The much talked about takeover of Manchester City by Sheik Mansour is a great example of how to successfully buy into an English Premier League club.
Many other clubs have had others’ try to do the same, but have ultimately faltered, or left the club in a worse position when they arrived. But the Dubai ruler has shown how to create a successful atmosphere.
There has been continual promises by many clubs that when they get bought out by a rich billionaire, UEFA Champions League football is coming to the club. There are grand footballing plans of greatness, and fans get excited.
The club then buys a few star players, and the new owner expects instant success.
If results don’t at first come, then, typically a manager gets sacked, a new one is brought in, and even more uncertainty divides the playing group. Then, ultimately, the owner gets bored of his latest play-toy, and sells the club, for a profit, or to stave off a loss.
Nowhere else was this seen clearer than at West Ham United.
Eggert Magnusson took over the club in 2007 with the promise of his Icelandic biscuit billions to surge us to Champions League football by 2010. But it all faltered at the first hurdle.
Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano were brought in on dodgy contracts by the previous owner, and the unbelievable transfer deadline double swoop ended up causing mass pain for all involved.
Mascherano rarely played and was shipped off in January because of a guaranteed buyout clause if he played a minimum number of games, and whilst Tevez came good at the end of the season, he needed a good 29 games to get into the swing of things.
Freddie Ljungberg, Lucas Neill, and Luis Boa Morte headed the January spending to attempt to get the club to survive, and along with the recruitment of Alan Curbishley, the final goal was achieved, even if we did get lucky with the FA not slapping a deserved points penalty for fielding ineligible players.
Then the global financial crisis hit.
The Icelandic biscuit billions turned out to be only $1.03 billion, and almost useless when all the major banks in Iceland went broke. Players were sold or paid off (in the case of Freddie Ljungberg) and the club is still reeling from this.
Where Sheik Mansour has got it right at Manchester City is by taking the fans along with the ride. At a time when tickets to the English Premier League are getting ludicrously expensive, the Sheik cut 2009-10 season tickets by an average of seven percent, whilst other clubs were raising prices in these tough times.
It was reported that over two million pounds was spent renovating the club’s website, which, for the average football fan, is an absolute joy to browse.
There are plans to expand the stadium, and the “Welcome to Manchester” poster of Carlos Tevez are all little things that add to attraction of Man City. The development of youth players such as Steven Ireland, who have managed to stave off the imports and demand first team football, are great success stories for the individuals.
It’s a real shame that Daniel Sturridge couldn’t see beyond the money in being a part of something special.
Mansour has repeatedly stated during last season that manager Mark Hughes has the board’s “100 percent backing,” which in a Premier League first, actually meant something, and that he didn’t get the sack after two more losses.
Whether Hughes will remain there during this season if things start to go pear-shaped is unknown, but it was important for the club to survive in their transitional season
Whilst they do have the billions getting in the likes of Tevez, Emmanuel Adebayor, Robinho, Gareth Barry, Roque Santa Cruz, Kolo Toure, and now Jolean Lescott, it has been the little things that has ensured the club has an identity that resembles the fans, and not the owner.
It is a lesson that should have been learned by Sulaiman Al Fahim, whose supposed takeover of Portsmouth has seen them sell players in order to stave off administration.
With only a week left in the transfer market and still no signs of anything concrete happening, the future looks bleak for the 2008 FA Cup winners.
Freud of Football
Roar Guru
Sturridge went to Chelsea because Man City's recruitment drive will force them to play a 3-2-5 with all the forwards they have. He didn't get the chances he deserved at City, they had plenty of games last year where they could have thrown him into the deep end but chose not to, preferring to sure up midfield rather than blooding some youth players. His management would have recommended he leave, that he ended up at Chelsea shows how talented he is but he just wanted to go somewhere where he will get some game time so good on him, that he'll earn big bucks while his at it, well he must be stoked.
Freud of Football
Roar Guru
Clubs are being sold to owners who cannot handle the clubs financially. We've seen the Liverpool owners have to sell off their other franchises just to finance loans, that's where the real difference is. Abramovich is filthy rich, Mansour is richer than some countries. They can sneeze at their investements into their respective clubs. But Mike Ashley, Randy Lerner, The Liverpool Consortium, The Glazers and the various Businessman who bought up Birmingham, Leeds, Pompey etc. are rich, but they don't fall into the category "more money than sense" as the aforementioned Abramovich and Mansour do. Too many owners are ploughing too much of their money into the clubs, Ashley was "only" worth 1.2 Billion, buying Newcastle was putting too many eggs in one basket so of course as soon as things start to go wrong and 15% of his fortune (financial crisis adjusted) is invested in Newcastle, the rich businessman kicks in and he tries to cut his losses. Only the Super-Mega-Rich can afford to role with the punches. While Portsmouth isn't completely broke, they're looking like another Leeds and it's going to happen more and more with rich investors becoming poorer investors. To them football is business.
pernunz
Roar Rookie
I ended up talking a bit too much about West Ham, so didn't want it to run too long. 1. A key example of the owners putting the fans first is putting the highlights to the league games available on the mcfc.co.uk website for anyone in any country to view. Pretty much every other club website requires some sort of subscription for ClubTV or interviews. 2. Not really sure how to reply to that 3. Man City offered a contract to Daniel Sturridge, which he rejected and joined Chelsea because of the higher wages. Given who Man City have bought/brought (interchangable there) in, it may actually be a positive move in terms of actual game time for him. 4. I would have suggested that Lerner was the best owner, until I saw the display from the Villa fans against Wigan, booing their players off after one half of football. Villa fans have been promised to break in for so long, but their squad as been thin, and juggling multiple competitions with their thin list last season was probably a bridge too far for them. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was my first article, but I'm glad you enjoyed it
whiskeymac
Guest
nice article. some quick thoughts being:- (i) good to see the tickets are affordable unlike many of the other clubs. is this because they dont need the money? ticket sales and merchandising and tv/ advert rights drive the club, when they dont rely on these income streams they venture into the same grounds of fantasy that you brought up with icelendic ownership of west ham. how much have they spent on players and wages - compared to their income? Does this mean the club is going to be a billionaires plaything or a viable business? (ii) Fans wont care either way if they get results. Chelsea's tickets are high, fans appear stronger than ever. Chelski's billionaire has done a good job too then - not least because he got good coaches in. (iii) ah the irony when you say It’s a real shame that Daniel Sturridge couldn’t see beyond the money in being a part of something special." (iv) for me the best foreign owner in the EPl to date wld be Lerner at Villa and the worst the americans at liverpool. with only a few weeks of game time behind them Man City will have to wait and see if this is another Thaskin false dawn or not. (v) billionaires who did OK prior? blackburns Jack wotsicalled did well (vi) conversely at the other end of the table mike Ashley screwed up; the glaziers screwed their club (but if the keep winning alls forgiven) and then there's the shambles at Leeds, Portsmouth... (vii) Leung at Birmingham shld be interesting. not a huge club - will be pushed to get them into europe so what's the point form a foreign investment point of view? prestige? he just loves the blues? is it all the rage to own a club?