New Hoods co-owner charts ambitions for Nottingham

Nottingham Hoods' new co-owner wants to have the second-tier basketball club competing in the top flight and European stage within 10 years - and will use two decades of knowhow with one of the British game's most successful sides to make it happen.

Russell Levenston left his post as Leicester Riders managing director in the summer after 17 years with the club.

In his last 11 years with the Riders, the men's team won 17 major honours - including six British Basketball League titles - while the women's outfit claimed four crowns.

He has now moved across the East Midlands and invested in Nottingham, where he has also taken up the role as managing director, and is determined to emulate what he previously did at Leicester.

"It will take time," Levenston told BBC East Midlands Today.

"Rome wasn't built in a day and what we created in Leicester, the first four or five years were really hard but the success came after that. For me, it's now about laying those foundations and that stability to hopefully do the same here."

After his long association with a Riders side who have constantly been among the title contenders at the top of the British game, Levenston's involvement with a Nottingham team who have never competed at that level has come as a major boost for the ambitious outfit.

The Hoods were founded in 2009, and since the 2017-18 season they have played in the top division of National Basketball League - Britain's second-tier competition behind Super League Basketball, which was previously known as the British Basketball League.

They have established themselves as a professional outfit who play and train at the Nottingham Wildcats Arena - the venue belonging to the team that play in Women's Super League Basketball.

The Hoods have got off to a difficult start to the season and sit second from bottom in their league, while East Midlands rivals Derby Trailblazers - a club looking to reclaim elite status - are second in the table after 10 games.

There is no promotion and relegation between the NBL and SBL, however, with the top flight based on a franchise system.

Levenston says "patience" will be key for the Hoods and insists the club remain Nottingham's "best kept secret".

"It took me a lot longer to lay the foundations at Leicester, and a lot of that experience and those lessons learned has helped put us ahead of where would have been," Levenston said.

"I have a five-year plan that will bring top-flight basketball to Nottingham that will hopefully have us competing at the highest level.

"I have the ambitions of taking the team into Europe in the future, and that is more like the 10-year plan."