Episode Description
There’s a moment in every sports fan’s life where they entertain the idea of buying their team. Most times it’s just a fleeting idea. “Well, if I owned the team, I’d…” And that’s pretty much it. It’s just a fantasy.
But if you’re Spencer Gore, it’s an idea that sticks.
The lifetime soccer fan and founder of the European Medical Journal had spent years watching his local club, Chelmsford City FC struggle to remain solvent. Relegated to the 6th tier of English soccer (honestly, we didn’t even know there was a 6th tier…), evicted from their stadium, and suffering through a string of unfulfilled ownership promises, the Clarets were about as far from the bright lights of the Premier League as you can imagine.
But where most people saw a disaster, Gore saw opportunity. After a couple of attempts to acquire the club, he now sits in Chelmsford City FC’s owner’s box on match day. And once there, he publicly set his audacious goal for the team: securing a spot in the Premier League by 2038.
In our conversation, we talk about what it’ll take for Chelmsford City FC to achieve that monumental goal. We also go into the at times torturous path to acquiring a professional sports club, how he engages with fans to build trust and gain support, and how he prioritizes a long list of to dos all designed to return the Clarets to prominence.