Barry Hearn is most famously associated with turning snooker, darts and boxing into television spectacles that attract millions of viewers. Even at the age of 78, the founder of Matchroom remains one of the most identifiable promoters in world sport. While his achievements in combat and cue sports dominate headlines, his involvement in football is less widely publicised, yet it is equally compelling.
In March 1995, a teenage Hearn who first watched Leyton Orient when he was 11 stepped in to rescue the club from the brink of insolvency. He purchased the club for a symbolic £2.43, a gesture that signalled both personal nostalgia and a willingness to intervene when a community asset was at risk. Over the next decade, Hearn invested heavily in the club’s infrastructure. By 2007, three sides of Leyton Orient’s home ground, Brisbane Road, had been completely rebuilt.
By 2012, he had eliminated all outstanding debts and reportedly poured roughly £8 million into the club’s operations and facilities. The 2013‑14 season saw Orient reach the League One play‑off final, a rare opportunity to ascend to the second tier of English football. The match, held at Wembley, ended in a dramatic 4‑3 penalty shoot‑out loss to Rotherham United.
Within two months of that disappointment, Hearn sold the club to Italian entrepreneur Francesco Becchetti, stepping away from football for nine years while focusing on his other sporting ventures. In July 2023, the Matchroom brand resurfaced in the football world when it agreed to sponsor the home shirt of Brentwood Town, a club competing in the Isthmian League North Division and located just three miles from Matchroom’s headquarters.
The partnership deepened the following year when Hearn acquired a minority stake in the club, and in the summer of 2024 a five‑year strategic alliance and a "significant investment" were formally announced. Chairman Jez Dickinson recalls the serendipitous beginning of the relationship: "The reason Barry came over initially was we were doing something for Saint Francis Hospice, which he is a patron of, and he sat next to me for a game. It was an entertaining game and Barry said afterwards, 'I'm never going to sit next to you again, Jez!
Every time the ball went into the box, you were going up for a header and elbowing me in the side!' Barry is very much about passion and wearing his heart on his sleeve, so that's probably where we connected. We had some lunches and, after about the third one, he asked me what I wanted. I said obviously I wanted him to get involved, but I wanted him to get involved because he wanted to get involved, not because I was asking him – and he said he'd do it." While Hearn’s name naturally attracts attention, Dickinson has been the driving force at Brentwood Town since taking over as chairman in May 2019. He describes the club’s condition before his tenure as lacking a clear pathway for youth players, featuring a bar that resembled a 1970s pub, and an ambition limited to merely staying in the league.
Under his leadership, the club installed a brand‑new 3G artificial pitch in the summer of 2024, captured the Isthmian North Division title in the 2024/25 season, and reached the play‑off final the following year, narrowly missing promotion to the National League South. A cornerstone of the club’s recent progress is its Centre of Excellence, which now serves 250 boys and girls aged six to twelve. Dickinson stresses that a robust youth system is essential: "It's hollow if that isn’t there." After seven years of laying foundational work, the addition of Hearn’s involvement offers the prospect of elevating Brentwood Town to a new level. The partnership operates on a surprisingly informal yet purposeful basis.
Dickinson explains, "I speak to him probably once a week, maybe twice. It depends what's happening. He's hands‑on in as much as he's available for anything we talk about. We'll sit down every couple of months, look at the financials, how we're getting on.
He loves his numbers! Though he's a minority shareholder and he owns some of the club, he doesn't want to run it.
He says: 'I look at you, Jez, and you're stressed enough, I don't want any of that!' According to Dickinson, Hearn’s presence raises the club’s ambitions subconsciously. "What he does is actually raise the bar, subconsciously, for what I want to achieve. We'll have a catch‑up at Matchroom and it is quite inspiring and you come away thinking, 'let's go for it'.
I don't underestimate that. It's probably ten times as important as the financial stuff he does – not that I don't want the financial support as that's really important! He's a fantastic ambassador for the club as well as a sponsor and partner.
I was speaking to a potential partner recently and they said they were interested because if he's committing to five years, he doesn't do things by halves and won't give up easily. It creates confidence with us and people looking to be partners." Brentwood Town currently sit 18th in the Isthmian Premier Division after eight league games, drawing an average crowd of just under 700 spectators. The club’s ambition is to push that figure to 1,000 by the end of the season.
Plans are already in motion for a new 1,000‑seat stand, but the development hinges on the completion of the purchase of the Brentwood Centre Arena, a prerequisite for further stadium upgrades. Looking ahead, Dickinson envisions the five‑year partnership as a catalyst for climbing the English football pyramid. "Barry decided on a five‑year partnership to drive the club to the highest level of the pyramid possible.
Hopefully after those five years, there'll be another five years! Realistically, if we're playing National League football in five years, that will be pretty successful for us. That would be excellent.
It shows how much faith he and Matchroom have in us – it's down to us to deliver," he says. In summary, Barry Hearn’s involvement with Brentwood Town illustrates how a high‑profile promoter can leverage his experience, financial muscle, and personal charisma to transform a modest non‑league side. By combining strategic investment, mentorship, and a genuine passion for community sport, Hearn and Matchroom are helping to lay a sustainable foundation that could see Brentwood ascend through the divisions, attract larger crowds, and secure a brighter future for its youth academy. The partnership underscores the potential for well‑structured collaborations between established sporting entrepreneurs and grassroots clubs, offering a template that other local teams might emulate as they strive for growth and stability.
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