He rode to see his new team in the back of a limousine, watching his first match from an enviable perch inside the owner's box at Pride Park, home of Derby County Football Club.

For Game 2, vows Calgary billionaire Wilson, it won't be a luxury box where you'll find him cheering on the 124-year-old English soccer club, of which he is now the largest shareholder.

Wilson wants his next seat to be among the fans -- those boozy, boisterous British supporters who bleed black-and-white, Derby's official colours.

"I watched them from the owner's box and I said, 'next game, I'm sitting in that corner,' " said Wilson, co-founder of FirstEnergy Capital, and now a panellist on CBC's Dragons' Den show. "It was wild to see, the fans were going crazy -- police were pulling fans out, one or two a minute. It was amazing.

"That's where I want to be, absolutely."

For a North Battleford kid raised on Roughrider Pride, finding a group of fans even more rabid than Saskatchewan CFL fans was an eye-opener -- he'd taken the helm of Derby as an investor, but quickly became a convert.

"It's like 'Rider Pride, but notch it up a bit -- it's a sport of hooligans, but the best hooligans in the world," said Wilson, who now watches every game live via a private computer feed.

That a Canadian is now the team's major owner was a secret until yesterday, when the 51-year-old Calgarian was unveiled as the money behind Michigan-based General Sports and Entertainment, which bought Derby for $97 million in January.

At the time, Derby was in the basement of the 20-team Premier League, and Wilson says he was well aware the team was bound for relegation to the Championship division when he signed on.

They've played a solid game in their new division, earning points in each of their last six games -- and their new owner says he's happy to back a lower-tier team like Derby.

"I would almost argue the right place for the team right now is to be competitive in the Championship, though of course, the ego place to be is the in the Premiership," said Wilson.

As the latest foreign investor in English football, Wilson was the catalyst for criticism yesterday, when FIFA president Sepp Blatter told European reporters he's concerned over outside investors snapping up top U.K. teams, "...like you buy a shirt or whatever."

Wilson doesn't disagree, at least when it comes to investors who've snapped up well-known teams like Manchester United and Chelsea for "ridiculous" sums as high as $270 million.

He says sinking money into Derby isn't about having his name in the news -- "the club has almost no public profile in Canada," -- it's about making a long-term investment in a team with a deep fan base and a healthy future.

"The Premiership is all about egos and big boy's toys, the Championship is where real investments are made," said Wilson. "This was a business decision with fun wrapped around it."

And while he may know plenty about business, Wilson admits his knowledge of British football was lacking, even as he stepped into the limousine for that first game versus Manchester United.

And then he met the driver.

"My knowledge of British football went up exponentially during that limousine ride, from London to Derby," said Wilson.

"I asked the driver to tell me a bit about football, and during that three-hour drive, he covered every aspect of the game imaginable -- history, teams, players, you name it.

"It was like getting a sip of water from a fire hose."

His plans for the future, as you'd expect, are grand.

The team already has a revamped uniform -- Wilson says "kit," like a proper Brit -- and many of his marketing ideas are pulled straight from North American sports, from corporate box seats to stadium sponsorship.

He hopes that within a few years, Derby is known well beyond its Midlands home.

"There's little doubt we'll be bringing the team to North America," said Wilson, who wants exhibition games against Toronto F.C., and perhaps training camps in the west.

"We're looking at bringing players out for training camps in Western Canada -- it raises awareness of the brand," he said.