Olly Murs reveals why he got involved and played with non league club Coggeshall Town, opening up on his personal life earlier this week.
Many know him for being a singer/songwriter, as well as a dancer, television presenter and voice actor, who first came to national attention for coming second in the sixth series of The X Factor in 2009.
He is currently signed to RCA Records and Sony Music UK in the United Kingdom, and Columbia Records in the United States. He’s had four number one albums in the UK with the other two charting at number two. 17 of his singles have also charted in the top UK singles chart.
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However some may not realise that Olly Murs is also involved with Essex non league side Coggeshall Town – a club he played for in 2016.
Fast forward to present day and you’ll find him currently a director of the club – who sit 13th in the Isthmian League North Division.
Speaking to Heart Bingo, Murs, who has four UK number one singles, said: “My uncle was also a manager there, and my uncle would often babysit me there as a kid growing up.
“I love the club and it gave me a chance to get away from the madness of the celebrity part of my life.
“It gave me a chance to be part of the real world again, being part of a proper football team.
“It’s great, I love being around all the boys, dressing room banter and the feel of watching football every Saturday. I love it. It’s kind of like a hobby. It gives me the chance to do something I love other than music.”
In 2018, Olly Murs hoped to lead his side to Wembley, with Coggeshall Town playing in the FA Cup for the first time in their 140-year history back then, and the furthest they’ve got since then was the Third qualifying round in the 2018/19 campaign.
He said a few years back: “We are buzzing. We are finally playing in the FA Cup. We are the oldest club never to have played in the competition, so this is massive for us.
“When I first got involved as a sponsor, we were playing on park pitches and used subs — or players who had been subbed — as linesmen and we didn’t have floodlights.”
Murs, once a striker at Witham, got involved with Coggeshall after he was invited to help by his uncle and former Colchester midfielder John Pollard.
He says: “John was helping Graeme, a long-term friend, as his assistant and he asked if I could help by sponsoring the kits and tracksuits.
“So I got involved and would go down to the club, train and play with them, to keep myself fit for the various Soccer Aid events I do.
“After I finished the recording and tour cycle for my album 24 Hrs, Graeme asked if I could fund the floodlights and I said, ‘Yeah, of course’.
“Then around 18 months ago, Graeme sat me down and said, ‘You’ve been a lot more involved over the last year or so, how do you feel about being an owner of the club with me? We can do it 50-50’.”
Again he spoke on how he loves non league football and Coggeshall provides him an escape from his normal working environment, which he is highly critical about.
He said also in 2018: “I’m down-to-earth even though people look at me and think, ‘Oh, Olly Murs, the popstar, the singer selling albums and doing tours’.
“But on the inside, I’m that normal Essex boy from Witham. So when I come down to Coggeshall, it’s just me, the lads and football, having fun.
“It’s a nice release from an industry full of fake people, who tell you what you want to hear, the ‘Yes’ people.
“To get out of an industry like that and be among real people, I love it.
“And that is the non-league. Fans can mix with the players, manager and chairman in the bar after a game. You feel part of it.
“I go to Manchester United and know and talk to manager Jose Mourinho — but even I don’t feel part of it there. It’s impossible to be connected to something as massive as United.
“Yet at Coggeshall, everyone is. I train with the lads when I get a chance.
“I was in Dubai last week working, landed back at Heathrow at 3pm, went home, got changed and went training. It helps to keep me normal.”
He explained: “Reaching the first round for a club like ours is like winning the competition itself — but to get into the third round would be like winning the Champions League.
“We have got a three or four-year plan to push the club on. We’re discussing doing a documentary about the club and there are other exciting things in the pipeline.
“But we won’t over-extend financially. We give the chance for lads to earn £100-a-week or whatever to top up their day-job wages so that can help pay bills or even buy the girlfriend some nice clothes or dinner. That’s what we do.”
He added: “Obviously my music career comes first and I get a lot of banter like, ‘Oh Murs isn’t here this week, he is a part-timer’.
“I just say, ‘Well to be fair boys, if it wasn’t for me working, you guys wouldn’t be getting paid’.”
Fair to say he’ll be hoping one day that his side can reach the proper stages and maybe even that third round tie against a top flight outfit.
In March 2021, Olly Murs issued a statement on behalf of Coggeshall Town Football Club after the first team manager collapsed at home.
In the statement Murs said he is “stable” but the next few weeks are “critical in his recovery.”
The post reads: “Regrettably, we are able to confirm the news that Graeme Smith was taken into hospital on Friday 26th February after collapsing at home.
“He is stable, however the forthcoming weeks are critical in his recovery so we ask that you respect his family at this difficult time.
“Coggeshall’s players, staff and fans all send him our well wishes. Olly Murs – Co-owner, Coggeshall Town FC.”
A year later, Smith is doing much better and is still director of the club who had endured some tough times like many at their level due to Covid.
They will be hoping for good times under the management of former footballers Stuart Nethercott and Karl Duguid. Who knows what the future holds – but we have our fingers crossed!
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