Kenny Bruce, the co-founder of Purplebricks, is trying to buy the stadium that houses the football club he invested half a million pounds in last summer.
Bruce agreed to plough £500,000 into Larne FC in Northern Ireland last year.
The club was founded in 1889 and plays home matches at Inver Park in Larne, where Bruce, now based in Los Angeles, grew up.
Now Bruce hopes to buy the ground itself, after it was put up for sale by the local council.
He told the Belfast Telegraph he would be “doing all he can” to secure the facility.
Bruce’s cash has already reportedly enabled Larne FC, which plays in the Northern Ireland Football League Championship, to outbid other teams for players.
Bruce said: “I, of course, will be doing all I can to make sure our charity is the successful bidder but there are no guarantees we will be successful.
“We are, of course, trying buy Inver Park to secure sports facilities for the club and town but the local authority have advertised the ground for sale as development land.
“It would be worth much more to a developer for homes than to a charity for sports facilities but we will do our best to secure the ground.”
The property is for sale via surveyor and auctioneer O’Connor Kennedy Turtle, with the price available on application.
Comments (24)
In reply to an earlier comment i thought he was a lawyer not an EA or is that his brother? Met one of them a few years back when they had some grand scheme to buy up run down properties and then sell them on at a profit forget the name of the company they set up but their logo was a dog with a wagging tail clearly more memorable than the company name! Didn’t last long but came up later with a winner in PB funded by the big cheque from Connells no doubt when they sold out their Burchell Edwards brand in the Midlands. Anyway i guess its his money and he can do what he likes with it. Unfortunately 500k invested in my home team – a mid to bottom of the league Championship side wouldn’t pay to re-surface the car park but the local Council may well sell him the ground. lol.
Isn’t it funny how a football team is the badge of honour of all millionaire businessmen. A very good ‘front’ story and if successful in his bid, he will have a development site up his sleeve for the future!
I can’t wait for the team to be renamed Ego United
Will fans buy an entry ticket and then have a 50% chance of there actually being a match?
we’ve won 88% of our matches… (but we play with the gates closed, no TV, radio or reporters allowed and only carefully selected supporters allowed to wear our colours).
We’ve told investors we’ll be World Cup winners in the next couple of years….
The bitter little agents whining and crying as usual, it’s so desperate it’s highly amusing.
But when you only have 7 houses on the market I suppose there is plenty of free time.
Can you do maths now, Dom?
I Sir, am six foot five and seventeen stone – hardly little
Personally, I am not bitter about KB having made a lot of money – the shame is that his advertising has not been altogether transparent, and before there are any replies – it hasn’t – otherwise there would not have been the volume of complaints upheld against them.
This, I suspect is where the bitterness comes from.
“I Sir, am six foot five and seventeen stone…”
And I, Sir, have a leg that weighs you…
…and, if I remember rightly, the other one weighs Eric Walker.
Like you, I’m never considered ‘little’.
Not that bulk has anything to do with anything – as we are well aware, the #fanboy duo that are dom-boy and ducky take up a vast amount of space when they fluff up their feathers… but it is well documented that their combined effort of huff’n’puffery here on EYE can’t produce the minutest degree of flicker on the flames they so desperately attempt to fan.
In a post above, dom-boy used the word ‘pathetic’. And not for the first time, either. It’s a word which he clearly has an affinity for. And good for him. We all must have a goal in life – and he’s clearly focused on achieving his.
I’m confident that we will be the spur that dom-boy needs to drive him to his wildest aspiration – to be able to barely reach up and touch the bar labelled ‘pathetic’.
I, for one, live in hope of that dream becoming his reality.
Chris, you need to get that chip of your shoulder. Your sad vendetta against hybrid agents is starting to make you look a bit desperate and as though you haven’t got a lot going on in your life. Don’t know you but for anyone old enough I’m imagining Martin from Ever Decreasing Circles. I’ve been running high street branches for years and in the last 4/5 years since the appearance of “online” agents I haven’t felt the urge once to complain about criticize or knock what is effectively my competition. It appears to be your mission in life. You need a hobby.
I’m touched at the concern and interest you, Dom and Ducky show in my life, business, interests, military charity work, health, pro bono consumer protection work, blogging, time in the reserve forces, sailing, children, family, dogs, friends, consultancy work, 3D tour business, walking around/ photographing my beloved Cornish coastline, gym, running etc. As for your suggestions of more hobbies, I’d love to take up fencing and shooting again but training injuries and a couple of fairly major operations sadly put paid to that.
Definitely time to stop feeding these trolls Chris. Whatever it is that has gone wrong in their lives, their puerile, infantile posts will never put it right. They need the NHS not an industry forum.
So Ang7779 posts twice once attacking Chris Wood and then as best it could having a go at me….. Ummm
Chris hasn’t got a vendetta against hybrid agency it’s something he’s considering doing himself if and when he can find staff of the right quality. Not prominent position traditional agency can be blisteringly effective and profitable when done properly and well. It is well suited to niche areas and niche property types. As Ewemove prove it can be a good model when run ethically and honestly. Ewemove is, in my opinion, the firm that will outperform and thus outlast some of their more vocal rivals. The problem with passive intermediary agency isn’t the model but the fact it is used to provide a lifeline to people who have performed their way out of the industry by not competing to a high enough standard in agency proper. Mainly (not all) lazy negs and managers. If it was honest enough to say we’re a listing firm, list for a £1000, that’s all we do, the criticism would evaporate instantly. The campaign is against the false claims, data manipultions and false promises.
What Chris, I and others have is a problem with passive intermediary listers who claim to be full service agencies and who have latched on to a term introduced way back in 2013 as a defence against shouty, false claim, portal listing firms.
Chris does campaign against things that are wrong and that are illegal, rather than criticising him you ought to understand what he has and is doing for you and branch managers like you.
Had you left your opinions at the attack on Chris Wood your persona as a rather blinkered branch manager might have washed. The Water Mitty comment aimed at me suggests you aren’t or you’re soon off to run your own business and earn £100k (good luck)
An admirable idea, and happy that he is trying to protect grass roots football. Wonder if he will then try promoting them as a new type of football stadium, a hybrid model never seen before in the world of football, a stadium where they offer standing and seating areas, and both hot and cold drinks. People can book tickets 24/7 and their local football experts will be on hand at every given moment
Weird that as soon as a loser gets some money they try buying friends by being one of the lads.
Bruce would definatly be a diver
Bit of a pathetic comment really.
Pathetic comments from bitter agents are pretty standard, as with the pointless daily PB articles as click bait.
Boring. Im going to go and watch some slot machine games on youtube dom. you coming?
Far more entertaining
Promise?
you’ve probably never met the guy, I had the pleasure of working with him when he was a high street agent and he was one of the best managers I had and a good friend. just because he’s found a niche and made millions from it doesn’t mean hes not a nice guy. you sound very jealous.
Firstly if you read my comment, i was wasnt running the guy down at all instead commending him for injecting money into grassroots football. As for the chap himself, i have met him.
quite clearly it wasn’t a reply to your comment Arthur. it was in reply to ‘Bless you,.
Lolol bless you all. I expect you get VIP tickets to the football game for being such good pals.