Larne chairman Gareth Clements admitted he thought Kenny Bruce was mad when he first talked about his plans to revitalise the club.
Bruce's takeover of the club took place in September 2017 but Clements revealed there were some raised eyebrows whenever the businessman first talked of taking the club into Europe within three years!
It was understandable given the club's recent history as they floundered at the wrong end of the Championship.
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But they need not have worried, for just as Bruce built up his own successful business, he realised his vision at Inver Park, albeit a year later, as Larne did make it to the European stage.
The project has been about so much more than just football though, as Clements explained, a smile has been put back on the town as a whole.
“Kenny had been approached to put a few pounds in to try and buy the club," he explained.
"After I met him it was then going to be £5m and we're gonna be in Europe in three years!
“Listen, everybody thought he was mad, but he’s just so engaging that you buy into him.
“When I saw the plans that had been put together within a week, I knew the man was serious.
“One thing he made very, very clear to me at the start was that yes it was great for football, but it wasn't just trying to build a football club to win trophies, but it was more about building the town again.
“He wanted to put a smile on the face of Larne town and give people something to cherish and something to hang on to because Larne, we feel, was underinvested in over the years.
“I said when we got out of the Championship four years ago that when we came in, I just thought the town, the club, the ground, everything just needed a hug.
“And that's that's very much the way it was and we've done that."
The project is far from over though despite another one of Kenny's targets of bringing Champions League to Inver Park set to be realised in a few months time.
“Yeah, 100% this is the start; European football is what we aspire to at the start of every season," said Clements.
"That's the minimum expectation we would have now.
"That night we opened the stadium with the Rangers XI and Kenny went on TV having told us to play everything down.
“And he came over and straight on TV and said we're going to have the Champions League music here in three years!
“I went upstairs and said ‘Aye, thanks, pal!’ But listen, we've done it [won the league], but we're very, very grounded as a club.
"There’s so much we still want to achieve. We've just set out our new five-year plan.
“Yes, Kenny has given us money and he has given us a basis from which to build but we have to make that sustainable and that's what we're doing.”
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