Wilfried Zaha and Stormzy takeover of AFC Croydon Athletic would be 'a great opportunity'
- Published
Wilfried Zaha was raised in Croydon and a mural of the 30-year-old forward is on the wall of a house opposite Crystal Palace's Selhurst Park stadium
A proposed takeover of AFC Croydon Athletic by a consortium which includes Crystal Palace forward Wilfried Zaha will "raise the profile" of the club.
The Rams play in the ninth tier of English football.
"One of the things from our point of view is exposure," chairman Paul Smith told BBC Radio London.
"There are people who live quite locally who don't know we're there. It clearly provides a great opportunity for the future and the area."
Rapper Stormzy, who has had three number one albums and won three Brit awards, and former Palace head of player care Danny Young complete the three-man consortium.
Both Ivory Coast international Zaha, 30, and Stormzy - whose real name is Michael Owuo Jr - grew up in the south London borough.
"The very nature of their involvement has been to start to raise the profile," Smith said,
"We've had interest from a lot of young people who are interested in joining our teams, and enquiries about shirts and season-ticket sales.
"It's also about providing opportunities to the young people who live and are growing up in a challenging area, densely populated and multi-cultural with its own issues.
"Over the weeks and months to come there will be an opportunity for them to set out what their vision and plans are more clearly. It is about how you build a sustainable club for the future."
Croydon 'a hotbed of talent'
AFC Croydon play at the Mayfield Stadium in Thornton Heath and finished 15th in the 20-team Combined Counties Premier Division South last season.
The club has been supporter-owned since being founded in 2012 after Croydon Athletic folded.
"We're tucked away behind the Mitcham Road Cemetery. Some supporters refer to a ground as 'The Crem' because it's in the shadow of the crematorium," Smith said.
"Operating a club at step five (of the non-league pyramid) is tough. Costs have increased.
"The club is absolutely unanimous that this is the right direction to go. As supporters who were running the club we want to see the club have success - and that's not just as a first team.
"Predecessor incarnations have been a couple of levels higher in their history. It would be great to get back to that.
"But that can only really be a proper success if we're also doing all the other things and are able to provide the opportunities for young people, and that they can share in that in that journey.
"It really is a hotbed of talent and we need to give them the opportunity to shine."
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