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Inside the ‘Bitcoin club’ targeting the Premier League – and where it leaves their neighbours
Rob Tanner
Nov. 13, 2025 5:10 am GMT



The champagne flowed in the home dressing room as the players of Real Bedford celebrated a third consecutive league title under manager Rob Sinclair and promotion at the end of last season.

But it was the tall identical twins spraying the bubbly who drew the focus. “Wink-le-voss! Wink-le-voss!” came the chant from the players who had just secured elevation into the seventh tier of English football.

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The billionaire entrepreneur twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss — who fought a legal battle with Mark Zuckerberg over who actually conceived the idea of Facebook and invested their subsequent $65million (£49.6m) payoff in the cryptocurrency Bitcoin — had been unaware of English football’s unique non-League structure, from the Premier League to regional feeder leagues, when first approached by Bitcoin podcaster Peter McCormack over a potential investment in the club from his hometown of Bedford, around 50 miles north of London.

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The brothers had sponsored McCormack’s hugely successful podcast, What Bitcoin Did. They were so impressed by his plans to take a side from the depths of England’s non-League pyramid into the Football League (the three tiers below the Premier League), investing in and growing the club while improving the playing squad to secure promotions up the divisions, that they agreed to invest $4.5million in Bitcoin in February.

But it was really only from the moment they flew in on their private jet to join a crowd of around 1,500 for a Southern League Division One Central title-clinching game against Kings Langley in April, securing elevation from tier eight, that they were truly hooked.

Now the twins had even loftier ambitions for their new investment.

Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss appear on Fox Business' 'Wall Street Week'
Entrepreneurs Tyler and Cameron WinklevossAstrid Stawiarz/Getty Images
Under McCormack, Real have risen quickly and are now just three promotions away from the Football League. Their rise and ambition have been compared to that of Wrexham under the celebrity ownership of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney. The Welsh club also enjoyed three consecutive promotions to jump from the National League (the fifth tier) to this season’s Championship, within touching distance of the elite of English football.

McCormack has always wanted to see a club from his hometown reach the Football League, but the Winklevoss twins believe the Premier League is actually a realistic target.

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Real’s unconventional approach to building the club has attracted a level of cynicism.

Bitcoin is controversial. It is unregulated and decentralised, and users can trade anonymously, making it a potential source of money-laundering and criminality. McCormack openly admits he was introduced to the cryptocurrency when using it to buy cocaine during a time when he was struggling with a failing marriage, and subsequently to buy medicine for his mother as she was dying from cancer.

He has now overcome his addictions, and continued to invest in Bitcoin to become a millionaire.

Real’s emergence under his ownership is also challenging the established footballing order locally, as Bedford Town, formed in 1908, have seen their status as the biggest club in the area threatened.

The Athletic went to Bedford to talk to McCormack about Real, a failed merger with the neighbours, the club’s use of Bitcoin and what the future holds, as well as to spend time at Bedford Town to gauge their reaction to the ambitious team who have sprung up on their doorstep.



McCormack is sitting in the modest clubhouse at Real’s Ledger Stadium talking about the Winklevosses’ investment ahead of a tie against Stamford in the FA Trophy, English non-League football’s premier knockout cup competition.

“My initial contact with them was in Austin, Texas,” explains the Real chairman. “We were having a beer. I told them the idea: get the club into the Football League. And I think it was Tyler who said, ‘What’s that?’ I explained the structure (of English football) and he said, ‘Why don’t we go for the Premier League?’

“So I said, ‘Alright!’ I made it the goal, and everyone laughed at me. I sounded like an idiot. But after three promotions, we are a third of the way there. If we win another three in the next seven years, we will have reached the Football League in 10 years.”

Peter McCormack congratulates his manager Rob Sinclair after a 3-1 victory against Enfield in February
Peter McCormack, right, congratulates Real Beford manager Rob Sinclair after a 3-1 win against Enfield in FebruaryTom Jenkins via Getty Images
The day the Winklevoss twins visited for the Kings Langley game has cemented their commitment to McCormack’s vision.

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“It was amazing,” he says. “They turned up on their jet, came in, toured the ground, watched the game and when we won the league, they celebrated with the players all night. I think they really understood at that point because they’ve been so dialled in since.

