The celebrities taking over football: How Boyzone and Westlife are joining Ryan ... trends now

Forget billionaire investment consortiums, oil-rich sheikhs and Russian oligarchs: these days, football's biggest investors are famous faces looking for somewhere to spend their pocket money - transforming small clubs entirely in the process.

Shane Lynch and Keith Duffy of Boyzone and Brian McFadden of Westlife make up the latest cohort of stars who have chosen to invest in a UK football team - signing on the dotted line to buy Chorley FC in Lancashire in March.

The Irish trio intend to attract new sponsorship and build the sixth-tier National League North side into a full-time professional outfit - echoing Welsh side Wrexham AFC after it was bought by Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.

And the singers are the latest in a long line of celebrities beyond Reynolds and McElhenney to pool spare cash into a sports team, following in the footsteps of names like Tom Brady, Stormzy, Delia Smith and Elton John.

Appearing on Good Morning Britain today to discuss their plans, Brian said he and Keith were brought on board at Shane's suggestion after his performance car business, Assetti Performance, bought a stake in the club earlier this year.

He told Susanna Reid and Richard Madeley: 'It was definitely our dream as kids but I don't think we ever thought it was going to happen. 

'It all happened with Shane Lynch - his motorsport company are the guys who bought Chorley FC and they came to Shane and asked if he would be interested in being involved in the club.

'He said "I don't really know much about football but I know two lads that do," so he called us and here we are, we're now part of Chorley Football Club.'

The pair declined to discuss exactly how much of the club they now own. 

Keith said: 'We don't get into percentages, we're big supporters of the club, we go there, we show our support.'

Brian added: 'We're not very good at maths either. We want to bring sponsorship to the club, we want to bring eyes on the club as well, try and get some new fans and build the club.

'It's an amazing community, Chorley, and it reminds Keith and I of the area we grew up in in Dublin and the people are very similar.

'When we got there the first day we arrived before we decided to get involved we met all the local community, all the fans and it was just an incredible atmosphere and we were hooked straight away.'

Comparisons have been made between the trio and actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, who bought Wrexham AFC in 2020. 

Their star power, combined with the Disney+ documentary series Welcome to Wrexham, has catapulted what was a fledgling lower league side into the big leagues - having just been promoted to the second-tier EFL League One.

Asked about the possibility of sixth-tier Chorley replicating the Hollywood duo's success, Keith added: 'It can be done and it's exciting and it's good. A lot of our players are not full time, they still have their day jobs.

'We'd love to get it to a place where these guys can go full professional and dedicate themselves to their training and not have to worry about paying their bills. That would be a huge achievement for us.' 

And shadowing Canadian actor Ryan and American actor Rob, best known for sitcom It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, the Irish singers are believed to be working on a Wrexham-style TV documentary charting their football ownership journey.

But the one-time teen dreams and their transatlantic contemporaries are far from the only big names to get involved in running a UK football side in recent years.