Ownership of football clubs

[Barrington Womble]

I thought about putting this one on Geordie Arabia thread, but maybe it needs a thread of its own. 

 

There's loads if questions about if sovereign funds should be allowed to own football clubs, I for one am dead against it. But here is a different twist. PIF who own Newcastle seem to have a number of relationships with Todd Boehly and other investors at Chelsea. Surely there has to be something wrong with this?

 

For all the rights and wrongs of fan ownership, I can't help but think we need a structure that stops football being used for business, for sportswashing and pretty much anything else that is for the benefit of anything but football. Surely only fan ownership could achieve this? Not that I have an idea how fan ownership could be implemented. 

 

https://sportsdias.com/chelsea-owner-todd-boehly-teams-up-with-newcastles-saudi-owners-on-a-new-project/

 

Sorry I can't c&p the story. 

 

 

 

 

[Bjornebye]

Some fella on SSN was calling todays match the sportwashing derby. Too right and all. 

[dockers_strike]

I agree about the ownership models of city, PSG and now Newcastle. Along with the 'multi club' ownership model used by 'the city group' it needs to be outlawed.

 

That said, fan ownership isnt the be all and end all. Fan ownership exists in Germany. Hasnt stopped Bayern walking to the title every year in the last 10 and looks like they'll walk it again.

 

Fan ownership hasnt stopped Barcelona being driven to financial armageddon as they all vote for the guy to run the club who promises jam today and fuck the financial consequences.

 

I dont profess to know what the solution is as all the ownership models have bad points.

 

The only way I see as worthwhile is all clubs in a particular league all have some form of spending limit. Just how you'd organise and police that, Ive no idea.

 

Todd Boehly, the CEO of Chelsea, has joined forces with Newcastle’s Saudi owners in a new investment venture unrelated to football.

 

After previous owner Roman Abramovich put the club up for sale, Boehly completed his takeover of the Blues at the end of May.

Cain International was co-founded by Boehly and his fellow Chelsea director Jonathan Goldstein, who is now the firm’s CEO.

On Monday, Cain International and the Saudi Public Investment Fund, which owns Newcastle, announced a £750 million investment in Aman Group, a company that owns luxury hotels and apartments.

The news comes after the Daily Mail revealed that Chelsea’s new majority shareholder, Clearlake Capital, manages billions of pounds for the Public Investment Fund.

 

Related Posts:

• What Harry Maguire has said about Thomas Tuchel and Chelsea with Todd Boehly plotting a shock £42m transfer
• ‘Don’t’: Mohamed Salah makes Manchester City and Chelsea claim
• Ranking of Premier League’s eco-friendly fan base, big-name clubs drop down the table while smaller rivals surpass them
• Chelsea's forgotten Champions League hero is now a professional rally driver

 

And, on Sunday, Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi, two of the Magpies’ owners, were guests in an executive box at Stamford Bridge as the Blues faced Tottenham in the Premier League.

Staveley and Ghodoussi are thought to have met with Chelsea officials to discuss transfers and the possibility of taking Blues players on loan.

 

The two sets of owners clearly get along, but Stamford Bridge sources have already insisted that there was no Saudi involvement in Clearlake’s takeover of the club.

Following the announcement of the new investment project, the Public Investment Fund took to Twitter to share the news, writing: 

  “PIF has invested $900m alongside Cain International in Aman Group to accelerate its global expansion of ultra-luxury hotels and branded residences, in line with the PIFstrategy 2021-2025.

“Turqi Alnowaiser, Deputy Governor of PIF and Head of International Investments Division commented: ‘Our investment in Aman Group reflects PIF’s belief in the current potential of the hospitality and tourism industry, both internationally and in Saudi Arabia.’ The investment is in line with PIF’s strategy to invest in promising sectors to achieve sustainable, attractive returns in Saudi Arabia and globally.”

Chelsea and Newcastle have both made promising starts to the new Premier League season, sitting in the top half of the table after two games.

