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Direction of Premier League is changing
England - 07 August, 2007
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UEFA president Michel Platini has been but one voice chiming in that the English Premier League should be cautious about selling out to foreign owners.
And with the new owners – foreign or British-born – has come a rash of stock-market delistings as owners take total control of clubs. At one point, half of the Premier League's 20 clubs were publicly traded companies.
The latest round of buyouts has reduced that number to three listed clubs, as only Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Birmingham City remain.
Heralded in the 90s as a more democratic ownership structure and a way to pump cash into clubs, stock listings have come to be seen as a mistake by many - unprofitable for investors, unrewarding for teams and costly for fans.
"What investors didn't appreciate is one of the peculiarities of football," told Reuters Christine Oughton, director of the Football Governance Research Centre at Birkbeck, University of London, in that winning is as much a priority as making money.
Making a profit is the overriding goal for most companies, she said: but football clubs have the even higher priority of winning games. They also have to pay out around 60 percent of their revenues to players.
Profit is siphoned off in the transfer market and on wages. Now, there is overseas money pouring into the English game.
Alan Sugar, former Tottenham chairman, claimed running the club had been "a complete waste of time" and that the football business is "prune juice economics", referring to the way revenue is washed out of clubs in transfer fees and wages.
With the new money also comes a burst of questionable takeovers. As former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has bought into Manchester City, his character has been questioned by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, even though he passed the league's "fit and proper test."
Other owners have alienated fans, such as Manchester United's Glazer family, which has hiked values and has supporters concerned.
"I would be worried if I were English because of all the foreign ownership," Platini said. "They could be rich people coming to help English football and develop it, but they may just want to make money. I fear your clubs will lose identity. If it was in France, I would fight it."
And with the new owners – foreign or British-born – has come a rash of stock-market delistings as owners take total control of clubs. At one point, half of the Premier League's 20 clubs were publicly traded companies.
The latest round of buyouts has reduced that number to three listed clubs, as only Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Birmingham City remain.
Heralded in the 90s as a more democratic ownership structure and a way to pump cash into clubs, stock listings have come to be seen as a mistake by many - unprofitable for investors, unrewarding for teams and costly for fans.
"What investors didn't appreciate is one of the peculiarities of football," told Reuters Christine Oughton, director of the Football Governance Research Centre at Birkbeck, University of London, in that winning is as much a priority as making money.
Making a profit is the overriding goal for most companies, she said: but football clubs have the even higher priority of winning games. They also have to pay out around 60 percent of their revenues to players.
Profit is siphoned off in the transfer market and on wages. Now, there is overseas money pouring into the English game.
Alan Sugar, former Tottenham chairman, claimed running the club had been "a complete waste of time" and that the football business is "prune juice economics", referring to the way revenue is washed out of clubs in transfer fees and wages.
With the new money also comes a burst of questionable takeovers. As former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has bought into Manchester City, his character has been questioned by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, even though he passed the league's "fit and proper test."
Other owners have alienated fans, such as Manchester United's Glazer family, which has hiked values and has supporters concerned.
"I would be worried if I were English because of all the foreign ownership," Platini said. "They could be rich people coming to help English football and develop it, but they may just want to make money. I fear your clubs will lose identity. If it was in France, I would fight it."
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