DIG THE NEW BREED
Football club owners, eh? Overbearing egos, mystery finances, shadowy backers, questionable human rights records. But enough of Ken Bates. What to make of the new breed of Premiership football club owners and investors who must surely dominate the landscape of any self-respecting preview of the football season…
‘The car is the star’ in Formula One racing, despite Lewis Hamilton’s best efforts. Now the football club owner is increasingly seen as the key to forecasting this season’s Premiership. Where Roman Abramovich led, others are following. Alas, not only in monetary terms but also in the terms listed in the first sentence. You’d call Bates a trailblazer, except that that’s a polite term for what he is.
The biggest fat-cat among the Premiership pigeons is Thailand’s ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra. Imagine a competitive Manchester City. Difficult, eh? But that prospect must be overwhelming for even die-hard City fans to overlook what a piece of work Thaksin is.
He’s been at this for years. His dalliance with Liverpool, replete with dodgy claims that…er…Michael Owen was…um…his…ah…favourite, isn’t forgotten. But less well remembered is his November 2003 dalliance, shortly after Abramovich’s Chelsea takeover, with…Fulham.
He and Fulham owner Mohamed Fayed go way back – condemnation enough for some. Unsurprisingly, oil was at the root of their relationship, the basis of Fayed’s South-East Asian business interests. Surprisingly, Thaksin’s interest in the financial black-hole that was and is Fulham was rebuffed.
Within six months, Thaksin was bidding £60m for 30% of Liverpool. But controversies clouded the deal. His human rights record included a much-criticised ‘war on drugs’ and the crushing of a Malay Muslim uprising in South Thailand. And his plan to raise the money for the deal via a state lottery was even frowned upon by his political mentor Chamlong Srimuang as “open, official support for gambling.”
Sports minister Richard Caborn also raised concerns, though he’ll not wish to be reminded of them in the context of this article: “It’s incumbent upon clubs to ensure they have strong roots in the community…when any takeover bid is made.”
All this led to delays which scuppered Liverpool bids for Joey Barton and Shaun Wright-Phillips. And by the time Thaksin had abandoned ship, Liverpool had abandoned manager Gerard Houllier. Result all round, then.
Whether Thaksin will be a result all round for City is less certain. Not everyone would regard Sven Goran Eriksson as a good start, or feel comfortable about the background to Thaksin’s finances. He didn’t initially make money out of politics (denies ever doing so, natch), first described as a “billionaire telecoms tycoon.” He added another billion in 2005 when his confidently-named British Virgin Islands company ‘Ample Rich Investments’ sold the family business Shincorp. 11% to son Phantongtae and daughter Phintongta (potential successors to Francis Lee as City directors) and control (far less cheaply) to Singapore’s government.
This became problematic when Thaksin’s elected government was ousted in a bloodless but military coup last September. The military’s ‘Assets Examination Committee’ froze £900m of his assets banked in Thailand. The remaining Shincorp profit approximates to what Thaksin banked in Britain to complete the “£81.6m” City takeover – debts and Sven mainly – via his Pramaisuri property company and UK holding company, UK Sports Investments.
Allegations against Thaksin are in the ‘don’t touch with a bargepole’ column. Because they’re from a military government not recognised in Britain and, less honourably, the need to make what a Premier League source called “an objective judgement not a subjective or MORAL one” (my emphasis). Even if Thaksin is convicted of the ‘corruption, conflict of interest and dereliction of duty’ charges he faces, he could still pass football’s ‘fit and proper persons’ test. Which needs no further comment.
The bottom line is that City owe, big time, and Thaksin can pay, big time. Loans worth £20m need repayment. All but £3m of next year’s TV money has already been spent. And there’s a £40m debt connected to Eastlands’ conversion from Commonwealth Games to Premiership venue. And Sven.
It’s not just ‘foreign’ takeovers, though. ‘Sportswear billionaire’ Mike Ashley has stealthily bought Newcastle from the Halls and Shepherds who’ve ruled Tyneside for years, coming from nowhere in May to buy president Sir John Hall’s 42% shareholding.
He’s bought ‘sight unseen’, having foregone due diligence (maybe just as well). But having trousered £930m from the flotation of his Sports Direct business in February (which made him a new entry at 25 on the Sunday Times Rich List), the £133m he’s throwing at Newcastle was loose change.
Bad timing, though. Ashley headed north as Sports Direct’s share price headed south and company chairman David Richardson went west, citing Ashley’s attitude. Shares dipped further after they bid for US boxing brand Everlast. But Ashley was persistent in persuading Newcastle chairman Freddie Shepherd to sell his 28% shareholding. Shepherd claimed Newcastle “impossible to buy” – his shareholding had blocked previous bids from Jersey-based Belgravia and hedge fund Polygon. £37m and a bunch of grapes changed his mind – Ashley visiting him in hospital as he recovered from pneumonia to clinch the sale. And eleven years after one of the most public of football club flotations, Newcastle was de-listed from the Stock Exchange.
He’d regard ‘x for no publicity’ as un-necessary ostentation. But Ashley will have to adjust to the limelight, with Newcastle’s transfer dealings making headlines on Lord Stevens’ bung inquiry. Ashley has appointed two ‘trouble-shooters’ to look at the whole operation. They’ll need plenty of ammunition.
Thirty-eight year-old lawyer Christopher Mort has become deputy chairman. And he’ll answer directly to Ashley not Shepherd, who’s remained chairman but would be wise to retreat from centre stage given his son Kenneth’s starring role in the Stevens saga. Mort and Sports Direct marketing man Steve Hayward are charged with re-vamping off-field activities and turning Newcastle into the massive club they’ve long claimed to be.
NEXT WEEK…a Hong Kong Ranger and Steve McManaman at Birmingham. How Liverpool replaced Thaksin. Blackburn. Arsenal – “not for sale.” Yet. And Bjorgolfur Gudmunsson. He WAS a crook. But whohellhe now? Find out…NEXT WEEK.
‘MotorMurph’ is written by Mark Murphy
Entry Filed under: MotorMurph Column
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