A Rich Man's Playtoy?

Last updated : 09 October 2009 By Nick Kelly
However his Highness has yet to decide just how much of Liverpool he actually wants, if any.

One thing can be sure though; the prospect of three bickering owners is even more nightmarish than the current situation. Still we can hope that that is avoided and Prince Faisal buys the club outright. Or should we?

With the evolution and expansion of the Premier League into every corner of the globe, the chance to own a football club, or sports team in general, is now seen as a rich man's playtoy and chance to show off their excessive wealth.

Abramovich and Abu Dhabi certainly fall into this category throwing ludicrous amounts at some fairly average players and in City's case turning a club generally liked to one hated throughout the country.

Compare the wealth of their owners, which is pretty much limitless, but according to the recent FourFourTwo Top 100 Rich List, approximately £25 billion. Bolton, Stoke, Wolves, Wigan and Burnley, despite having wealthy owners themselves, barely break the £1bn mark combined. It is becoming an increasingly unlevel playing field like throwing a Heavyweight boxer in with a Flyweight with the same thrashing dished out on an almost weekly basis. If at some point TV rights are sold on a club-by-club basis as exists in Spain and Italy the gap will only widen.

We then have owners like Malcolm Glazer and our own Tom and George who see the clubs as a fantastic moneymaking opportunity leveraging millions of debt on the club and waiting to get their dollars back. Whilst they wait for their money the clubs end up trying to keep up with interest payments instead of spending that cash on building a successful team on the pitch, the one that will of course bring them that money they so crave.

Most worryingly several clubs, Leeds and Notts County, now seem to have mystery owners and, as is becoming clearer by the week, no one at either club has the faintest idea just who is calling the shots. Expect Sven Goran Erikkson to soon realise that Notts County are paying him with monopoly money before he makes his excuses and departs. That the Football League have not stepped and tried to sort the mess out is quite embarrassing, so much for owners having to pass a 'fit and proper person test'.

Finally there are the owners with the club's best intentions at heart, the likes of Kenwright, Morgan and Whelan who will back their club as far as they can but without the financial prowess to ever make them into title contenders. Everton have been lucky that Moyes has built a solid team but if, and more likely when, he leaves they could once again be forced to sell DVDs of 'Another Great Escape' to finance any new players.

Randy Lerner remains the one current owner who has found the right balance of embracing and respecting the history of the club he has purchased but is rich enough to back his manager financially and without unreasonable expectations.

The quotes so far that Prince Faisal won't "clean up the balance sheet" and spend extortionate amounts on needless players or be a 'marriage counsellor" to Gillett and Hicks sounds positive.

But we have been burnt by false promises before that stadium work would begin imminently after the takeover, now two and half years ago, or as Hicks said in February 2007 "this is not a takeover like the Glazer deal at Manchester United. There is no debt involved."

The so called fans that were Rick Parry and David Moores should have sounded out the prospective buyers in 2007 but now we have little choice who the club is sold to, only who has the most money.

We just have to hope that if Prince Faisal takes over that he respects the traditions of the club, the fans and most importantly, the manager.