Arsenal shareholder Alisher Usmanov has moved to the top of the new Sunday Times rich list with a fortune of £13,300m. The Russian citizen, born in Uzbekistan, shares with Farhard Moshiri (ranked 41=) a near 30 per cent stake in Arsenal.
However, majority shareholder Stan Kroenke has kept him off the board. ‘It rankles me,’ Usmanov is quoted as saying. At times he has tried to present himself as the person who has the interests of Arsenal fans at heart.
Arsenal shareholder Alisher Usmanov has moved to the top of the new Sunday Times rich list with a fortune of £13,300m. The Russian citizen, born in Uzbekistan, shares with Farhard Moshiri (ranked 41=) a near 30 per cent stake in Arsenal.
However, majority shareholder Stan Kroenke has kept him off the board. ‘It rankles me,’ Usmanov is quoted as saying. At times he has tried to present himself as the person who has the interests of Arsenal fans at heart.
Roman Abramovich, whose fortune has shrunk by £200m to £9,300m, drops down from third to fifth. He has been trying to make Chelsea more self-sustaining for some time, but with limited success.
Steve Lansdown comes in at 95= with a fortune of £900m derived from funds supermarket Hargreaves Lansdown. However, the money he has made from me and many other satisfied customers did not stop Bristol City being relegated from the Championship.
His son Jon actually runs the football club, but Steve Lansdown’s focus these days is very much on Bristol Sport which also runs the city’s rugby team. Plans for them to share a new stadium have been stalled for years by planning rows. Lansdown admits that Bristol as a city is not high on the list of sporting achievers, but thinks there is no reason why it shouldn’t be.
West Ham’s David Sullivan comes in at 224= with a fortune of £400m, more or less where he was last year. Business partner David Gold is at 319= with a fortune of £250m, again much the same as last year. No one doubts that they run West Ham with a shrewd business sense.
QPR’s Tony Fernandes has seen his fortune go up by £188m to £396m, moving him up from 366th place to 233rd. Just as well that AirAsia are doing well, given that his investment in QPR has not apparently kept them in the top flight.
Brand Beckham have seen a 5 per cent increase in their fortune to at least £200m, putting them 387=. The combination of fashion and football has proved a sure fire winner.
At Wigan Dave Whelan has seen his fortune increase from £140m to £160m, moving him up to 485=. He may need the £5m he made from selling Wigan-based Pooles Pies last year if Wigan’s luck runs out and they get relegated.
A newcomer in the list is a wannabee football investor. Steve Parkin left school at 16 and worked as a miner before becoming a van driver. He has made £102m in a logistics business that serves Tesco and John Lewis among others. He was an early mover in seeing the likely impact of internet shopping. He owns Guiseley AFC, but would really likely to invest in Leeds United