 

The Blues began their season with a 1-0 win over Everton before drawing 2-2 with Tottenham. Newcastle, meanwhile, defeated Nottingham Forest 1-0 in their first game before drawing 0-0 at Brighton.

The Magpies will host Chelsea at St James’ Park in mid-November, before meeting in west London on the final day of the season at the end of next May.

Chelsea owner Todd Boehly teams up with Newcastle’s Saudi owners on a new project

[Rushies tash]

Id love for it to happen, but the time for fan ownership was about 30 years ago. That horse has now bolted sadly. With values of £4bn being touted, a club with 140k fan owners (like Barcelona) would have to pay £28.5k each.

[Bobby Hundreds]

The despot derby today is completely the future and death of the Premier league. Shame on the Premier league for allowing brutal regimes to buy into the sport and only getting concerned because the Saudis where showing illegal streams. Murder no problem effecting our pockets how dare you.

[aws]

A properly drawn-up and rigidly enforced FFP scheme is the only way of stopping the cheating which facilitates the sports-washing. 

Fan ownership is a boat which sailed long ago and forbidding categories of future ownerships is unlikely to be acceptable to current ownerships who might want to sell up someday. 

The real solution to most of the game's ills is to cap players' wages but that's a non-starter.  

[Kevin D]

Fan ownership, Hearts style is the only way to go.

 

Arguing about which set of foreign billionaires are nicer is soul destroying shit.

[Barrington Womble]

2 hours ago, dockers_strike said:

I agree about the ownership models of city, PSG and now Newcastle. Along with the 'multi club' ownership model used by 'the city group' it needs to be outlawed.

 

That said, fan ownership isnt the be all and end all. Fan ownership exists in Germany. Hasnt stopped Bayern walking to the title every year in the last 10 and looks like they'll walk it again.

 

Fan ownership hasnt stopped Barcelona being driven to financial armageddon as they all vote for the guy to run the club who promises jam today and fuck the financial consequences.

 

I dont profess to know what the solution is as all the ownership models have bad points.

 

The only way I see as worthwhile is all clubs in a particular league all have some form of spending limit. Just how you'd organise and police that, Ive no idea.

 

Todd Boehly, the CEO of Chelsea, has joined forces with Newcastle’s Saudi owners in a new investment venture unrelated to football.

 

After previous owner Roman Abramovich put the club up for sale, Boehly completed his takeover of the Blues at the end of May.

Cain International was co-founded by Boehly and his fellow Chelsea director Jonathan Goldstein, who is now the firm’s CEO.

On Monday, Cain International and the Saudi Public Investment Fund, which owns Newcastle, announced a £750 million investment in Aman Group, a company that owns luxury hotels and apartments.

The news comes after the Daily Mail revealed that Chelsea’s new majority shareholder, Clearlake Capital, manages billions of pounds for the Public Investment Fund.

 

Related Posts:

• What Harry Maguire has said about Thomas Tuchel and Chelsea with Todd Boehly plotting a shock £42m transfer
• ‘Don’t’: Mohamed Salah makes Manchester City and Chelsea claim
• Ranking of Premier League’s eco-friendly fan base, big-name clubs drop down the table while smaller rivals surpass them
• Chelsea's forgotten Champions League hero is now a professional rally driver

 

And, on Sunday, Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi, two of the Magpies’ owners, were guests in an executive box at Stamford Bridge as the Blues faced Tottenham in the Premier League.

Staveley and Ghodoussi are thought to have met with Chelsea officials to discuss transfers and the possibility of taking Blues players on loan.

 

The two sets of owners clearly get along, but Stamford Bridge sources have already insisted that there was no Saudi involvement in Clearlake’s takeover of the club.

Following the announcement of the new investment project, the Public Investment Fund took to Twitter to share the news, writing: 

  “PIF has invested $900m alongside Cain International in Aman Group to accelerate its global expansion of ultra-luxury hotels and branded residences, in line with the PIFstrategy 2021-2025.

