Subbing Exercise 1

Billionaire Bob Rich, the Terriers' honorary president, with wife Mindy

          Photo Courtesy of www.chroniclelive.co.uk

Most U.S. billionaires investing in English soccer target Premier League clubs like Manchester United or Liverpool but Robert Rich, the world’s 48th richest man, has opted to help Bedlington Terriers.

The amateur club plays to crowds of about 100 people in the North East and is in the ninth tier of England’s soccer pyramid.

The 69-year-old chairman of Rich Products Corporation, a food manufacturing and catering company, has not followed the path taken by the Glazier family or Randy Lerner, but has instead put some of his fortune into a team that barely makes local headlines.

Speaking to Reuters from his headquarters in New York, Rich explained: “I have traced the roots of my family back to the area and became aware of the club as a result.

“We manage three Minor League baseball teams and there were big similarities between how we developed them and how we could develop Bedlington. It is a fantastic place with fantastic people and I felt a real affinity with them.”

“I got involved because I thought I could help. They were the most under-financed and under-capitalised team in the league but, if you excuse the pun, I hope the Terriers won’t remain as the underdogs for too much longer.”

Club secretary David Collop told Sky Sports News: “It’s true to say our chairman thought it was a wind-up when the first phone call came through.”

Rich, who is ranked by the Forbes Rich List as the 488th wealthiest man in the world, added:

“Sport can be about local people, local pride and having a lot of fun. For all the Manchester Uniteds, San Francisco 39ers, and Texas Rangers at the top, there are hundreds of minor teams struggling along. Keeping them going is a tremendous challenge.”