A decade after the "most bitterly opposed football club takeover the English game has known, the foreign investors in the country's clubs have collectively more than doubled the value of those clubs," according to Nick Harris of the London DAILY MAIL. In the Premier League and Championship combined, there are 27 clubs of 44 (61%) with a foreign owner or co-owner, "with 33 different parties with a collective fortune" of £69.85B ($107.87B) involved. Of those clubs, 24 are controlled by foreign owners, who collectively paid £2.765B for those clubs, now worth an estimated £5.788B ($8.94B). The phenomenon of overseas speculators buying up English football "has defined the past decade." Before ManU owners the Glazers, "only Roman Abramovich in search of a plaything at Chelsea, had arrived in such a way." The Glazers demonstrated "there was no legal reason why they couldn't own and run" ManU from Florida, on "borrowed money" heaped onto the club, "and there was plenty of upside." They paid £790M for the club "and today, using stock market values," its value is £1.65B ($2.55B), an increase of £860M ($1.3B). Many supporters "argue the Glazers have been bad" for ManU. But elsewhere, notably at Chelsea and Man City, and also at Southampton and -- for now -- at Watford and Bournemouth, "foreign owners and their cash have transformed the fortunes of the clubs, literally and figuratively." One "key finding" is almost all the foreign-owned clubs -- "bar Leeds, Birmingham and Fulham -- are worth at least as much now and generally more than foreign owners paid." If that "says nothing else, then it shows clinical detachment in most cases, assessing an asset, getting it cheap, and trying to sweat it." As "the Glazers have" (DAILY MAIL, 5/10). REUTERS reported an "uneasy truce" between ManU fans and the Glazer family is in place "as the 10th anniversary of their ownership approaches." When the Glazers bought ManU "it sparked a fans' revolt but the
Americans are now reluctantly tolerated, a situation that will be helped
by a return to the Champions League next season amid progress under
Dutch coach Louis van Gaal." Much of the "deep hostility from the supporters towards the Glazers
remains," although the fact that the club has "generally enjoyed success
since their arrival has quelled some of the more vehement opposition
among the huge fanbase" (REUTERS, 5/10).
