Sports News | Pop Star Ed Sheeran Helps Favorite Soccer Team Sign Player Before Getting on Stage with Taylor Swift
Get latest articles and stories on Sports at LatestLY. Ed Sheeran was about to join Taylor Swift on stage at a concert over the summer when he got a call from his favourite soccer team. It needed his help to sign a player.
Ipswich (England), Nov 21 (AP) Ed Sheeran was about to join Taylor Swift on stage at a concert over the summer when he got a call from his favourite soccer team. It needed his help to sign a player.
Sheeran, the British pop star, is a minor shareholder at Ipswich Town, which returned to the English Premier League this season for the first time since 2002.
Turns out he is more than just an investor and a lifelong fan. He's now part of Ipswich's recruitment team.
“In the summer, we were trying to persuade one particular player to join the football club and realized very quickly that he was an Ed Sheeran fan,” said Ipswich CEO Mark Ashton, speaking at a Soccerex industry event in Miami.
“Ed jumped on a Zoom call with him at the training ground, just before he stepped on stage with Taylor Swift. Hopefully, that was a key part in getting the player across the line.”
Ashton didn't disclose the player in question, saying only: “He's certainly scoring a few goals.”
Sheeran and Swift were on stage together at a show at Wembley Stadium on August 15, a day before Ipswich signed Sammie Szmodics from Blackburn.
Szmodics was the top scorer in the second-tier Championship last season. And, after scoring from an overhead kick in Ipswich's 2-1 win at Tottenham this month, he posted a photograph of himself with Sheeran on Instagram.
“Overhead kick, Win & a smudge with big ed. GET IN THERE,” Szmodics, an Ireland international, wrote.
Sheeran is Ipswich's most famous supporter and has been the club's shirt sponsor since 2021. His status as a minority owner grants him access to an executive box at Ipswich's Portman Road stadium and he is regularly seen at matches.
Ipswich hosts Manchester United on Sunday in a match notable for being Ruben Amorim's first in charge of United.
Ashton spoke highly of Sheeran at the Soccerex event, saying with a smile: “He's a local man, a global superstar, sponsor of the football club, now a shareholder and now officially a part of our recruitment team.” (AP)
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)