“We speak nearly every week, and they are always asking how we are progressing.”



To put the ambition into context, Real Bedford — a name inspired by the branding of Lionel Messi’s MLS team Inter Miami — were known as Bedford United and then plain Bedford FC, and would only attract a handful of people to watch their games in the sixth tier of non-League amateur football (the 10th level of the English football pyramid overall).

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The Ledger Stadium sits in the shadow of larger and more established neighbours, Bedford Town, a club who have also tasted two promotions in the past two seasons and are now competing in sixth-tier National League North, one division above Real’s new kids on the block.

In fact, as you walk out of the Real dressing rooms at The Ledger, Town’s pitch is immediately to your right — closer than Real’s one. A stray shot in the Real game would land on Town’s turf but for a large row of trees.

The two grounds share a driveway.

The view of neighbouring Bedford Town’s pitch as you walk out of Real’s tunnel
The view of Bedford Town’s pitch as you walk out of Real Bedford’s tunnelRob Tanner/The Athletic
With such close proximity, it would be logical for the clubs to join forces and make their respective Football League dreams closer to reality, but the rivalry runs too deep.

“I wondered why Bedford didn’t have a Football League club when I started looking about eight years ago,” says McCormack. “I spoke to Bedford Town and even made a bid for them four years ago, which was rejected. Then we proposed a merger (last season). There are only so many people in this town (the population of the borough of Bedford is 185,200) and we are fighting over an audience.

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“We are sustainable long-term. I made an offer to merge, but their fans hated the idea. It was never going to work, so we pulled out.

“We’re new with fresh ideas. Just a bit different. We’re exciting. We invest in the town schools. We’ve got a women’s side (who have won two promotions and are two divisions away from the Women’s Super League). We want to build an academy to give opportunities to local boys and girls. We’re a proper, modern football club.

“So I think unfortunately, at some point, we overtake them (Town), and that’s going to make life even more difficult.”

The message 'We are Bedford' adorns the players' tunnel at The Ledger
The players’ tunnel at the Ledger StadiumTom Jenkins via Getty Images
Town’s approach is certainly more conventional.

Like most non-League clubs, they are run by a committee of local businessmen headed up by former player Jon Taylor. They still have a significantly larger matchday attendance at The Eyrie, averaging around 860 for home games.

They also have history on their side, especially in the FA Cup, the oldest knockout club competition in the world, where lower-league and non-League clubs can progress to eventually face the biggest teams in the country. Town have previously taken on Arsenal, Newcastle United and Everton, as well as other professional sides.

Recently, the club spent nearly £1million on a new UEFA-standard artificial pitch which allows for community use and additional revenue streams, and they have also started a youth academy.

Despite rising so quickly themselves, they are now 14th in the 24-team National League North, a division that contains former Football League clubs Chester, Darlington and Hereford United, and their aim is to consolidate.

Spectators make their way through the turnstiles at The Eyrie, Bedford Town's home ground
Spectators make their way into The Eyrie, Bedford Town’s home groundTom Jenkins via Getty Images
“We’re really realistic — we’re punching a bit above our weight,” says club secretary James Smiles. “We need to keep our feet grounded, make ourselves a football club that is good at this level. Sustainable. We’re not reliant on big investors or something like that. We just don’t have that. We’re relying on the people of Bedford getting behind us and enjoying it.”



A merger would have united Town’s traditional approach and Real’s new wave, but an agreement couldn’t be reached before an FA deadline for the current season. If it had been, Town would have had to step down to join Real in their division.

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“I was glad it didn’t happen,” said James Edmunds, who is secretary of the Bedford Town Supporters’ Club having been a fan for 30 years. “Objectively, you could make a case that one club with bigger resources at the same level is better than two, but at what cost? It would have meant the loss of my club’s identity.

“Non-League is special, because the clubs are smaller and you feel closer to it. It feels more yours. It is on your doorstep and is part of the community. I don’t want to lose that.”

View of the main stand at the Ledger Stadium
The Ledger StadiumPaul Harding – The FA/The FA via Getty Images
That left each club ploughing their own furrow.

