A worrying reality set to hit the Premier League?
As much as us football fans try our best to deny it, the Premier League and other major leagues around Europe have become distinctly money motivated. The foreign ownership has become concerning and the sustainability of our beloved clubs could be under threat.
Tottenham Hotspur boss Harry Redknapp brought up the issue of foreign ownership this week and he made an alarming statement regarding the next 20 years of the Premier League:
“We’re getting more and more foreign owners into the country now,” Redknapp said. “I don’t know where it’s all going to be in 20 years time but I can see us playing Premier League games all round the world on a regular basis.
“If you’re from China or you’re from India or Russia and you own a club, you’re going to want to take your club back to where you come from. I think it’ll almost be a world Premier League.”
Redknapp is right; a power struggle could well hit our shores over the next decade or so with more and more nationalities investing in the Premier League there is a higher risk that we could be on the move. Ten of the 20 top flight clubs in England are majority owned by a foreign investor and that is set to increase in the future with clubs such as Everton, Wigan and Bolton Wanderers all looking at the prospect of a big money take over.
The possible foreign fixture has been mentioned before but was met with a negative reaction by the majority in English football; hopefully the FA took that as a sign. But it seems that the money could talk and in Redknapp’s opinion, is now the deciding factor in most decisions made in football.
When it was rumoured a few years ago, the main incentive for the FA was that it would promote the Premier League all around the world and television rights would increase with more people in places such as India, USA and Australia taking more of an interest in the English game. However, when you see images of pre-season tours or the World Club Cup around the world, there are thousands of fans wearing Manchester United, Chelsea or Barcelona shirts, obviously showing an understanding of how big the European game is.
So the Premier League does not need much promotion around the world, which is the main non-financial reason to take the likes of Wigan, Bolton and Fulham to India or America so what is the point?
The NFL in the USA has come to London on more than one occasion now and English fans have flocked to Wembley to see the stars, but that is a one of game in each season, not a full fixture list which was initially announced for the Premier League. Not many supporters of English teams would want to see their home game take place in Dhaka or New York so why should we agree to it?
Soccer is becoming more acceptable in America as the likes of David Beckham, Robbie Keane and Landon Donovan have shown that it can be competitive, but surely the Premier League would make it look extremely amateurish? Sending our teams over there or to India or Russia may enhance the interest in our league but could heavily damage the reputation of local teams in comparison and give mildly interested supporters a reality check.
So foreign ownership could become more powerful than first expected in the Premier League and with a group of them already failed in a bid to scrap relegation from the top flight for their clubs it appears that the selfish attitudes of all concerned could be damaging if they gain any more power than they currently have. Something has got to be done to prevent our precious game becoming infested with greedy people who are looking to make a quick buck rather than please the most important people of all – the fans.
Would you want to see your team play abroad or even have a foreign owner – let me know below or on Twitter: @Brad_Pinard
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What, specifically, are you worried about???
It appears to me, you are against the concept of foreign ownership, but all your fears are groundless and unsupported by any real testimony or fact.
I suggest you ask your doctor to prescribe suitable medication to calm your nervous disposition.
Are you an Arsenal fan by any chance?
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Brad Pinard Reply:
January 4th, 2012 at 4:27 pm
Melon Man, I am concerned with the fact that our league could become just a show that travels all around the world rather than be about the passion and reality of the supporters, which I feel is the most important part of a football club, not finances. Fortunately I am not a Gooner no!
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chiv Reply:
January 4th, 2012 at 5:40 pm
what is he worried about!? What do you think he’s worried about, I don’t want my football club playing it’s games around the world rather than in England, and I think most English supporters think the same way.
And this fear is not groundless, several foreign owners attempted to get the league to agree to something similar recently.
You’re not a foreign owner by any chance!?
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chiv Reply:
January 4th, 2012 at 5:44 pm
apologies, foreign owners didn’t try to get the teams to play outside England (but they will), they tried to end relegation, which is bad enough.
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Surely this is what the champions league is for? It really irritates me that the game is potentially being stretched further than its capable of sustaining. You get to play higher levels of football, against the best opposition in the world if you earn that right, not if you can afford it because you’ve been bank rolled?
Maybe the introduction of a world championship for the top 1 team in each league of the world could be a starter but to randomly let clubs go off all over the world would make a mockery of the game just because some rich oligarch can play with your club, and it is your club after all, who pays the bills, you do.
Similarly it really vexes me that the dropouts from the Champions League go in to the Europa. You loose you go out of Europe simple as that. It’s not fair on the teams that have just scrapped in to the Europa league.
Grrrrrrr it makes me so angry.
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It’s not the English Premier League that’s going to go global. It will be a European/World Super League where the trully big clubs in terms of global following will play each other on a regular basis.
Most of the clubs in the EPL can not hope to compete on level terms with spending power of clubs like Man Utd, Barcelona, Real Madrid & the Milan clubs. The survival of the clubs with smaller support and therefore smaller available revenue streams is dependant upon the global teams leaving the domestic leagues and playing on a global scale.
The only EPL teams that I could see competing, profitably, at this level are Man Utd, Arsenal and possible Liverpool (if King Kenny’s recent antics haven’t made too big a dent in thier golbal appeal). City, Spurs, Chelsea doen’t have the support or revenue base required to operate at that level.
The removal of the megateams from domestic competitions will open the way for the other EPL teams to have a realistic chance of winning domestic honours.
