For fifty years, Barry Hearn has regularly transformed underdog sports into massive mainstream hits.
Despite his landmark accomplishments across boxing, snooker, and darts, the ex-Leyton Orient chairman refuses to rest on his previous achievements.
Now, the former Matchroom chief has returned to football by acquiring an equity share in non-league side Brentwood Town, eager to construct something remarkable from the ground up.
“I’m certainly not someone who can just sit around doing nothing all day, you see?” Hearn explains to FourFourTwo while discussing his new endeavor.
“In this past year by itself, we put on 700 athletic competitions,” he notes with pride. “And I tracked every single one of them faithfully.
“When a snooker or darts tournament concludes, I manually adjust my global rankings. I’m an absolute obsessive. My wife frequently reminds me of it, too.”
Hearn remains equally hands-on across Matchroom’s broader portfolio, ranging from carp fishing competitions to ten-pin bowling.
“If armageddon were just an hour away, Geoffrey Boycott would be taking hits in the cricket nets, Steve Davis would run one final frame of snooker, and Barry Hearn would be reviewing his newest spreadsheet,” he remarks. “It’s simply how people like us operate.”
Did he hold a family conference prior to purchasing his share of Brentwood? “Not at all, I merely told them ‘To hell with the lot of you’,” Hearn chuckles. “They believe I’ve lost my mind, but financially it isn’t massive. The investment of time matters far more than the actual cash involved.”
In the near term, Hearn plans to spend his efforts generating buzz around the team, though he makes clear that Brentwood won’t be producing a sequel to Club For A Fiver.
“You won’t see a Netflix documentary about us,” he explains. “Wrexham succeeded with that approach, and credit to them. But we have to create our own spotlight. I’m going to leverage whatever influence I possess. I’ll champion this cause until my final breath, and ultimately, I will triumph. You can count on it.”
It is difficult to doubt him, considering the relentless drive Hearn pours into every endeavor he tackles. “I could easily be lounging on a beach sipping champagne, with waiters refilling my glass constantly,” he jokes with a wink.
“However, where is the thrill in doing that? I will turn Brentwood Town into a success story or die in the attempt.”