McCormack, who previously worked in advertising and marketing in London before investing in cryptocurrency, makes no bones about the fact his club are backed by Bitcoin, which exists only in digital form and is not overseen by any bank or government, even if the day-to-day financing of Real remains more conventional, in sterling through local sponsors and matchday revenues.

Being tagged ‘The Bitcoin Club’ was a key selling point when McCormack — a libertarian who has forged a reputation for interviewing controversial figures on his other podcast, The Peter McCormack Show — approached the Bitcoin community for sponsorship.

“The first two years of funding the club, we just really did well and made profits, and got £500,000 over five years for our front-of-shirt sponsor, which is unheard of at this level,” he says. That constituted a record deal for a club outside the Football League. They were all Bitcoin sponsors.

“I rang around all the companies I knew and told them what we were going to do. ‘We will be The Bitcoin Club — do you want to be a part of it?’ They all said yes. And so the first two years were profitable.”

Peter McCormack, wearing a baseball cap, watches Real Bedford from the main stand at The Ledger
McCormack watches on from the back of the stand at The LedgerRob Tanner/The Athletic
McCormack, who owns 53.5 per cent of the club, with 45 per cent owned by the Winklevoss twins, says that, as well as the shirt sponsorship deal with Gemini that was paid entirely in Bitcoin, the club has now sold £300,000 in merchandise. Their branding, the skull and crossbones — inspired by a visit McCormack made to the Oakland, now Las Vegas, Raiders of the NFL — has proved popular, especially with American fans, some of whom fly to the UK and attend games.

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“That Raiders game was, like, rock ’n’ roll and hostile. I loved it,” says McCormack.

The influence of American sports culture extends to the music played before and during the game. Again inspired by his experience at a Raiders game, the players run out to Metallica’s Enter Sandman and AC/DC, the songs pumped out by McCormack himself on the decks in the back of the stand in one of his many matchday roles.

This is something of a family affair, with brother Neil now club secretary, father Gerry the kitman, and son Conor vice-chairman.

A Real Bedford skull and crossbones accompanied by the slogan 'We are the Pirates'
Real Bedford are known as ‘The Pirates’Rob Tanner/The Athletic
According to McCormack, the club had a turnover of £640,000 last season but spent £1.3million as their playing budget doubled and investments were made in the infrastructure, although to achieve their ultimate goals, a move away from their present ground, which they rent from the local council, will be key.

This season, McCormack estimates Real could lose up to £900,000, but he says the club are still on a sound financial footing as investments in Bitcoin continue to rise. This reliance on cryptocurrency, with its potentially volatile nature, provoked some scepticism in football circles, but McCormack believes it is a more prudent form of investment — for all that there have been Bitcoin bubbles where the value has risen and then crashed on several occasions, the most recent, between 2021 and 2024, following the global pandemic.

“When we take the investment, we turn it into Bitcoin,” says McCormack. “That’s been good for us. We took £3.6million in Bitcoin. What we hold now is over £6m. And we spent some of it. So it’s been a sensible decision.”

It wasn’t the funding model that initially had Lui La Mura, the club’s former owner, dubious about selling up. Rather, it was the scale of McCormack and the Winklevoss twins’ ambition.

“Initially I thought it was too much, 100 per cent,” says La Mura, who also runs a boxing gym, which doubles as a conditioning area for the team, and remains a mentor to the club. “But they convinced me, and now I am 150 per cent convinced the club is in good hands.

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“I kept my eyes on what has been happening, and it is all going in the right direction. With the backing and what is going on behind the scenes, they are going to good places. The Premier League may be a stretch but the Football League? Definitely.”

Close up of the pitch at the Ledger Stadium
The Ledger StadiumPaul Harding – The FA/The FA via Getty Images
Real have adapted to their new division well. Victory at Stamford last weekend lifted them to third — which would be good enough for a place in the promotion play-offs at the end of the season — in the Southern League Premier Central. McCormack is convinced they will achieve that goal of reaching the Football League, too.

“It is not an if but a when,” adds the chairman. “The goal was to do six promotions in 10 years, and we have done three in three. We can do three more. Then… who knows?”

