{"id":1244699,"date":"2022-11-05T15:29:02","date_gmt":"2022-11-05T15:29:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/11\/05\/kenny-bruce-larne-owner-says-he-has-invested-5m-and-club-is-becoming-sustainable\/"},"modified":"2022-11-05T15:29:02","modified_gmt":"2022-11-05T15:29:02","slug":"kenny-bruce-larne-owner-says-he-has-invested-5m-and-club-is-becoming-sustainable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/11\/05\/kenny-bruce-larne-owner-says-he-has-invested-5m-and-club-is-becoming-sustainable\/","title":{"rendered":"Kenny Bruce: Larne owner says he has invested \u00a35m and club is &#8216;becoming sustainable&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div data-reactid=\".16irq1dpzxy.0.0.0.1\">\n<figure class=\"gs-u-mt0 gs-u-mb-alt+ story-body__media story-body__media--figure qa-story-body-media story-body__media--lead\" data-reactid=\".16irq1dpzxy.0.0.0.1.$image-0\"><span class=\"gs-u-display-block story-body__media\" data-reactid=\".16irq1dpzxy.0.0.0.1.$image-0.0\"><span class=\"gs-u-display-block gs-o-responsive-image\" style=\"padding-bottom:56.25%;\" data-reactid=\".16irq1dpzxy.0.0.0.1.$image-0.0.0\"\/><\/span><figcaption class=\"gel-brevier gs-u-ph+ gs-u-pv-alt story-body__media__caption story-body__media__caption--image\" data-reactid=\".16irq1dpzxy.0.0.0.1.$image-0.1\">Kenny Bruce took over Larne in September 2017<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p role=\"introduction\" class=\"qa-introduction gel-pica-bold\" data-reactid=\".16irq1dpzxy.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-1\"><span data-reactid=\".16irq1dpzxy.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-1.0\">Kenny Bruce has revealed he has invested \u00a35 million in Larne during his five years as the club\u2019s owner.<\/span><\/p>\n<div data-reactid=\".16irq1dpzxy.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-2\">\n<p class=\"\" data-reactid=\".16irq1dpzxy.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-2.0\"><span data-reactid=\".16irq1dpzxy.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-2.0.0\">The co-founder of an online estate agency took over the then-Championship outfit in September 2017.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"\" data-reactid=\".16irq1dpzxy.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-3\"><span data-reactid=\".16irq1dpzxy.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-3.0\">On Friday night he was speaking at half time of <\/span><span data-reactid=\".16irq1dpzxy.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-3.$link-2.0\">a 4-1 home victory over Crusaders<\/span><span data-reactid=\".16irq1dpzxy.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-3.3\"> which returned Tiernan Lynch\u2019s side to the top of the Irish Premiership table.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-reactid=\".16irq1dpzxy.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-4\"><span data-reactid=\".16irq1dpzxy.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-4.0\">\u201cWhat has come into the club so far is about \u00a35 million,\u201d he told BBC Sport.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-reactid=\".16irq1dpzxy.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-5\"><span data-reactid=\".16irq1dpzxy.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-5.0\">\u201cWe are in a really good, sound financial position. We have got no debt, we own all of our facilities and we don\u2019t have to pay rent to anyone else, so we are in a good solid position to move forward.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-reactid=\".16irq1dpzxy.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-6\"><span data-reactid=\".16irq1dpzxy.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-6.0\">Asked if Larne would be sustainable if it were not for his own personal investment, the native of the East Antrim town said he feels positive about the direction the club is heading.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-reactid=\".16irq1dpzxy.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-7\"><span data-reactid=\".16irq1dpzxy.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-7.0\">\u201cEvery single month we are getting closer and closer to sustainability,\u201d he continued.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-reactid=\".16irq1dpzxy.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-8\"><span data-reactid=\".16irq1dpzxy.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-8.0\">\u201cOf course, developing players and securing transfer fees for those players is going to be very, very important, as is getting into European football. But from our perspective we are seeing really good signs that it is becoming sustainable.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<figure class=\"gs-u-mt0 gs-u-mb-alt+ story-body__media story-body__media--figure qa-story-body-media\" data-reactid=\".16irq1dpzxy.0.0.0.1.$video-10\"><span class=\"gs-u-display-block story-body__media\" data-reactid=\".16irq1dpzxy.0.0.0.1.$video-10.0\"><span class=\"gs-u-display-block gs-o-responsive-image\" style=\"padding-bottom:56.25%;\" data-reactid=\".16irq1dpzxy.0.0.0.1.$video-10.0.0\"><noscript data-reactid=\".16irq1dpzxy.0.0.0.1.$video-10.0.0.1\"\/><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"gel-brevier gs-u-ph+ gs-u-pv-alt story-body__media__caption story-body__media__caption--video\" data-reactid=\".16irq1dpzxy.0.0.0.1.$video-10.1\">Watch: Larne crush Crusaders with four first-half goals<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3 class=\"story-body__crosshead\" data-reactid=\".16irq1dpzxy.0.0.0.1.$crosshead-11\">\u2018Laying solid foundations\u2019 with new Academy of Sport <\/h3>\n<p class=\"\" data-reactid=\".16irq1dpzxy.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-12\"><span data-reactid=\".16irq1dpzxy.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-12.0\">Larne secured promotion to top flight by winning the Championship in 2019, and have finished in the top six in each of their three Premiership seasons \u2013 playing in Europe for the first time in 2021.   <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-reactid=\".16irq1dpzxy.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-13\"><span data-reactid=\".16irq1dpzxy.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-13.0\">Bruce was speaking on the day when the club officially launched its new \u2018Larne Academy of Sport\u2019 facility.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-reactid=\".16irq1dpzxy.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-14\"><span data-reactid=\".16irq1dpzxy.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-14.0\">Formerly known as the Cliff, it has become the training base for the first team, full-time scholarship programme and academy teams, while also being used for community events and by other sporting organisations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-reactid=\".16irq1dpzxy.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-15\"><span data-reactid=\".16irq1dpzxy.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-15.0\">\u201cIt really shows that what you can do when you get public money with private money and the community support. It is going to be a facility that all around Larne are going to benefit from,\u201d Bruce commented. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-reactid=\".16irq1dpzxy.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-16\"><span data-reactid=\".16irq1dpzxy.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-16.0\">\u201cWe tried to make sure that we laid really solid foundations and have invested very heavily in making sure that all the facilities are top-class.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-reactid=\".16irq1dpzxy.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-17\"><span data-reactid=\".16irq1dpzxy.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-17.0\">\u201cWe also want to make sure that the academy, scholarship and educational programme is progressing as well. I think fundamentally we have got lots of things in the right place, and we are going to continue to try and grow and develop. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-reactid=\".16irq1dpzxy.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-18\"><span data-reactid=\".16irq1dpzxy.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-18.0\">\u201cOur scholarship programme is really, really developing. We are stating to see the early signs of developing one or two players coming through, so we are super-excited.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kenny Bruce took over Larne in September 2017 Kenny Bruce has revealed he has invested \u00a35 million in Larne during his five years as the club\u2019s owner. The co-founder of an online estate agency took over the then-Championship outfit in September 2017. On Friday night he was speaking at half time of a 4-1 home [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1244701,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1244699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1244699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1244699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1244699\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1244699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1244699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1244699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}