League One side Northampton Town is the latest club in Britain to "come under Chinese control and it seems to be making a difference," according to Ian Herbert of the London DAILY MAIL. The club signed a loan striker from EPL side Burnley, paid Scottish Premiership side Rangers £100,000 ($132,100) for a midfielder and beat League Championship side Derby County in a preseason friendly. But selling 60% of the club to sports marketing firm 5USport is "not the coup it seems." The new owners paid around £6M ($7.9M) for the controlling stake, "some of which is likely to have been laid off to other investors." The firm's small offices in Guangzhou suggest it is a "minor player" and, like many of the modest Chinese companies looking to do modest int'l deals like this, it is now "likely" to go back to investors to "help finance player acquisition." Some analysts are "puzzled" by how a club as modest as Northampton will enable the buyers to "leverage substantially more investment." Blackbridge Cross Borders Chair Alexander Jarvis said, "They will go back to their investors and ask for more money, with the offer of bringing the team out to China on tour and other commercial incentives. But Northampton don't have the name." Salford University professor Simon Chadwick said that one of the motives for buying a club no one in China "will have heard of" is "the connection to the networks which Chinese businesses are looking for." Chadwick added, "To a business like this, once you are in, you are a club participating in FA competitions, you might pull a Manchester United in the FA Cup. There will be a route to football, football officials and celebrities in general" (DAILY MAIL, 7/29).