As for neighbours Town, there is the prospect of Real being in the same division as them next season, heightening a growing rivalry.

“I think it’s fair to say we don’t feel very warmly about them,” says Edmunds. “They have come up very rapidly from a lower level and have a massive amount of money, apparently, and an owner who is very self-confident, shall we say, and talks a lot about their ambitions.

“Non-League clubs are competing for attention and resources, not just against other clubs but other things that people may spend their money on. So having another club on the doorstep at a similar level to us isn’t really helpful.

“There is very much the feeling on this side that they are a one-man club — Peter McCormack FC. They don’t have a particularly big fanbase: we don’t hear them when we are playing at the same time.

The entrance to the Ledger Stadium just behind one of the stands of The Eyrie
The entrance to Real’s Ledger Stadium is just behind one of the stands at Town’s Eyrie homeTom Jenkins via Getty Images
“It would be annoying if they overtook us and changed the natural order, but ultimately those who follow Bedford Town are only concerned with Bedford Town and want the best for our club. The rest is their (Real’s) business.

“We wouldn’t say no to becoming a Football League club ourselves, but success and sustainability… one shouldn’t come at the expense of the other. We just want there to always be a Bedford Town.”


Rob Tanner
By Rob Tanner
Leicester City Correspondent
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Rob Tanner
Rob has been a journalist for twenty years and for the past ten he has covered Leicester City, including their Premier League title success of 2016. He is the author of 5000-1, The Leicester City Story. Follow Rob on Twitter @RobTannerLCFC

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K

Kae S.
· 7h 51m ago

The attempts at balance in this puff piece are shocking. No mention of McCormack's open promotion of neo-Nazi Tommy Robinson, just "controversial figures." Nor his failure to challenge said Nazi on his conspiratorial and racist ramble about Bedford's supposed Muslim-run cocaine trade. Nor his treating Bedford as a "libertarian" experiment, using extra judicial private security to patrol the streets who largely just harass the homeless. And on the footballing side a club funded by a crime ridden, environment destroying pyramid scheme threatening an established and community rooted club is treated as if it's a matter of one simply being more ambitious than the other. Disgraceful client journalism of the kind becoming far too common to this outlet.


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John S.
· 7h 47m ago

USA loves that sort of thing, so no surprise but very poor as you point out.


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Ted F.
· 5h 51m ago

@Kae S. Bedford Town are still the better team thankfully. Not by much but there should still be a division between them next season as Harborough are going up automatic. Who does that 'Tommy' cunt support anyway? I thought he was a Maccabi Tel Aviv fan?


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B

Bj M.
· 40m ago

@Kae S. Haters gonna hate. Keep crying


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Andrew C.
· 27m ago

@Bj M. great comment


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Matt S.
· 8h 42m ago

This 'libertarian' is a vessel for bringing American far-right populism to the UK, whether he knows it or not. Some will welcome it but it's very dangerous stuff. A lucky bet on Bitcoin got him rich and into the spotlight but it's his utility to the people pushing this agenda that will keep him there. And some football will get played in the meantime.


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Kae S.
· 8h 0m ago

Oh, he absolutely knows it. As you've hinted at, there's nothing libertarian about him or his pals. Just the misapplication of a pretty irrelevant term normally used by people who are conservative hypercapitalists. What's this "libertarian's" beliefs on freedoms for LGBTQ+ people, women, or ethnic minorities? Freedom for me (to accumulate as much money as possible through exploitation) but not freedom for thee (to live your lives in ways my Evangelical buddies don't like).


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Andrew C.
· 8h 7m ago

More international week nonsense.

But well done for feeding McCormack’s already gargantuan ego.


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Adam M.
· 7h 58m ago

@Andrew C. This seems unfair, it’s a good article with thoughts from both side of the divide in Bedford. Just because you don’t like the man doesn’t mean the article is ‘nonsense’.


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Andrew C.
· 6h 11m ago

@Adam M. it's just another puff piece.

It does at least acknowledge that there is another club in the town, granted, but it's hardly a flattering portrayal compared to the hero worship of Crypto Pete.


