With a few exceptions, notably the Glazers, one rarely buys a football club to make money. As the old saying goes, if you want to make a small fortune, start with a large one and buy a football club. One famous book by a footballer had a chapter headed ‘What the average owner knows about football’ and it was a blank page. ‘The Player’ in the latest edition of Four Four Two has some interesting reflections about mistakes made by owners, arguing those who keep their distance are the best.
With a few exceptions, notably the Glazers, one rarely buys a football club to make money. As the old saying goes, if you want to make a small fortune, start with a large one and buy a football club. One famous book by a footballer had a chapter headed ‘What the average owner knows about football’ and it was a blank page. ‘The Player’ in the latest edition of Four Four Two has some interesting reflections about mistakes made by owners, arguing those who keep their distance are the best.
That certainly hasn’t been true of Vincent Tan at Cardiff City, but he has been defending himself to the BBC, arguing that he has been unfairly portrayed as a villain by the media and that there has even been a racist tinge to the comments. He says that he has the backing of 90 per cent of Cardiff fans and is only opposed by a ‘vocal minority’. I have not seen a survey of Bluebirds fans that supports those claims.
Meanwhile, one of the BBC’s business correspondents has come up with a well argued and comprehensive essay on why rich individuals buy football clubs. I think that she is right to emphasise geopolitical factors, especially in the case of the Gulf States and Russia.