Recent years have brought great interest in the EPL from foreign investors and billionaires, who, in their own right, want to buy these mostly privately owned companies/football clubs...
Are these investors buying to make money in the long run? or are they simply satisfying a long time dream of owning a richly historic football club and turning it into their toy or 'New Boy-Toy'
Personally i have negative views towards this trend...
as a manchester United fan and follower i was very angry at the approach and hostile takeover by the American Glazer family back in 2004/5.
Manchester United was a publicly owned enterprize with a couple major shareholders...but not owning enough to take control... the glazers then came in and offered garlic bread to the fat...and i am angry at those major shareholders who sold out...and now the money the glazers had to borrow has put the club in serious debt and even with a successful winning seasons the past 3 years, the club is running at a loss because of the interest on the loans.
Last season we saw ex Thailand prime minister, Thaksin, sell to the Dubai based ADUG,
neither of which are English or grew up in football playing cultures. Yet both owners seem to have a fond interest in the league, but not in a specific CLUB, as ADUG had been looking at other clubs to buy. Manchester City has since splashed the cash in the transfer market, now having to pay over-inflated prices for players because of the knowledge everyone now has of the clubs financial backing.
These business juggernauts have billions at hand to invest into the club of choice...but are they doing it for the CLUB or FANS... or simply trying to further their pursuit of SUCCESS outside of the 'business' district... as the Glazers did with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Is it that they are doing it for their selfish desire to be the best in everything they do. Like Abramovic, who's selfish desire for Mourinho to sign friend shevchenko brought some criticism from the fans. But i'm sure they can't complain that much, because Abramovic is at almost every game, and has spent a lot on developing the training and youth facilities of the club.
I'm not sure the trend in other leagues, but the EPL is widely reported, even League 1 team Queens Park Rangers has a billionaire owner so i wonder what we will see from them in the near future. He has however been more responsible than recent buyers and led the club properly as a functioning business, unlike most of the modern buyers, trying to operate being their means.
One has to respect clubs like arsenal, who are open to selling the club but they have been very strict in choosing a buyer. They don't want an American investor but more a local buyer who has the club's interest at heart. Recently the club's major shareholder, Stan Kroenke, has acquired 28.9% stake in the club, needing another .09% to be able to table a takeover bid of remaining shares. It shall be interesting to see what comes of this.
Tell me what ya'll think...and if you know what's going on in other leagues
another team is notts county.. honestly i don't see a problem with billionaires taking control of small clubs like notts county or other small clubs coz it makes more sense.. its almost like building a club from the ground up. but wen it comes on to the established clubs like man utdn these guys are in it only for the $$ and they target the EPL coz its the most lucrative in the world in terms of income.
ReplyDeletedo you think they are taking over the clubs to make money tho? abramovic hasnt made anything in the yrs he's been at chelsea...but they been broadening their reach to USA over the years, so i think they will capitalise on that new market
ReplyDeletei think most are getting in it for the fun of it...not to make money from it
abramovic hasnt made any money off chelsea yet.. but look at the trend, he's spending less each year.. the plan is that chelsea will be profitable in the long term. and bear in mind chelsea today is worth way much more than when he first bought the club.
ReplyDeleteit would be interestign to see how much exactly he has spent and invested into developing, merketing and spending on the club
ReplyDeletehailings....at the end of the day it all comes down to dollars and cents..welcome to the new age of football..if the price is right there will be a buyer.whether we like these billionaires taking over the clubs or not it will still continue. what we must look at is if its a short term or long term investment and what exactly are the conditions of the takeover.
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