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Edward V.
· 8h 1m ago

Unfortunately it's very very cringe


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Tom W.
· 6h 20m ago

I hate everything about this


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Jamie C.
· 6h 18m ago

From selling Bitcoin to buy cocaine, cancer meds and then finally a football club. The true American dream right there.


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Alex M.
· 6h 10m ago

Just down the road from MK, that part of the world really is like Mecca for dubiously rich men wanting to play at Football Manager.


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Matthew D.
· 4h 3m ago

Very much a Bedford Town FC fan after reading that


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Matthew D.
· 3h 59m ago

Interesting that they use the skull and crossbones, like St. Pauli. Can't imagine two more polar opposite clubs.


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Alex F.
· 2h 39m ago

@Matthew D. True, Bedford's fans probably don't celebrate psychopathic genocidal communists


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Lalo B.
· 15m ago

@Alex F., wow...weird take on football supporters. Every club has extremist fans.


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Jonathan M.
· 7h 47m ago

Bitcoin = Shitcoin


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Anonymous U.
· 6h 29m ago

Raw intellectual genius! Can I follow you for more financial advice?


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R

Ruairi O.
· 4h 48m ago

@Jonathan M. Raging you didn’t get in on the scam, eh?


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Jacy L.
· 4h 32m ago

“Bitcoin is controversial. It is unregulated and decentralised, and users can trade anonymously, making it a potential source of money-laundering and criminality”

Right! Because money laundering and crimes are NEVER done in fiat money.


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John H.
· 3h 17m ago

@Jacy L. Yes but you can use actual money for, you know, other things


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Graeme L.
· 3h 52m ago

Aren’t these lads all cunts though?


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Elizabeth S.
· 47m ago

When I think about crypto and sports, my mind immediately goes to those dolts who threw green dildos at WNBA games. They don't care about sports. They should use the motto: "Crypto Bros: We're a Bunch of Dicks"


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Mark W.
· 7h 49m ago

Re: Bitcoin, it's commonplace for journalists to unwittingly promote the fact governments can't print it (like they do with fiat currencies and thus inflate away our savings) so good to see The Athletic on board with this.

From a football perspective it's all very old v new like something from a modern The Mayor of Casterbridge. Ripe for documentaries and shitty goal music.


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Ruairi O.
· 4h 46m ago

@Mark W. As well as spinning the lie / trope that Bitcoin is anonymous, despite every transaction being recorded on a public ledger. Yawn…


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Chris K.
· 6h 11m ago

"Real" Bedford. Nonsense.


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Timothy V.
· 3h 30m ago

As an American and later in life fan, I find the depth of the football leagues in Britain very impressive.


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Cameron D.
· 7h 30m ago

Interesting club and story. Clever marketing move by Peter to capitalise on first mover advantage.


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Tom T.
· 6h 57m ago

Putting the rights and wrongs of Real Bedford to one side, the historic lack of a Football League team in the town is quite jarring given its size.

One of the factors that will hold back both Bedford Town and Real Bedford is that the grounds are about 3 miles outside of the town centre - think Leeds or Coventry but 2-3 divisions below the Football League. Building any sense of community capable of sustaining a Football League club with that setup is going to be challenging.


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Andrew C.
· 6h 9m ago

@Tom T. Bedford has always historically been a rugby town. Although Bedford Town did pull in good crowds for their level prior to their initial demise in 1982, particularly through the 1950s and 60s.


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Carole P.
· 4h 39m ago

@Tom T. Elland Road is about a mile from the station, easily walkable and hasn’t put anyone off that I can think of.


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Tom C.
· 4h 1m ago

As a recent mover to Bedford - it feels an exciting time for our town! I do feel that Real are bigger with younger generations - loads of kids in town in kits, but Bedford Town will always have loyal support! 2 Step 2 teams would be great - I feel ground is limiting factor at the moment for growth for Real - interesting to see if they can get a shared ground agreement! Think Mr McCormack loves the hate as well, and all publicity is good publicity!


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Matt W.
· 3h 12m ago

didnt the owner recently have tommy robinson on his podcast, tells you all you need to know.


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O

Owen R.
· 3h 5m ago

“Invested in Bitcoin.” Are you having a laugh?

The correct term is “speculated.” Learn the difference.


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