Bedford FC: Bitcoin podcaster Peter McCormack has Premier League dream for 10th-tier side

Bedford FC were previously called Bedford United & Valerio following a merger of two teams

How do you turn a team with an average home crowd of 40 or 50 people into a Premier League club?

Bitcoin podcaster Peter McCormack thinks he has the answer to that question.

He has bought Bedford FC, currently in the 10th tier of English football, and plans to persuade the worldwide Bitcoin community to provide the financial backing for his plans.

So confident is he, he believes Bedford will soon be Bitcoining it in.

"If you look at the couple of million Ryan Reynolds has put into Wrexham, what we're looking to raise would be far, far higher than that," he says.

The goals are ambitious and trying to reach them may include a name change - he has already set up a website for Real Bedford.

But Bedford FC are currently not even the biggest team in the Bedfordshire market town at the moment, with Bedford Town two tiers higher in the football pyramid, so there is an immense amount to do.

Why Bedford?

Peter McCormack hosts the What Bitcoin Did podcast

Last weekend, League Two club Bradford City turned down a takeover bid by US cryptocurrency investors WAGMI United.

So why does McCormack want to get involved in football at such a lower level? The reason is simple, he is a Bedford boy.

"I wasn't really aware of Bedford Town growing up, it wasn't something my dad would take me to go and see and I wasn't a Luton fan or a Watford fan and felt no affinity to those places. Being a kid, I picked Liverpool as my team, which is obviously a long way away," he told BBC Three Counties Radio.

"I always felt Bedford as a town could support a league club - we're a population of 134,000 people, so I always wanted to buy one of the local teams and have a go at trying to get them into the Football League."

McCormack, who said on Twitter that his plan was "to get our club into the Premier League, nine promotions" when he announced his takeover, is dreaming big, but is certainly not approaching the project as a wide-eyed innocent who cannot see the pitfalls.

"Absolutely this might not work, but if you're going to go out and do a project like this, I think you have to be ambitious, you've got to have big goals and I'm not going to take over a football club and say that my goal is two promotions," he said. "What kind of ambition is that?

"My ambition is to bring league football to Bedford, the town I'm from and the town I love, and to give something to the people around here. You have to have an ambitious target, I think it would be embarrassing not to say you want to do something good."

Benefits of Bitcoin

Bitcoin is a virtual or digital currency which can be used to buy products or services and is not controlled by governments or banks.

McCormack says 150m people around the world own Bitcoin and he intends to use his contacts to tap into that potential funding source to help the club climb through the leagues, as well as boosting local grassroots football.

"The people in the Bitcoin community are very supportive of this, they want to buy shares, they want to buy hoodies, they want to buy t-shirts. I've already closed a significant amount of sponsorship," he said.

"We've got a target revenue for year one - when I say year one I mean the rest of the season and next season - of £1.5m to £2m of revenue which we can certainly do from selling merchandise online and selling sponsorship to the Bitcoin companies, and that money would then be invested in the team and local football.

"I've been sitting down with some of the major players in Bitcoin, people who are considerably wealthy, and I've been pitching them the dream. So far, everybody I've spoken to wants to put money into this.

"We are looking to raise what would be considered a staggering amount for a club of this size."

• LISTEN to BBC Three Counties Radio interview with Peter McCormack

What's in a name?

Bedford FC have won 10 of their 21 league games this season, losing six

Any change of name for the club will have to wait until the end of the season.

But how did Real Bedford emerge as an option for a new identity?

"The name itself was a bit of a joke to begin with because we thought we might have to establish a new club rather than purchase a club and so my team wondered what we might call it.

"We were just having some fun, 'let's call it Real Bedford a bit like Real Madrid' and that's kind of stuck with us," explained McCormack, who says he has already agreed one sponsorship deal worth £150,000.

"It's not 100% confirmed that will be the name next season, it might still be Bedford FC, it might be Bedford United but the name's kind of stuck and it stands out.

"It's a bit like when [David] Beckham named Miami Inter Miami. I don't think there's anything wrong with having a bit of fun with the name."

How long will it take?

McCormack is not setting a timescale for turning his dream into Real-ity - but the project has two distinct phases: local, advancing to the National League, and national by reaching the Premier League.

And manager Jason Goldman and assistant Martin Wells now have the task of guiding Bedford FC to the first step towards it, promotion from South Midlands League Division One.

Any pressure they may now be feeling will not have eased following Saturday's 6-1 defeat by Northampton Sileby Rangers, which left Bedford seventh in the table.

Speaking before the game, McCormack said he had assured Goldman he would not interfere with the "day-to-day running" of the team.

"He's responsible for the team and results, but I will give him any support he requires. If he explains to me the players we need to sign then I will help him go out and sign those players," he continued.

"That said, it's a results business and he and the players will know that we're in this to climb through the leagues, to bring league football to Bedford, and we will put the people in place who can do that."

McCormack admitted he has gone into the project "fairly green" and is still coming to terms with what is involved in running a football club.

But he said: "My role in this is really marketing and fundraising to give a platform to climb through the leagues.

"In terms of the day-to-day running I'm surrounding myself with people who are experienced in running football clubs, who understand non-league football."

McCormack plans to "outreach internationally" to help the club turn the dream into a reality - but if financial support is not going to be a problem, what is?

"The one thing we can't guarantee is results on the pitch," he added.

"You know what football is like. You might have the best players, but you still might not gather the results. That's the unknown variable for us, but financial support for the club and grassroots football in Bedford, that bit is pretty easy."

Peter McCormack was speaking to BBC Three Counties Radio's Ollie Bayliss

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