Ed Sheeran was about to join Taylor Swift on stage at a concert over the American summer when he got a call from his favourite football team.
It needed his help to sign a player.
Sheeran, the British pop star, is a minor shareholder at Ipswich Town, which returned to the English Premier League this season for the first time since 2002.
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Ed Sheeran, pictured here in 2018, secretly helped sign a key player to his favourite football team. (AP)Turns out he is more than just an investor and lifelong fan. He's now part of Ipswich's recruitment team.
"In the summer [winter in Australia], we were trying to persuade one particular player to join the football club and realised very quickly that he was an Ed Sheeran fan," said Ipswich CEO Mark Ashton, speaking at a Soccerex industry event in Miami.
"Ed jumped on a Zoom call with him at the training ground, just before he stepped on stage with Taylor Swift. Hopefully that was a key part in getting the player across the line."
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Ashton didn't disclose the player in question, saying only: "He's certainly scoring a few goals."
Sheeran and Swift were on stage together at a show at Wembley Stadium on August 15, a day before Ipswich signed Sammie Szmodics from Blackburn.
Szmodics was the top scorer in the second-tier Championship last season, and after scoring from an overhead kick in Ipswich's 2-1 win at Tottenham this month, he posted a photograph of himself with Sheeran on Instagram.
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"Overhead kick, Win & a smudge with big ed. GET IN THERE," Szmodics, an Ireland international, wrote.
Sheeran is Ipswich's most famous supporter and has been the club's shirt sponsor since 2021.
His status as a minority owner grants him access to an executive box at Ipswich's Portman Road stadium and he is regularly seen at matches.
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Ipswich hosts Manchester United on Sunday in a match notable for being Ruben Amorim's first in charge of United.
Ashton spoke highly of Sheeran at the Soccerex event, saying with a smile: "He's a local man, a global superstar, sponsor of the football club, now a shareholder and now officially a part of our recruitment team."
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