The Telegraph is on top of the Manchester City takeover story, and their new majority shareholder Dr. Sulaiman Al-Fahim from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
The Telegraph reports that Al-Fahim's father was the first president and principal architect of the United Arab Emirates, and that Al-Fahim himself, still a young man at 31, is a high roller in the UAE:
-He's a member of Abu Dhabi United Group which is part of the world's second largest instituitonal investor, behind the Bank of Japan - They have deep, deep pockets from oil revenue.
- He has a PhD from American University in Washington, D.C. in real estate investment.
-He's a member of the UAE Federal Cabinet and the Minister of Presidential Affairs.
-He's President of Al Jazeera Football Club and Chairman of the Emirates Horse Racing Authority.
-He hosts chess tournaments.
-He has a reality television program called "Hydra Executives," in the mold of Donald Trump's TV show. The show pits two teams of eight British and American contestants against each other in a variety of business-related challenges in Abu Dhabi to compete for the chance to win $1 million to invest in their own projects.
-He's allegedly a fan of American cinema, and has made the acquaintances of Leonardo Di Caprio, Ashton Kutcher, Demi Moore, Katherine Heigl and Charlie Sheen.
Al-Fahim was quoted on the final day of the transfer window as having said he had made bid's for Tottenham's Dimitar Berbatov, Stuutgart's Mario Gomes, and Valencia's David Villa. It looks like none of those deals went through, but he did break the British transfer record to bring in Robinho from Real Madrid, a player that Chelsea was trying to sign.
31 is just about the right age to buy an English football club. Good luck to the young man. It sounds like he has a lot of charisma and should have fun with it.
The question about whether Al-Fahim can turn a profit on the club was loaded - I fear that he doesn't intend to.
As an Arsenal supporter, a side that apparently didn't sign any players at the end of the transfer window, it's galling to see a side join Chelsea, as it appears Manchester City have, pumping non-football generated revenue into the club.
At least with the American owners at Manchester United and Liverpool, we can foresee the finance charges on the money borrowed to buy the clubs eventually taking their toll, maybe even a repeat of the Leeds United turmoil, but Chelsea and Manchester City will be inflating the transfer market for as long as their billionaire owners stick around; and considering how much English football is, why would they ever leave?
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6 deflections:
For Citeh, it means going from being a rich man's play thing to being a richer man's plaything. For Arsenal and Liverpool, only 4th place is available.
We can forecast that AW will start collecting them at 7 years of age instead of 15; the average age of the Arsenal squad will become progressively younger; and youth will become the trend throughout the League.
Prices definitely will become more inflated. I don't know about other clubs but I think Arsenal supporters will see fewer and fewer inbound transfers. Some might even accuse the club for being a "feeder" club. The League title will become less and less significant to clubs outside of the "Big 3". AW might have to pay more attention to the FA cup than he has.
I can go on but "galling" is the right sentiment.
When Chelsea had the oil-money takeover, they built up to a huge team right away, and they were starting from a team that had finished 4th the previous season.
City are starting from a weaker position, and since the takeover happened so late in the transfer window, they were only able to bring in one player with an inflated transfer fee.
I like Robinho and Sean Wright-Phillips as wingers, though, so I'm looking forward to seeing them play.
There is more noise about paying huge sums for C. Ronaldo, Torres, Fabregas, etc. This season might see a bit of turmoil in the EPL. Let's see how long Mark Hughes last and what kind of craziness happens in January.
In that case, United and Liverpool might not be in financial trouble after all. If United can get 135 million pounds for Christiano Ronaldo, Malcom Glazer will make out like a bandit.
Similar money for Cesc would go some way toward paying down the stadium debt.
Liverpool could probably get a fair chunk of change for Gerrard and Torres both.
There's a price for everything. If Al-Fahim wants to pay Arsenal 100 million pounds for Cesc, and pay Cesc 25 million pounds a year, I think there's a good chance a deal could be done.
But Al-Fahim, although his pockets are deep, they're not bottomless, and he'd be hard-pressed to come up with sufficient cash to buy out WickedDeflection.com.
C. Ronaldo, 135M
F. Torres, 100M
C. Fabregas, 100M
W. Deflection, Priceless
The Guardian's Daniel Taylor suggests an alternative to the "There's-a-price-for-everything" theory:
"...it could also be argued that City's pursuit of the twice footballer-of-the-year also demonstrates a degree of naivety on the part of the new owners. United's reaction was one of bemusement, a spokesman saying 'we have made it clear all summer that Cristiano is not for sale'."
They'd sell for 135 million pounds.
That article also says that Robinho is now the world's best-paid player at 160,000 pounds per week. C. Ronaldo would sign for 300,000 pounds per week.
Daniel Taylor said that "City's chances of persuading Ronaldo to forget about moving to Real Madrid and decide instead to swap Old Trafford for Eastlands...are, at best, miniscule."
Miniscule? I disagree that the chances of Malcom Glazer turning down 135 million pounds for a single player are minscule. What is Mr. Taylor on about?
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