Brian McFadden wants Chorley fans to dream of the Football League after bringing some pop star glamour to Victory Park.
The former Westlife singer took his place in Chorley’s small VIP stand along with prospective fellow investors Keith Duffy and Shane Lynch from Boyzone for Saturday’s FA Trophy fifth-round tie against Solihull Moors.
Clad in Chorley shirts and clutching pints of beer, the trio were happy to sign autographs and take pictures for fans, with their presence the only topic of conversation around the ground.
It has not yet been confirmed exactly what role McFadden, Lynch, Duffy and Boyzone lead singer Ronan Keating, who could not attend the match, will play at the club.
But McFadden revealed a deal is near, telling the PA news agency: “It’s pretty close. I’ve just been talking about coming to the next home game with my family so you’ll probably see quite a lot of us. We’re in.”
It was the Irish star’s first visit to Chorley, and he explained: “Shane’s business partner bought the club seven months ago and asked Shane to get involved.
“Shane’s not really a football man but he knew that me and Keith love football so he got us involved, and Ronan. We want to be part of something from the ground up.
“I’m a Manchester United fan myself, I’ve got season tickets at Old Trafford, but it’s a corporation. You look at something like Chorley Football Club and you see this belongs to the town, it belongs to the people, it belongs to the community.
“For us to be able to get involved in something at that level and to try and take it to the next level, there’s a bit of romance to it.”
Comparisons have inevitably been made with Wrexham and the takeover by Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, which has attracted worldwide attention and seen the club climb up the leagues.
McFadden said: “What the boys have done at Wrexham is incredible but Wrexham’s the same. Wrexham’s always had a huge support, great stadium, great town. All it needed was a bit of extra love and care to help them do what they’re doing.
“We’re hoping we can do the same with Chorley. Look at this, this is non-league football and you’ve got a couple of thousand people out here having a great time, supporting the team. If we can help those supporters reach a higher dream and we can be a part of it, it’d be great.
“We’d love to see Chorley playing in the professional leagues, obviously. If we can get out of National North there’s National League and then in a few years, a bit of investment, bit of development, you never know. Maybe they get out of National League and into League Two and see what happens from there.”
Chorley are starting from a lower base than Wrexham, with the club currently sitting eighth in National League North.
A bumper crowd of more than 2,000 turned out for the cup game, but Chorley found National League high-fliers Solihull too strong, with the visitors winning 3-1.
Manager Andy Preece hopes the excitement generated this week can be maintained, saying: “Hopefully this is a sign of things going forward.
“With the Boyzone and Westlife boys coming in, obviously it’s given a renewed interest in the town and that’s massive for us. I’ve been here six years and it’s been tough, and we fight and fight every year just to keep things running and keep going, try and keep success on the field.
“We are having success, we’ve done unbelievably well with the resources we’ve had and now, hopefully, with them coming in and the interest it brings, we’ll be able to bring in more investment, and not just into the football club but into the town and into the community.
“You see the Wrexham thing and you go, ‘Oh wow, what would that be like?’ But I didn’t really think it was going to happen here. It’s exciting, I’m buzzing about it, everybody’s buzzing about it and we’ll just see where it takes us.”
Chorley went viral during an FA Cup run three years after signing Adele’s hit ‘Someone Like You’, so could there be a new song on the dressing room sound system?
“We’re going to have look through at all the songs because obviously the ones we really know are probably more lovey songs, but we did the Adele song,” said Preece. “We’ll see if we can sort one out. But all those things are exciting to talk about.”
Mbappe position switch works wonders for Ancelotti
Carlo Ancelotti was satisfied his tactical decision to switch Kylian Mbappe's position in attack paid off in Real Madrid's 3-0 win over Leganes.
Mbappe scored his seventh goal of the season to help Madrid to a comfortable victory in LaLiga on Sunday.
However, his position in Madrid's front line has been a topic of debate since he joined the Spanish champions, with Mbappe having often played out wide while at Paris Saint-Germain.
And Ancelotti elected to switch Mbappe out to the left flank against Leganes, with Vinicius Junior spearheading Los Blancos' attack.
"Mbappe played on the left side, where he did well, and Vinicius on the inside," Ancelotti told reporters.
"We have to highlight their play to open the scoring. They did very, very well. Mbappe scored, after a fantastic assist from Vinicius. Little by little, they're both improving.
"Kylian is more used to playing there and today, for the team and for him, it was the best thing.
"Because playing on the outside brings more effort and Vinicius was back on Thursday. Meanwhile, Kylian had been training here for a week and a half, he was fresher."
Mbappe was not called up by France coach Didier Deschamps for this month's Nations League games, despite being Les Bleus' captain.
