Ipswich Town chief executive Mark Ashton has revealed pop star and minority shareholder Ed Sheeran was instrumental in persuading a player to join the club last summer. Sheeran, a

boyhood fan of the Whites, signed a shirt sponsorship deal in 2021 and bought a minority stake in the club by the summer of 2023.

The 33-year-old insisted at the time that he would not be involved in running the club. However, Ashton has revealed another key role:

“Over the summer we tried to persuade a player to join and we realised very quickly that he was a huge Ed Sheeran fan,” Ashton said during an event in the US midweek.

“Shortly before Ed went on stage with Taylor Swift he video called the player in the hope that he would be instrumental in the decision.”

Ashton refused to name the player, saying only: ufabet http://ufabet999.app “Obviously the player at the moment He’s scoring a lot of goals for us,”

Sheeran and Swift performed a joint Wembley concert on August 15, a day before Championship top scorer Sammy Smodichs joined the Reds from Blackburn Rovers. Smodichs,

29, has scored three goals in 11 appearances for his new club and, after his spectacular bicycle kick helped the Citizens to a 2-1 win at Tottenham Hotspur before the international break, posted a photo of himself with Sheeran, who was at the game to celebrate.