Stand aside, Wrexham! Hollywood could now head to Burnley with Kealia and JJ Watt

Beyond Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, there’s a new star duo making waves in English football.

Sporting couple JJ and Kealia Watt confirmed their investment in Burnley at the beginning of the month ahead of the club’s return to the Premier League and are ready to follow in the footsteps of the Hollywood actors by expanding the fan base across the United States. States and beyond.

Burnley and Wrexham may be three divisions apart, but when it comes to things beyond the football field, there are striking similarities. Both clubs are located in working-class towns where tradition and community are central. Glamorous? Not really. But that’s not why the Watts are here.

“People have told us before ‘it’s a great place, but it’s a little rough around the edges,'” Kealia tells Mail Sport.

‘We came here and we thought ‘we love this!’ We couldn’t believe how beautiful it was.

Kealia and her husband, retired NFL hero JJ, were inspired by Wrexham’s story

JJ Watt retired earlier this year – here they are pictured together at an Arizona Cardinals game

“We had spoken to Alan Pace (Burnley’s chairman) many times and we liked his vision. He’s so smart and he’s done so well at the club.

“We’re big Vincent Kompany fans too and we came here, met so many great people, we just fell in love with it. We were able to talk to Vincent for a long time and just listening to his vision and his view on life and football, it suited us perfectly.’

It is Kealia who has the soccer background, having made three senior appearances for the US National Team and enjoying an 11-year career in the National Women’s Soccer League before taking a break after giving birth to son Koa in October.

Husband JJ is a retired NFL legend and future Hall of Famer, but has always had a keen interest in English football. The pair spoke with Reynolds and McElhenney before making their investment and the goal is to replicate the success of the Hollywood duo by growing an American audience and integrating with the community.

“That’s been JJ’s vision from the start,” says Kealia. “With this situation it’s a bit easier because Burnley are going to the Premier League. There are a lot of Premier League fans in America, I think it’s growing.

“But not many people know Burnley or really know the story and don’t know what’s going on here. When we started this, we talked about Burnley used to be known as this rough, tough team that was combative and would fight for 90 minutes.

‘What Vincent [Kompany] has done in such a short time is incredible.’

An important part of Kealia’s role will also help grow the women’s team, which will be fully integrated with the men’s line-up in 2021, and there are ambitious plans to reach the Women’s Super League.

The couple’s exciting move to bring investment to Burnley was revealed last month

Kealia – a former US international – has plans to help Burnley’s women’s team grow

Here, Kealia is pictured alongside Lola Ogunbote, Burnley’s general manager

Alan is very keen to invest in the women’s team. I think the most important thing is to just get them promoted and I know it’s harder said than done. It must be slow growth.

“In America, we’ve seen twice now that a lot of money was put into it and just thrown together and it failed. You really have to build it up slowly and recruit the talent and then get them paid and paid enough.”

The women’s team, which is two divisions below the WSL, recently played their first game at Turf Moor and thanks to a lucrative partnership with TikTok, all of their home games were live-streamed, with 1 million unique views over the season.

General manager Lola Ogunbote explains: ‘In two years the club has been very good at supporting the plans and vision I have to professionalise and provide an environment where the women feel part of the club and not a token gesture .

“The mantra for Burnley is one club for all and the women’s team is very much under that banner and it’s my job to make sure it stays that way.”

Watt is unsure whether she will play herself again, but could she be tempted to play for Burnley?

“We talked about it the other day, JJ was like ‘just come play, come try it out!’ That would actually be very nice,” laughs the 31-year-old.

“I have a six-month-old baby, so I trained and tried to come back, but it was really hard.

“I’ve torn my ACLs and recovered from that and had injuries, but it’s a completely different thing because you’re trying to work out and you’ve got a baby now and that’s your biggest focus and concern.

Kealia and Ogunbote already have a growing bond as they make big plans for the future

Wrexham’s success with Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney could now come to Burnley

JJ and Kealia with the England Championship trophy – Burnley now return to the Premier League

“But it’s really cool to see women around the world not having to retire when they have a baby if they don’t want to. I remember at the beginning of our competition in the NWSL, when you had a baby you were done, you couldn’t play anymore.

“There just wasn’t enough support and there wasn’t really a way to find out. Now we have more than 14 women [in the NWSL] games that children have. It’s really cool to see growth and people like Alex Morgan and so many players in our league have done an incredible job advocating for our rights.”

Watt hopes her experience in fighting for equality in the women’s game will be of value in Burnley’s progress as a club.

“I think it’s so important that there are women involved who know how hard it is to be in football. It’s really a man’s world and we have to fight every day for equality and it’s getting better and better, but it’s still nowhere near where it needs to be.

“In every club I’ve been to, even in America, the men came first. So you have to have people willing to go to the owners, to the people in charge and say we earn as much as the men – you need people to fight for you.’