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Dagenham & Redbridge in the Premier League?! | Marwan Serry’s ambitions explained

Dagenham & Redbridge in the Premier League?! | Marwan Serry’s explained ambitions despite the club being in the National League drop zone.

The Egyptian YouTube star and entrepreneur has joined the ownership group and has spoken about plans to reach the Premier League, while also wanting to be the most famous club for people in The Middle East.

They’re currently on the brink of relegation to the National League South, but a new investor at Dagenham and Redbridge hopes that it’ll be them and where he wants to take the club to the very top level.

Marwan Serry, who has over 5,000,000 followers, has just become part of the ownership group at Dagenham, and has joined with UK based vlogger, Salma Mashhour, in an ownership group along with the current club chairman, Daniel Hall.

The three of them faced fans and a Q&A earlier this week.

Marwan said, per Sky Sports: “I’m really excited. I feel like a child playing, FIFA as a gamer, and suddenly it becomes reality.

“So it’s really a big day for me, and I’m proud to be part of it. The stereotype is about an Arab that he have a lot of money, but I’m an Arab, but I don’t have a lot of money actually.

“I have a lot of stuff to do. I have, like, plans to get big, big investments in this club. I want Dagenham to be, like, the most famous club that Egyptians and Arab world supported in English football.

Salma: “We’ve been to lots of different clubs and, like, I’ve been to so so many clubs down to the tenth tier of English football. And I think Marwan wanted a club in London that wore red.

Long term ambitions on the pitch is to eventually reach the Premier League. That’s the dream. But I think short term ambitions is number one, to make sure everyone in the community knows about Dagenham and Redbridge.”

Dagenham’s existing club chairman said: “We’re really happy to be partnered with with Marwan and Salma. And you look at the the renaissance of of Egyptian football right now as well with Salah also staying in Liverpool and Omar Marmoush coming across.

“We think it’s a great area of the world to be partnered with. So investors hope to get to the Premier League in ten years’ time, but this is the reality facing Dagenham at the moment.”

Despite that, their chairman is using Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney as inspiration.

He added: “The Wrexham thing is more appropriate to what what we’re talking about right now. And what I’d really like to see and what Marwan and Salma can help us with is making Dagenham the one of the teams of choice for people in the Middle East as as well as people in the UK.

“And so we love what we have now. We love our fan base. We love what we’ve got here. But being able to add additional fans in different parts of the world, much like if you look at the US with Ryan Reynolds and Wrexham, you know, there’s a lot of US fans of Wrexham now because of the the Ryan Reynolds factor.

“You know, in a sense, it’s replicating that here as well, but only for for a Middle Eastern focus. So plenty of optimism from those in the boardroom that Dagenham will soon be on the rise again.”

And what is the fan reaction to this? Sky Sports talked with a few and they’re not so convinced.

“I’d much rather someone come in and say, do you know what? We just wanna get better every year. If that’s finishing twelfth and then finishing tenth and then losing a playoff quarter final, losing a playoff, let’s just have continual progress.

“Don’t set these lofty ambitions because you put a target on your back. I wanna be excited for it.

“I do, you know, money comes to cover Middle Eastern kind of side of it. You know, it sounds good. It, you know, looks good, but we’re only gonna see results when it comes through.

“Reserve judgment on that. And I think as I mentioned, how much you invested, a tenner? I don’t know. No idea.”

WHAT WAS SAID IN THE CLUB STATEMENT:

Dagenham & Redbridge FC are excited to announce that Marwan Serry, the Egyptian YouTuber and creative entrepreneur, has joined the club’s ownership group alongside Club Underdog.

Marwan is the founder of Arcade, a digital production studio, and the creator of Erza3, a football YouTube channel with over 2 million subscribers and a reach of more than 5 million fans across platforms. His influence makes him one of the leading Arabic voices in global football media.

“Football’s how I’ve connected with people my whole life,” said Marwan. “I feel lucky to join a club with real character and potential. I’m here to contribute and be part of something meaningful.”

