(news.bbc.co.uk)
Ah such a beautiful site. The new Arsenal stadium that the Gunners now call home has helped the North London team in its finacial short falls. This is interesting to note because of the recent moves of the Russian metal magnate Alisher Usmanov.
Usmanov, who bought into the club ownership back in August, had said that he was not interested into actually buying the club, seems to have changed his tune in the past few weeks. He originally bought into the club at a 14% stake but his ownership has jumped to 23% and he is intent on buying more into the club.
The rest of the board is not so keen on this though. Danny Fizman, who owns the second largest stake at 24%, has formed a bit of a pact with the other members of the board. Together they comprise more than 50% of the ownership. This knocks out Usmanov from owning the club at present.
That's what's going on. So what? Well, the thing is that Arsenal would add to the growing number of foreign owners of English teams. Chelsea, for example, is owned by a Russian, Manchester United is owned by an American, and Liverpool is owned by a pair of Americans.
How does this effect English football? English football is a complex system that many people outside the UK can barely understand. We don't have four different competitions a year for all the teams in the NFL. It would be too brutal. I haven't examined the Thai football world or the Russian football world but I doubt they have anything as extensive as the English system. I think it would be hard for managers from outside of the British Isles to manage a team effectively.
We have already seen an example of this with Chelsea. Roman Abromavich, the owner of Chelsea, continueosly fought with recently departed manager, Jose Mourinho, over his inability to win the coveted Champions League. This could be a reoccuring theme in the coming years, especially if Arsenal continue to do well. If Usmanov buys the Gunners outright in 2008, when is reportedly the earliest that he could buy all the shares in the club, how will he react if they only win one cup a year? That is the big issue with foreign owners of clubs that will unfold more as this matter progresses.
1 comment:
One big problem has to be the fact that the only televised games on ESPN are the Champions League matches so that is what much of the world cares about.
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