BY JOHN DAVIDSON
Motor finance and investment magnate Jeremy Levine is the man bankrolling Sheffield Eagles as they plan a path back to Super League.
Today the Eagles publicly announced a joint venture in partnership with non-league football club Sheffield FC to build a new multi-sport 5,000-seater stadium in the Meadowhead site in the city. You can read more about the plans here.
Levine owns stakes in both Sheffield FC and Sheffield Eagles, after being appointed as a director of the Championship club in August 2019.
Levine’s control of the Eagles expanded in June last year when his son Jack became a director.
It is believed he owns a majority stake in the club.
rugbyleaguehub.com Long Reads understands Levine, whose current directorships have a combined turnover of around £139 million, has big plans for the rugby league outfit.
Apart from the new stadium, the Eagles are aiming for high to get into Super League by establishing Super League men’s, women’s and wheelchair teams, along with Physical Disability and Learning Disability sides.
One of Levine’s companies, Evogo, a car leasing firm, is the main sponsor of the Eagles and has been for several seasons. Evogo is valued to be worth around £75 million.
The 54-year-old owns several cafes and bars in Yorkshire, as well as investment properties, and is the director of motor finance company Evolution Funding, which is valued at around £209 million.
According to Evolution’s website, Levine has an engineering degree from the University of Birmingham and started his business career in 1992 with Baxter Healthcare in product development, sales and marketing.
“Jeremy then led a small team in a charity fundraising and Guinness Word Record breaking adventure driving a taxi 21,691 miles from London to Cape Town and back,” the bio reads.
“Jeremy then joined Lombard Motor Finance as a graduate trainee, progressing from Account Executive through Sales Manager and finally Area Manager, responsible for the largest region within the company – 50 members of staff, generating and underwriting £120M+ turnover and £20M+ dealer funding…Jeremy founded Evolution Funding in December 2002 and has loved the journey ever since.”
Levine’s investment in the Eagles has seen them quietly put more money towards players with full-time professional experience in the past 18 months, with former Super League players such as Jesse Sene-Lefao, Ben Jones-Bishop, Kris Welham, Izaac Farrell, Kyle Wood, Alex Foster, Eddie Battye and Mitch Clark joining the club.
Sheffield have also been in the market and made attempts to sign the likes of Peter Mata’utia and Liam Watts.
According to sources, in August Levine had a lavish private birthday, tagged as ‘JezFest’, where the British band Madness were paid to perform.
One source, who knows the businessman well, said: “He’s a very good guy, he’s sound. Jeremy’s got lots of fingers in lots of pies.”
Levine owns 19% of Sheffield FC, which competes in the Northern Premier League Division One East, the 7th division of English football.
Both Levine and Sheffield coach Mark Aston have both been approached for comment by rugbyleaguehub.com Long Reads.
The plan for the new stadium, which has yet to be approved by the council, is for it to be ready by August 2025.
Aston said in the statement: “Sheffield Eagles are very excited to be part of this joint venture with Sheffield FC and to be at the heart of this world-class development, which at the heart will have a stadium that meets the Super League criteria to assist us in our aim to return to the top flight.
“Sheffield Eagles have grown immensely in the last three years thanks to the work of the Eagles Foundation and the planned facilities will also be a home for our Women’s, Wheelchair, Learning Disability and Physical Disability teams. It will also allow us to further develop homegrown talent and provide a base for our already large community programme.
“The development will bring very valuable sporting facilities to the Sheffield sports scene and open up several opportunities for sports outside of football and rugby league to be involved and provide enjoyment as both spectators and participants.
“With Sheffield FC being the world’s first football club and Sheffield Eagles about to celebrate its 40th anniversary, both clubs have an enormous amount of heritage to bring together and I am pleased that the plans will see that history captured under one roof.
“With league positions making up only 20 per cent of the RFL’s Club Grading Scoring matrix, the development of facilities and the ability to improve our commercial footing and build a solid base for the community aspects of our operation are an absolute priority for us. This development gives us an opportunity to drastically improve our grading and we hope that the entire city can get behind and share in the initiative!”
Sheffield Eagles were founded in 1984 and were a founding member of Super League in 1996.
The club fell out of the top division in 1999 after an ill-fated merger with Huddersfield, and reformed in 2000.