“Turqi Alnowaiser, Deputy Governor of PIF and Head of International Investments Division commented: ‘Our investment in Aman Group reflects PIF’s belief in the current potential of the hospitality and tourism industry, both internationally and in Saudi Arabia.’ The investment is in line with PIF’s strategy to invest in promising sectors to achieve sustainable, attractive returns in Saudi Arabia and globally.”

Chelsea and Newcastle have both made promising starts to the new Premier League season, sitting in the top half of the table after two games.

 

The Blues began their season with a 1-0 win over Everton before drawing 2-2 with Tottenham. Newcastle, meanwhile, defeated Nottingham Forest 1-0 in their first game before drawing 0-0 at Brighton.

The Magpies will host Chelsea at St James’ Park in mid-November, before meeting in west London on the final day of the season at the end of next May.

Chelsea owner Todd Boehly teams up with Newcastle’s Saudi owners on a new project

I agree fan ownership doesn't guarantee either a competitive league or stop financial suicide. But it does stop a situation like potentially exists now where a powerful nation state like Saudia Arabia own a club and have the head of another club in their pocket. 

 

I agree about the multi club model too. There should be no excuse for allowing it. And any given shareholder in multiple clubs can't have a significant holding. I personally think the current 10% is too high. 

22 minutes ago, aws said:

A properly drawn-up and rigidly enforced FFP scheme is the only way of stopping the cheating which facilitates the sports-washing. 

Fan ownership is a boat which sailed long ago and forbidding categories of future ownerships is unlikely to be acceptable to current ownerships who might want to sell up someday. 

The real solution to most of the game's ills is to cap players' wages but that's a non-starter.  

The thing is though, if the competitors in that league decide they want to just hire better lawyers as city have done, you will never win any legal battle. National laws are tweaked constantly because of how people find ways to navigate ways around them and the only way to resolve is with more law. I don't see how any law could be enforced when you have nation states with pretty much limitless wealth able to spend whatever they want to get the outcome they want. I think even journalist are petrified of saying too much. 

[aws]

2 hours ago, Barrington Womble said:

I agree fan ownership doesn't guarantee either a competitive league or stop financial suicide. But it does stop a situation like potentially exists now where a powerful nation state like Saudia Arabia own a club and have the head of another club in their pocket. 

 

I agree about the multi club model too. There should be no excuse for allowing it. And any given shareholder in multiple clubs can't have a significant holding. I personally think the current 10% is too high. 

The thing is though, if the competitors in that league decide they want to just hire better lawyers as city have done, you will never win any legal battle. National laws are tweaked constantly because of how people find ways to navigate ways around them and the only way to resolve is with more law. I don't see how any law could be enforced when you have nation states with pretty much limitless wealth able to spend whatever they want to get the outcome they want. I think even journalist are petrified of saying too much. 

That's why I said "properly drawn up ". You get a team of top quality commercial, litigation and criminal lawyers and forensic accountants to put together the rules and the rules provide that the clubs have to prove they're  complying with the rules before every season or they don't compete i.e. the onus of proof is switched to the clubs. The rules would also provide for a complete open book approach and the authorities would have a full-time team of accountants working with the clubs throughout the season and that team would issue or refuse the certificate of compliance before each season. In practice the clubs would be so petrified of not getting the certificate that they'd comply. 

[Barrington Womble]

19 minutes ago, aws said:

That's why I said "properly drawn up ". You get a team of top quality commercial, litigation and criminal lawyers and forensic accountants to put together the rules and the rules provide that the clubs have to prove they're  complying with the rules before every season or they don't compete i.e. the onus of proof is switched to the clubs. The rules would also provide for a complete open book approach and the authorities would have a full-time team of accountants working with the clubs throughout the season and that team would issue or refuse the certificate of compliance before each season. In practice the clubs would be so petrified of not getting the certificate that they'd comply. 

