24 Stories Podcast
S.2 Ep.17 - Building a Family Business to Buying a Football Club with Dermot Usher
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Episode notes
The proud new owner of Cork City Football Club joins one of their fans Stephen to talk about taking over the club, as City gear up for kick off in their first game of the season. Dermot Usher, an avid League of Ireland fan, bought the club this year fulfilling his goal to get involved in football.
Dermot's career however started with a number of jobs from a bank to telesales before he stepped into the family business Sonas Bathrooms which he took eventually over with his brother at the age of 23, following his father's passing. Sonas Bathrooms had paved the way as one of Ireland's premium bathroom providers due to their focus on customer experience, providing smart initiatives for both buyers & commercial providers from their home catalogue, to virtual showrooms & online tutorials. Over 30 years the company has seen the challenging times of the 2008 crash & the pandemic but Dermot saw it's turnover grow exponentially from €300,000 in his first year to almost €50 million today. He eventually sold the business but remains on the Board of Directors.
It was during his early retirement he was approached to purchase a number of clubs in the League of Ireland. During his time at Sonas he had sponsored a number of clubs but purchasing a club wasn't on the cards at the time. He eventually bit the bullet & bought Cork City Football Club this year. Although he's a Dub at heart, Dermot has great plans in the pipeline for City & has ambitious aims to build the club to a bigger & better scale as they return to the Premier Division this season. Tune in to hear more.
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