Who’s Club Is It Anyway?

To say that English people love their football would represent a well-known and generally accepted statement. Over the past two decades, foreign ownership in English Football’s top flight has done nothing but increase. Football is a worldwide game attracting unimaginable amounts of money. For some context, several stars in the English Premier League earn $500,000…per week. At the top of the tree is the world-class Manchester United Forward Christiano Ronaldo. He is the recipient of a reported weekly paycheck of $690,107.52. According to Spotrac.com, there are over 10 Premier League footballers making over $300,000 per week.

Back to Ronaldo for a second. His Club Manchester United is arguably the most famous club in the world. As a Liverpool fan, it’s especially tough for me to say anything positive about “Man United”, but it’s true. Manchester United is owned by the American Glazer family. After a series of carefully planned financial maneuvers, Malcolm Glazer purchased Manchester United in 2004. The price was almost 800 million British Pounds or $15,319,306.40 in today’s money. I’ll let you figure out how many “ alternative streams of income” you’ll need to get that kind of buying power.

A savvy businessman, he progressively bought out the other minority shareowners until he took over completely. These moves no doubt served to create some enemies inside the club and among the English populace. The xenophobic trope of the “foreigner coming to take our jobs/resources” reared its head once again. Not saying Glazer was a saint, but this narrative was heavily present then and is still there now.

Under the Glazers Manchester United won over 15 major honors, garnered a worldwide fan base, and generated tens of billions of dollars. The club remains one of the biggest money-makers in all of sport. In the fiscal year 2021, Manchester United generated right around 683 million dollars. Yes, that’s right just in the past year. So if everybody is making money, the club is one of the biggest brands on the globe & they have won every trophy there is … what’s the issue?

This could be fairly divisive depending on who you ask, but the general feeling is the Glazer family takes money out of the club and the family does not “put enough money” back into the club. The truth is the Glazer family has profited greatly… (and I mean billions) from owning the club. Is this not their right as owners?



The matter is a bit more nuanced than that. The supporters of the club, particularly the locals, feel as though Manchester United will always be owned by the fans. Dating back as far as 2005, there have been increasingly tense (sometimes violent) protests against the ownership. Just this past year masked fans broke into the stadium and caused the Match against Liverpool to be postponed because it was simply too dangerous to play. It’s no secret the Glazers put the club at financial risk incurring massive debt in aggressive deals and the huge leveraged buyout required to purchase the club. Supporters feel the family is using the club as a cash cow, plain and simple.

This brings us to the ill-fated and ill-intentioned European Super League. Last spring Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City, Tottenham & Chelsea broke away to join a league without the stewardship of any governing body. This move was (shocker) strictly motivated by money. This would allow clubs to increase prices, set up whatever matchups they wanted & negotiate astronomical TV deals. The move was universally hated and rightly blasted as nothing more than another cash grab.

The English clubs were to be joined by the other biggest clubs in world football from the European continent. In the end, the rebel “Super League” teams from each country apologized for their conduct and made up with their domestic governing body. The damage was already done. Take a closer look at those teams and you’ll notice a trend. Arsenal – owned by Stand Kronke and his family, they also own the LA Rams. My beloved Liverpool is owned by Boston Red Sox top dogs Fenway Sports Group. Lebron James is also a minority stakeholder in Liverpool. Chelsea is owned by the Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich. Manchester City is literally owned and financed by the United Arab Emirate’s billionaire royal family. Only Tottenham Hotspur is owned by Englishmen Joe Lewis & Daniel Levy.

That is five out of the six clubs owned by foreign nationals. Can you see what the fans are saying now? I want to make sure and point out that there are many English owners who are reviled by their club for various reasons, so it’s not simply an American Owner issue. Just look up “Mike Ashley Newcastle United.” I also want to stress that the vast majority of football’s governing bodies are corrupt. Looking at you FIFA & UEFA.

In light of the current Covid 19 pandemic, the funds flowing through world football have attracted greater scrutiny. As the world’s richest league continues to break revenue records, one can not help but ask where is the breaking point for these massive brands and their “absentee” owners? When you have traveled hours to see your team play in the often bleak British climate and they lose constantly, the thought of your billionaire owner on the beach in Los Angeles becomes less and less palatable for many fans. What happens next? I am sure it will involve cash and sentiment, two things that are never in short supply in the English Premier League.