I don't think the owners we have in this country would sign up to that (thinking city, Newcastle and maybe even Everton here). And it doesn't matter what laws are drawn up, there's always ways round them if you have the best lawyers. A football League will never have the money to spend on lawyers that a sovereign state does. And even after all that, I don't know how you'd ever stop them paying people off the books. 

[aws]

5 hours ago, Barrington Womble said:

I don't think the owners we have in this country would sign up to that (thinking city, Newcastle and maybe even Everton here). And it doesn't matter what laws are drawn up, there's always ways round them if you have the best lawyers. A football League will never have the money to spend on lawyers that a sovereign state does. And even after all that, I don't know how you'd ever stop them paying people off the books. 

Where there's a will, there's a way.  I agree that there doesn't seem to be much sign of a will. 

[TD_LFC]

No ownership model is perfect so you're just picking the least shit option and trying to reconcile your dreams and ideals with any downsides.

 

Even the Heart's ownership model, which is probably the 'purest' model working at the moment, means the best they can hope for is a sustainable club with limited success (still preferable to Romanov's ownership).

[dockers_strike]

Some £2.5 billion in funds from the sale of Chelsea Football Club have still not reached Ukrainians and are 'sitting in Roman Abramovich's bank account' three months after the deal, an MP said today.

 

Surprised?

[Barrington Womble]

1 hour ago, dockers_strike said:

Some £2.5 billion in funds from the sale of Chelsea Football Club have still not reached Ukrainians and are 'sitting in Roman Abramovich's bank account' three months after the deal, an MP said today.

 

Surprised?

I thought they were never going to abramovich and they were going into escrow untill they could be allocated?

[Trumo]

The money is just resting in his account until the Ukraine conflict is over and they no longer need the money.

[dockers_strike]

6 hours ago, Barrington Womble said:

I thought they were never going to abramovich and they were going into escrow untill they could be allocated?

That was one plan. But Abramovich and his buddies kicked off about it and said something like he wouldnt sign off the sale by the deadline date meaning the club would be forced into admin or some other bullshit. And besides, he was giving his word he wouldnt keep the money. Ho hum.

[Wezza]

[Bjornebye]

Once the saudis got their claws in footy died. 

[dockers_strike]

5 minutes ago, Bjornebye said:

Once the saudis got their claws in footy died. 

Abramovich got in before them with more money and just buying players to loan out in huge numbers to stop competitor clubs signing them. Oil nation regimes are just chucking even more money at it but yes, it is dieing a slow death.

[Bjornebye]

5 minutes ago, dockers_strike said:

Abramovich got in before them with more money and just buying players to loan out in huge numbers to stop competitor clubs signing them. Oil nation regimes are just chucking even more money at it but yes, it is dieing a slow death.

It was dying. 

[George Costanza]

its dead now

[TheHowieLama]

Kinda harsh on the Saudis - they have been kicking it around in the desert for centuries.

[No2]

Given the events at Chelsea I feel its a good time to join this conversation. Their model appears to be bid and buy random players and get a yes man in. Yet another model that only daisy would want above ours.

Leicester's model has fallen off a cliff so who do the FSG out crowd want?

[Barrington Womble]

15 hours ago, dockers_strike said:

That was one plan. But Abramovich and his buddies kicked off about it and said something like he wouldnt sign off the sale by the deadline date meaning the club would be forced into admin or some other bullshit. And besides, he was giving his word he wouldnt keep the money. Ho hum.

Have you got a link for that? I just had a quick Google which only says the money goes to a frozen account and will only be released under licence from the UK government for humanitarian aid to the Ukraine. 

[dockers_strike]

45 minutes ago, Barrington Womble said:

Have you got a link for that? I just had a quick Google which only says the money goes to a frozen account and will only be released under licence from the UK government for humanitarian aid to the Ukraine. 

No, sorry, I dont.