Irish FA chief executive Patrick Nelson has hailed the impact of Kenny Bruce at Larne.
Speaking at Thursday's launch of the IFA's new five-year corporate strategy document, Nelson championed the Inver Park supremo for transforming the East Antrim club.
Nelson believes Bruce's support of his hometown team highlights the significant impact investment can have on and off the pitch.
And the Irish FA chief believes the remarkable success story should show the NI Executive that investment in football can promote wide-ranging benefits that stretch beyond the terraces.
"There hasn't been enough public investment in the association, in our grounds," Nelson said.
"If you go back to what's happened in England, for example. Many of us have probably watched the dramatisation of the Hillsborough story, where that was the catalyst for huge amounts of public investment in grounds in England.
"Of course there have been other sources of funding there, but we haven't benefitted from that in Northern Ireland. That's part of the story we have been telling our government for many years.
"If it is built and delivered, it can benefit more social development.
"If I can call out a strength here, to highlight a weakness, I am hugely supportive and I think it is a massive positive what Kenny Bruce has done in Larne.
"He hasn't just invested in the team, he has invested in the ground, club, community and town, and the impact is there."
Bruce, who co-founded property site Purplebricks, purchased Larne in 2017 and has been involved in the regeneration of Inver Park stadium.
The club earned promotion from the Championship to the Premiership in 2019, with the club now fully professional.
Larne FC continues to be a integral part of the town, with Bruce awarded an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours list in 2020 for services to charity and community in the town of Larne and the wider area.
"Kenny has made a huge impact," Nelson added.
"If our government can see, and we're trying to get this point across to them, that if that kind of investment comes from the public purse and goes into other grounds and other towns in Northern Ireland, there will also be the same positive benefits that Kenny and his team have created in Larne.
"And Gareth (Clements, Larne chairman) has been a big part of that as well.
"I think we can turn a weakness into a strength."
