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American owners pull out of National League club

Dagenham & Redbridge’s American owners, a group which includes former USMNT goalkeeper Tim Howard, are putting their shares in the National League club up for sale.

Led by New York Yankees minority shareholder Peter B. Freund, the seven-strong consortium effectively rescued the east London-based side in 2018 after their previous majority owner pulled his financial support.

Freund, who also co-owns United Soccer League outfit Memphis 901 and several minor league baseball teams, had previously been linked with a move for Aston Villa, then in the Championship. While that story was incorrect, it was true that the U.S. businessman was looking for an affordable English football team in the Greater London area.

The group, named Victoria Road Football LLC after the club’s stadium, will exit Dagenham & Redbridge having failed to achieve their goal of returning the club to the English Football League but they did deliver on their promise to upgrade Victoria Road. They also brought some much-needed financial stability to the club and were regular — and popular — visitors to the stadium.

In a statement on the club’s website, Freund confirmed his intention to step aside and admitted he felt he had “failed” supporters after being unable to oversee promotion back to the Football League.

“Football is a humbling game and I have proven not to be the individual to move this club forward toward promotion, despite investing heavily in our roster and caring mightily about wins and losses,” Freund wrote. “On this front, with my deepest sincerity, I feel I have failed you, the supporters and for that I will forever be filled with a great deal of regret. Therefore, effective immediately, I have decided to look for new investors to join the club and I will make plans to step aside to allow a new individual or group to take the Daggers and the club’s amazing legacy forward.”

The group’s arrival in 2018 also had a wider significance as they were arguably the first U.S. syndicate to invest in English football’s fifth tier, aka non-league football.

Since then, North American investment in English football’s lower leagues has become commonplace, with the most obvious example being the arrival of Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds in Wrexham. Both Freund’s group and the Hollywood duo used the same New York-based investment bank, Inner Circle Sports, on their takeovers.

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