American student inspired by Ted Lasso 'buys' London soccer team for just $20
American student inspired by Ted Lasso 'buys' London soccer team for just $20
Jack Fifield, SWNSTue, May 26, 2026 at 2:20 PM UTC
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American Matthew Evans has revived a London soccer club -Credit:SWNS (SWNS)
A U.S. student has brought back a 152-year-old football club to life — after effectively buying it for a mere £15 (around $20).
Matthew Evans relocated to the capital in 2023 to pursue sports management studies at the University of Roehampton in south-west London. The 23-year-old South Carolina native has been passionate about soccer since before turning 10, with his father acting as his very first coach.
During his time at Roehampton, he noticed his new neighborhood lacked a soccer club – prompting him to review a directory of disbanded soccer teams. He discovered that East Sheen, located in neighboring Richmond upon Thames – the backdrop for the fictional football series Ted Lasso – once had its own team.
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Matthew said: "I read roughly 400 articles from the 1800s to figure out that not only did East Sheen have a football club, but they had a good one, and not only did they have a good one, they had a really good one. And it fell apart, it went away in the early 1900s – you could ask pretty much every single resident of the area, and I guarantee you none of them would know."
Matthew paid just £15 (around $20) to formally register the club through Companies House. He claims he's invested "less than £500" overall on additional startup expenses, including creating the club's website.
Matthew said: "The questions I always get is, 'Why don't you just start your own, like Roehampton FC, or South West London FC, or anything?' Well, where's the fun in that? Frankly, if I can bring something back that once was a great and trusted establishment in the area over 100 years ago, I think that has a lot more beauty to the story."
East Sheen FC hasn't played for more than a century -Credit:SWNS
During his research into the club's past, Matthew discovered that two former players, Percy Melmoth Walters and Arthur Melmoth Walters, had both served as England captains. The club, established in 1873, lost its enclosed home pitch in 1906, bringing its competitive days to a close. After a few attempted revivals, it couldn't survive World War II and has remained inactive ever since.
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Now, Matthew – who has previously collaborated with multiple clubs – says he's secured agreements with his university to utilize some of its facilities, along with other partners including the Beyond the White Line Charity, to revive the club.
He's also been distributing flyers to residents to build awareness about the club's comeback – and he acknowledges that the revival might seem to have a "Ted Lasso vibe."
He said: "It's funny enough – as I decided to go to Roehampton, Ted Lasso came out. It's comical timing, an American guy from the south east of the U.S. coming to the south west of London, and I happen to mirror that kind of move.
"The story itself – it's less of the 'American working in football' is what I take from it, I choose to take the positive attitude of putting people first, the development side of the story.
"When I think of Ted Lasso, I think of a positive role model for how all football professionals should be trying to conduct themselves, focusing on making better people on and off the pitch, instead of purely results and purely money.
"I think that the game, unfortunately at the grass-roots level, at all levels of English football and worldwide, are starting to prioritise results and money over what the game is and always is about. It's about people, making memories for people on and off the pitch.
"Even in professional category one academies, most players don't make it pro – so why is that what we choose to focus on? Why do we choose to focus on the top one percent of the talent while the rest have to sit there and struggle?"
Yet despite everything, the young club owner is ready to roll up his sleeves and do whatever it takes to deliver results. Matthew said: "For me, this is a long-term project, something I want to stay stuck-in with for the next five to 10 years.
"I hope to have my career outside of this as well with football, but this is definitely a passion project – I want to get this club to where it used to be, winning Surrey senior cups. They produced two England captains, they toured abroad in France and were one of the first clubs to do so, they had players who moved to Argentina, Australia, India, New Zealand.
"If we can get back to the place of being an early set of the next wave to come of what football's going to be, that's the goal. At worst, we're a community club that shines a light on East Sheen and the beautifulness of that part of Richmond and South West London, that's not a bad place to be."
Source: “AOL Sports”
