ByChris PeddyBBC Sport, London & South East<\/p>\n
Updated 52 minutes ago<\/p>\n
YouTuber KSI has bought a minority stake in Dagenham & Redbridge and says he wants to take the sixth-tier club to the Premier League.<\/p>\n
Daggers announced on Tuesday that long-serving managing director Stephen Thompson would stand down, external<\/a> from his role and position on the board at the end of March.<\/p>\n The club were relegated to National League South at the end of last season and are currently 13th in the table with 49 points.<\/p>\n "I'm so excited to start this journey. It's gonna be a rollercoaster for sure but I hope to bring Dagenham & Redbridge back to the glory days," KSI told the club's website. , external<\/a><\/p>\n "And once we reach that point, I want to go even further. Reaching the Premier League would be a dream. And I believe it is 100% doable. <\/p>\n "It will take a long time, so to the Daggers fans, please be patient. <\/p>\n "I want you to know that I am fully committed to making sure Dagenham & Redbridge is a team that everyone will know worldwide, and will be an exciting team to watch and support."<\/p>\n The club called the involvement of the 32-year-old "its most significant strategic partnership to date".<\/p>\n KSI, whose real name is Olajide Olayinka Williams Olatunji, rose to fame as an online streamer and has more than 17m subscribers to his YouTube channel.<\/p>\n He is also a musician, former boxer and a current judge on Britain's Got Talent alongside Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Alesha Dixon.<\/p>\n Dagenham & Redbridge was formed in 1992 with the merger of two clubs – Dagenham and Redbridge Forest – and were promoted to League One for the first – and only time – in their history in 2009-10 but were relegated the following season.<\/p>\n They dropped out of the English Football League in 2015-16 and were relegated to National League South on the final day of last season.<\/p>\n KSI joins former England, Newcastle and West Ham striker Andy Carroll in investing, external<\/a> in the club, following the recent takeover by Happy Fan Group Ltd.<\/a><\/p>\n Carroll, 37, joined Daggers on a free transfer<\/a> in July.<\/p>\n Outgoing managing director Thompson has been made honorary life president after 45 years with the club.<\/p>\n Thompson joined the club's management in 1981, before the merger in 1992, and became MD in 2007. He was awarded an MBE in 2013.<\/p>\n He has also served on the board of the National League and has been a vocal advocate for the league's "3 Up" campaign, which would see a third promotion and relegation place added from the fifth tier to League Two.<\/p>\n "Firstly, can I say that it has been a privilege to have been associated with the club for so long and the part I have been able to play over the years," he said., external<\/a><\/p>\n "But with the takeover by the Happy Fan Group, I feel it is the right time to step down and hand the reins to the new owners.<\/p>\n "As a lifelong supporter first, I wish them the very best for the club. I am also extremely humbled and honoured to have been made the club's honorary life president, and I thank the new board for their generosity."<\/p>\n KSI buys minority stake in Dagenham & RedbridgeImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, KSI is a co-founder of the YouTuber group Sidemen and a co-owner of Prime HydrationByChris PeddyBBC Sport, L…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":8772,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-decor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8771\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}'Time feels right to step down' – Thompson<\/h2>\n
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