NASHVILLE SC CEO TRAVELED TO SPAIN FOR MATCH
NASHVILLE – It was a whirlwind 72 hours for Nashville Soccer Club CEO Ian Ayre this weekend. On Friday afternoon, Ayre flew out of Nashville International Airport, bound for Madrid, Spain to see the UEFA Champions League Final. The match featured his childhood club Liverpool FC taking on Tottenham Hotspur FC in the world’s most prestigious soccer match, and Ayre, along with his son, was going completely as a fan.
That’s not to say that weren’t offers to the contrary. Ayre’s decade-long run with Liverpool, including a few years as the club’s CEO, offered him the opportunity to be as close to the team as he wanted this weekend. He declined all offers, instead wanting to enjoy the experience from an outsider’s perspective—riding the train to the match, sitting in the stands, buying food and drinks at the concession stand.
“This year, I really went as a fan,” Ayre said. “People kindly offered me all sorts of hospitality tickets, and I just said I want tickets in the stands with the fans. I went with my own friends. It was the first opportunity in 12 years to go truly as a fan, go with my buddies, partying before and after. It was just fantastic. The stadium was incredible, the organization was incredible, the atmosphere was to die for.”
Ayre has been present at all five previous Liverpool Champion’s League victories and would not miss an opportunity to see the club’s sixth, especially after a heartbreaking loss in the Final last year in Kiev, Ukraine.
“Kiev was slightly different,” Ayre said. “I was pretty new out of Liverpool at that time, so I’m not sure I had fully detached myself from being part of the club at that point.”
The party started immediately for Ayre on Saturday when he landed in Madrid. After meeting up with his son, the pair joined the Liverpool-specific Fan Fest with the tens of thousands of red-clad fans who made the trip from England and around the world. The city even had its two train lines going to the Metropolitano Stadium in Madrid separated by club, one for Liverpool fans and one for Tottenham fans.
“The train ride out is part of the experience, because it’s literally just full.” he said. “You’re getting on a metro with 2-3,000 Liverpool fans. They’re just singing, and it’s going. It’s quite funny because it is a normal train, so it’s not like they put on a special train that goes straight out. You see these Spanish people in the subsequent stations, and this thing comes in, and not only does this train come in that’s rammed full of people in red and white, but the whole thing is bouncing. There’s people jumping up and down and singing, but it’s just incredible.”
It didn’t take long for the celebrations to begin for Liverpool fans as the team was awarded a penalty in the match’s first minute. A conversion from the spot gave Ayre and all Liverpool fans something to cheer about immediately and stifled any early nerves.
While it wasn’t the most exciting match, Liverpool got its clincher from the run of play in the 87’ minute to give it a 2-0 lead and its sixth Champions League title.
“Complete pandemonium,” he said. “You knew then, right? There was a lot of relief in there…To go take that prize is deserved, but also just a huge relief. There was just complete pandemonium. Drinks going up in the air, just complete chaos.”
Ayre stayed for the trophy presentation, and the normally emotionally-reserved Nashville SC CEO shed a tear as captain Jordan Henderson and the rest of the Liverpool players hoisted the coveted trophy in front of a sea of red.
“I actually started crying when they lifted the cup,” Ayre said. “In 10 years, I don’t think I ever cried at anything, and if you ask my family, they’ll tell me I never cried. Floods of tears just because I think it meant so much to me. It was just the whole occasion, the people I was with, and I’ve been there for all six that they’ve won. After going last year to Ukraine and losing and being in Athens when we lost, I know just how long the journey home is when you lose vs. when you win. It just carried on. We just joined the party.”
By Sunday evening, Ayre was back in Nashville, ready for another week of leading Nashville SC as the club prepares to make the jump to Major League Soccer in 2020.
“I chose to leave, and that’s a different side. You can’t sell your house and ask to take a shower in the bathroom. I think, respectfully, I still keep in touch with a lot of people, Jürgen and others, but it’s at a distance. I had my time. I loved every second of it, but I’m at Nashville Soccer Club now. This is my team. I was there completely as a fan. Got there, made my own way there as a fan, paid my own way to get there, celebrated as a fan, and had the best experience ever.”
