Chapter 49 — Pershing Square, Birmingham, and the Birth of a New Idea (2021–2022)
By 2021, Manson’s relationship with Pershing Square had evolved from exploratory conversations into something far more deliberate. What had begun years earlier as informal dialogue about North American sports ownership had matured into a shared philosophy: long-term asset building, infrastructure first, culture second, and competition as the final layer.Pershing Square saw in Manson what few others did — a strategist who thought in decades, not cycles.
The Birmingham City Opportunity
The first major convergence of ideas came through English football.Birmingham City FC represented everything Manson believed modern football ownership had neglected. A historic club. A massive catchment area. Loyal supporters. And yet, underutilised infrastructure, unstable leadership, and no coherent long-term sporting vision.
Throughout 2021, Manson worked closely with Pershing Square advisors to evaluate Birmingham as a case study in football reform:
- Stadium redevelopment potential
- Training ground modernisation
- Academy restructuring
- A data-driven sporting department aligned with European best practices
By 2022, Pershing Square formally completed its involvement in the Birmingham City takeover, with Manson playing a key strategic role behind the scenes. The club became a living laboratory for ideas that would later influence Project 26: licensing discipline, infrastructure mandates, and a clear separation between governance and football operations.
Birmingham was proof that Manson’s thinking worked outside North America.
Conversations Beyond Football
It was during this same period that discussions between Manson and Pershing Square began to drift beyond football altogether.Late-night meetings in New York and Las Vegas increasingly touched on a different question:
What would a truly modern combat-sports organisation look like if it were built like football — structured, regulated, global, and sport-first?
Professional wrestling kept resurfacing.
To Manson, wrestling was one of the last major sports-entertainment properties still operating under a closed, territorial mindset. Despite its popularity, it lacked:
- Transparent rankings
- Weight divisions treated as legitimate competitive classes
- Win–loss records that truly mattered
- Independent governance
By late 2022, the idea had crystallised: a new professional wrestling promotion, built from the ground up with the same principles guiding Project 26 — legitimacy, global governance, weight classes, and sporting credibility.
It wouldn’t be rushed.
It wouldn’t be loud.
And it wouldn’t be announced.
Not yet.
Internally, the project began to take a name — New World Pro-Wrestling.
The thinking was familiar by now. Lay foundations quietly. Build the framework. Secure talent and governance. Let the market catch up later.
Football remained the priority, but something new had begun to form alongside it — another long-term play, driven by the same belief that sport could be better if it was built properly from the start.
By the end of 2022, Manson was no longer working on just one future.
He was shaping two.