With an injury crisis at the back and a trip to Anfield to face Premier League and Champions League leaders Liverpool coming up, Ancelotti added he was hopeful of Lucas Vazquez, who has a hamstring strain, and Aurelien Tchouameni, who is recovering from a sprained left ankle, returning to action.
He was also upbeat about the contribution of Federico Valverde, who scored from a free-kick while filling in at right-back.
"The truth is that Fede, at the back, has done very well," said Ancelotti of the Uruguayan, who also wore the captain's armband.
"He's a fantastic fullback. After Dani Carvajal and Lucas Vazquez, the best right-back in the world. His problem is that he can play at this level in many positions and is the coach's problem to choose the best position for the team.
"Let's see if Lucas and Tchouameni can recover. If not, we will make decisions."
Jude Bellingham netted Madrid's other goal as Ancelotti's team closed to within four points of LaLiga leaders Barcelona, who drew 2-2 with Celta Vigo on Saturday.
Madrid also have a game in hand on Hansi Flick's side.
Orlando City 1-0 Atlanta United: Enrique strike sets up Red Bulls clash
Atlanta United beat Inter Miami in the first round of the MLS playoffs, yet their postseason came to an end with a 1-0 defeat to Orlando City.
The Five Stripes went into Sunday's Eastern Conference semifinal at Inter&Co Stadium full of confidence after ditching Lionel Messi and the rest of Miami's stars out of the playoffs last time out.
Yet it was Orlando who, for the first time in club history, booked their place in the Eastern Conference finals thanks to Ramiro Enrique's 39th-minute winner.
Enrique tucked in from close range after Atlanta failed to clear their lines from a corner.
That goal came after Orlando had started brightly, with Dagur Thorhallsson hitting the woodwork early on before Facundo Torres saw an effort cleared off the line.
Buoyed by a fine record against Orlando, who they had lost to just four times in 22 meetings ahead of this contest, Atlanta pressed for an equaliser after the break, but they could not find a way through a robust Lions defence.
Orlando will now host the New York Red Bulls in next week's Eastern Conference final, with a place in the MLS Cup final on the line.
Data Debrief: Stay away from the Lions' den
Fresh from the Orlando Pride's victory in the National Women's Soccer League on Saturday, Orlando had plenty to live up to if they wanted to cap a great sporting weekend for the city.
And they did just that, with the backing of a vociferous crowd that helped them get over the line. Those fans will be called on again next week when the Red Bulls roll into town, but Orlando need not fear. They have lost only one of their last 14 home matches in all competitions (W9 D4 including two penalty shootout wins and one penalty shootout loss).
And while Atlanta huffed and puffed, they never really threatened to blow the door down, as Orlando limited them to just eight shots, with none of those hitting the target.
Indeed, Orlando had openings on the counter and could have put the match to bed with a bit more composure, as they finished with 1.3 expected goals to Atlanta's 0.4 xG.
Conte: Napoli need to focus on improvement, not Serie A lead
Napoli should pay little attention to their place at the top of Serie A, so says Antonio Conte, who has demanded improvement from his team.
Romelu Lukaku's second-half goal handed Napoli a 1-0 win over Roma on Sunday.
That victory sent Napoli back to the summit of Serie A, with Conte's side one point ahead of Atalanta, Inter, Fiorentina and Lazio, while Juventus are only four points back in a six-team title race.
Napoli needed to get back to winning ways after a draw against Inter and a 3-0 loss to Atalanta before the international break, and Conte insists his team must sharpen up.
"Before the match, I told the lads not to look at the table, but to focus on ourselves and improving what we are working on," Conte told Sky Sport Italia.
"I maintain that now too because we need to take a series of steps to raise the level.
"I was satisfied with the performance for a good 65 minutes today, we could’ve taken more of our chances and were up against a strong Roma who have great players.
"Roma were also making their debut under a new coach and therefore were very eager to prove themselves, but we still should've dealt with the final 15-20 minutes better, as we sat too deep and made it complicated for ourselves."
Roma, playing under new boss Claudio Ranieri, came close to equalising when Artem Dovbyk hit the woodwork with a header.
Ranieri came out of retirement to take charge of Roma following Ivan Juric's dismissal earlier in November, though the visitors had just six shots and accumulated only 0.6 expected goals (xG) at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
"If we look back, we have some problems and that is why I was called. We were up against a team that is fighting to win the Scudetto," Ranieri told Sky Sport Italia.
"Having said all of that, I am happy with the performance from my players. We made some mistakes that we will talk about during the week, but the hunger, the determination to get back on track was there.
"We have a lot of work to do, but I feel positive.
"We know there is work to be done, we have to focus on reacting rather than sitting there feeling sorry for ourselves.
"The [players] need the right character to help themselves and then others. Naturally, when I arrived, the team was a little closed up, but I think we started to open up a bit by the second half."
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