay Bandits in 1982.