Also joining the club in a leadership role is Salma Mashhour, who has been appointed Director of Development & Engagement.

A prominent digital storyteller in UK football, Salma is known for her matchday vlogs covering everything from the Premier League to 10th-tier games. Her content has helped Arabic-speaking fans explore the full depth of the English football pyramid.

“To be heard in football, women often have to go the extra mile — and I did,” said Salma. “What resonates most with Arab audiences isn’t just the Premier League. It’s the system behind it — the pyramid. That’s what makes English football so powerful.”

Salma’s content was instrumental in inspiring Marwan’s interest in the lower tiers of English football, and the duo are now set to bring their creative energy and cultural insight to Dagenham & Redbridge.

“Joining this club is about thinking differently, reaching new fans, and telling the story of Dagenham & Redbridge to a wider world,” said Salma. “I’m especially excited to work closely with the local community on this journey.”

Daniel Hall of Club Underdog added: “We’re thrilled to welcome Marwan and Salma to the club and look forward to working closely with them.”

With this announcement, Dagenham & Redbridge FC deepens its commitment to growth beyond the pitch — expanding its global footprint, connecting with Arabic-speaking audiences, and embracing a new era of creative, community-first football.

Dagenham & Redbridge in the Premier League?! | Fans reacted with Marwan Serry’s ambitions explained…

@LenM4: Dodged a bullet with that one. #lofc

@steveparker1978: Massive concerns over this one, has a lot of the usual red flags, just hope it works out for the fans. Who as always are always the ones left when the owners come & go.

@MattinW00lwich: People will bleat “we need a regulator, this is awful”, but where are the Daggers fans and shareholders in all this? Or the National League? The FA? Same with Dai Yonnge at Reading, he was APPROVED by the “fit and proper person test”. These clubs deserve whatever comes their way.

@Tom_Coughlan: The worst thing about this is seeing the Dagenham fans being laughed at by followers of this random Youtuber as they watch their club slowly die. They’ve fully lost their club now

@E20WHU: This is disgraceful. First, you destroy the team. Upset the players. Sack a manager in front of kids. Now you have a social media influencer to try and promote the club while looking likely to go down to the conference south. Shameful to a club that was built on togetherness

@leewilsonDRFC: Just catching up with the news and feeling overwhelming sadness. Like most, I just don’t want this. I fell in love with a football club that had community at its core, that stuck to its values, that had camaraderie on the pitch and in the stands. We aren’t the biggest, but we never pretended to be. Our ethos saw us excel and it was a magical journey. In trying to replicate, the most misguided of shortcuts are trying to be taken. We will crash and burn in this guise, and it’s going to hurt like hell.

@DaviesFallows: The soul of this football club has been ripped out, and it only took a year to do it. I genuinely have no words. It’s heartbreaking for the true fans that have given everything to watch us across the country. I think most fans can agree this is the most distant we’ve ever been.

@drfcjude: This club has meant so much to be for so long, countless miles watching us get battered in the middle of nowhere. But sadly I’ve never felt more distant, a season of mismanagement and several utterly moronic decisions culminating in a return to regional football

@BavarianRovers: Always the same old same old…. Clueless Clowns about to ruin Community assets which are loved for generations. Doesnt matter If Its Dagenham, Bury, Wigan, Blackburn, Notts Country, Sheffield Wednesday etc etc. The FA, EFL etc. need to have higher standards than”He wears a suit”

@samtheshrimp18: what an absolute shambles. Southend and daggers enjoy a bit of banter, but this is messed up and shouldn’t be allowed to happen. These are our community assets being stolen. #serryout

@MorecambeFCFeed: This is what we’ll end up with now we’re relegated. The EFL did us a lot of good not allowing ‘Johal’ and ‘Momi’ to buy us.

@LRbix: I feel for Dagenham Fans letting this clown run your football club into regional football like this and turning into a circus aswell hope you get yourself sorted

HAVE YOUR SAY

Are you worried or excited for the future of Dagenham & Redbridge? What did you make of that interview? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or tweet us @fan_banter

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