John Thorrington was playing with Huddersfield, in the third tier of English soccer, when it became clear to him that his most important contribution to the sport he loved would come off the field.
The team had gone bankrupt and appeared headed for dissolution when Thorrington stepped forward to represent the players in negotiations with prospective owners. The talks succeeded in keeping the team alive.
“From that day on, that piqued an interest in me of this intersection of business and sports,” Thorrington said.
On Tuesday the fledgling Los Angeles Football Club gave Thorrington a bigger stage on which to explore that intersection, introducing him as its executive vice president for soccer operations.