Alex MacQuoid
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Victor Anichebe, who built a reputation as a powerful forward for Everton, Sunderland and West Brom, is now part of a group plotting a takeover at League One club Bromley.
Bromley’s story over the past two decades reads like a blueprint for climbing English football’s pyramid. Twenty years ago the club sat in the Isthmian League Premier Division, seven tiers below the Premier League. Steady progress through non-league football eventually delivered promotion to the EFL at the end of the 2023-24 season, and the Ravens haven’t looked back since. They faced Newcastle United in the FA Cup back in January 2025, a fixture that showcased their growing profile on the national stage.
That momentum carried into last season, when Bromley won the League Two title outright to secure promotion to League One for the first time in their history. Other former non-league clubs, including Burton Albion and Wycombe Wanderers, have gone on to reach the Championship, proof that the path upward exists for ambitious clubs willing to invest.
Life in the third tier has been a mixed bag so far. The Ravens opened with four points from two matches, including an impressive 1-0 win at Barnsley, before reality bit hard. Three straight defeats in the space of ten days exposed the gap in quality: a 7-2 hammering at Sheffield Wednesday, a 5-0 home loss to Leyton Orient, and a 2-0 defeat at home to AFC Wimbledon. Those results dropped Bromley into the relegation zone. A response followed. Four points from their next two fixtures, capped by a 2-1 win over Huddersfield Town before the international break, lifted the club back up to 19th, just clear of the drop.
Anichebe’s role behind the scenes at Hayes Lane
Journalist Alan Nixon reported on his Patreon on Sunday morning that Anichebe already holds a leading role behind the scenes at Bromley, working toward full control of the club. Nixon detailed that Anichebe arranged a training camp in Cheshire for Bromley’s squad during the current international break, a move he described as a prelude to a formal takeover bid.
Anichebe owns Lumira Group, described as a long-term holding company investing in sport, education, healthcare and infrastructure across the UK. talkSPORT reported at the start of August that he was already having an impact on Bromley’s summer recruitment ahead of a proposed takeover.
This isn’t the first lower-division club Anichebe has been linked to. His interest in National League side Gateshead surfaced in March 2025, though that pursuit never materialized into a deal.
What Bromley fans think
Rumours about a possible sale at Bromley have circulated for months, and reaction among supporters has been mixed.
One Bromley fan argued the club already has the right owner in Robin Stanton-Gleaves and expressed worry about what a change in ownership could mean for the club’s identity.
Another supporter shared similar concerns but conceded that new investment might be necessary if Bromley is serious about pushing toward the Championship.
A third fan pointed to Anichebe’s involvement in the summer transfer business as a clear sign that a takeover wasn’t far off.
A fourth fan suggested the collapse of Anichebe’s earlier interest in Gateshead made a Bromley takeover look less certain.
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Weighing ambition against the risk of overreaching
Bromley entered the season as bookmakers’ favourites for an immediate return to League Two, and a couple of results have justified some of that pessimism. Anichebe’s continued presence at the club since the summer signals genuine commitment, but plenty of fans remain uneasy about a sale driven purely by ambition.
Current owner Robin Stanton-Gleaves has quietly overseen one of the most impressive rises in recent English football, and it is fair to ask how much further Bromley could climb under his stewardship. It is equally fair to ask where the club should draw the line on ambition. Overreaching has wrecked plenty of clubs throughout the game’s history, and the costs of getting it wrong can be severe.
No Bromley fan wants to hear their club’s prospects capped artificially. Clubs that have made similar climbs prove the ceiling isn’t fixed. For now, Bromley are still adjusting to life in League One. A few results have shown just how wide the gap between League Two and League One can be, but the Ravens haven’t looked completely out of their depth either.
Stay with TipsGG for continuing coverage as the Bromley ownership situation develops.