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p dilworth Reply:
January 4th, 2012 at 5:14 pm
the sooner these greedy so called sportsmen who want this go the better, football as we knew it is dead . it is totally boring with only the richest clubs being able to compete,sky has destroyed our game forever.i cant see many supporters turning up if the supposedly mega team start to decline.
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First of all…It isn’t that bad to be a Gooner!…to the point… Actually, there are millions, around the world who watch and support their favourite epl teams. so the foreign ownership may influence the team to play in US,India or China once or twice during the pre-season, which isn’t a problem for the players as well as the English fans. Apart from that nothing is going to change.
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just how many foreigners does harry have playing for spurs, the f.a. should bring in a rule that when play for an english team for 3 or more years, you are automatically available to play for england, they want our money therefore the greedy players should accept the consequences
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This article smacks of the same sort of fear and distrust peddled by the BNP and other jingoistic muppets against immigrants, illegal or otherwise.
of course there will be appalling “foreign” owners, just as there are/will be fantastic ones.
Equally, I’m sure many home-grown owners are the source of many a fan’s hatred due to causing the demise of their football club due to immense stupidity and over-inflated ego.
having done some rudimentary research, I am now guessing you are a Hammers fan Brad Pinard, so you must have experienced the delights of having those two arch-clowns Sullivan and Gold running your club into the lower divisions as fast as their mouths could take them?
As a City fan I know full well what a local businessman can do to ruin the progress of my club for several decades.
So let’s stick to facts about “foreigners” shall we, not scaremongering like frightened children?
Football is a global business, we all want our teams to compete abroad in Europe, and our National team to do well in the World and European Cups, so what’s different when more games abroad are suggested? (but not suggested by anyone other than internet blog writers as far as I can find?)
My opinion is the national league will remain a priority for the distant future, there will be more well organized tournaments in pre-season involving the “big boys” as a money spinner, but that’s it – don’t worry, the FA cup is as precious today as it’s always been, only now it has a bigger global audience than at any time in history – is that to be feared too?
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Brad Pinard Reply:
January 4th, 2012 at 8:04 pm
For you to compare myself to someone in the BNP just by reading this article is pathetic if I am honest. I have nothing against foreign owners if they run the club ‘for’ the supporters, not just use them as a toy and play with so many lives as some of them do. To drag a club abroad to play a Premier League game is unacceptable in my opinion and that is what I am worried about. Why would you guess that I was a West Ham fan after I said I wasn’t an Arsenal fan?
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Melon Man Reply:
January 4th, 2012 at 8:38 pm
I clicked on your name above, which took me to another page, which had the hammers club crest (I think) next to your name and picture – if you’re not a Hammer, then who do you support? Is it a source of embarrassment to you?
I do not apologise for comparing the way you claim a “worrying reality” is down to foreign owners, to the way other groups distort the truth for their own ends – you may not set out to offend in your speculation, and perhaps I’m being over-sensitive – however, don’t duck my criticisms of your lack of specific examples to back up your assertions.
And when you do find some examples of bad “foreign” owners, try to balance these examples out with the myriad of examples of bad “home-grown” owners, like I did.
Of more interest to me is the way foreign “fans” will shape football at the top level, as this factor will motivate owners to follow the money – hence United and Real running all over the globe in the last couple of decades – are these fans to be embraced, and treated as intelligent equals, or demonised like the relatively few owners are being?
Embrace the change, or fight against it?
Personally I think the horse has bolted, get on with enjoying the future or you’ll be left behind, sad and bitter.
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Brad Pinard Reply:
January 4th, 2012 at 8:47 pm
Haha of course I am not embarrassed to support West Ham, was just a weird guess. Foreign owners who don’t understand English football nearly killed my club and I don’t want other clubs to fall victim of that. There will always be bad owners whether foreign or not but the point I was making was that the foreign owners have different reasons for owning a club than the home grown ones. That is no where near a racist thing to say and my motives are purely to make sure that supporters of every single club are the priority.
Melon Man Reply:
January 4th, 2012 at 9:25 pm
I would ask you to really think about the differences in foreign owners, and the local businessmen who traditionally ran football clubs in this country.
Ok, some of them may not be as knowledgeable as their English counterparts in the history of the game, but does that mean they are less committed and loyal to the club in which they invest so much?
We complain that Abramovich uses Chelsea as a “toy”, a “plaything”, but is it not the case he has invested vast amounts of money which he has little chance of ever seeing again? And if he ran the club as a strict, profit-making business, would that mean he was a lesser football fan, and less passionate as an owner?
It is too easy to make sweeping generalisations about all football club owners, based on virtually no evidence whatsoever. How do you know whether Sheikh Mansour is a die-hard City fan or not? Based on the level of investment and long term commitment, then he’s a much bigger fan than Franny Lee was.
Historically, local businessmen have used football clubs as a vehicle to promote themselves and their businesses – look at Mike Ashley for a modern example – is he a better chairman than John Henry at Liverpool?
I would say the vast majority of chairmen do not view their clubs as a money-making enterprise, foreign or not, as there are better places to put your millions, but they are a fine way to improve your local, national and often international profile – and let’s face it, the bigger a club you own, if you allow it to collapse, so your reputation as a shrewd business person collapses spectacularly, apart from Peter Ridsdale, who apparently is bombproof!
We all want responsible owners for our football clubs, and based on the evidence so far, the only criteria on which to judge them should be how successful they are in business, not their country of birth.
I think the author made a mistake by saying chelsea fans wearing t-shirts because its Arsenal fans around the world not chelsea. This is because statistically globally has a much larger fan base than chelsea.
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