Its been a bull market in soccer for the past twenty years. These guys are primarily using OPM for their purchases, sometimes putting less than 20% of their own money down. If you include the enormous salaries and perks they pay themselves then its probably a pretty good ROI. Everyone wins except the club. The owners and the lenders are onto a good thing - that is if, and until, the market heads south. But you know how that goes...somehow it always ends up that the club and its supporters are left holding the baby. As much as I love soccer, I'd rather put up with streaming a game live and listening to a screaming Tunisian's commentary than forking out the kind of money that Rooney et al use as toilet paper.
Or, If your like the "Glazer Boys," and depending which side of the Earth they're on at the time, they can speak of either of their teams, Manchester United or the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. :eek:
The rich have worked hard to earn their fortunes. What's a fortune if you're not willing to spend it? Why do you think rich people buy mansions when they don't have enough immediate family members to fill them? Why do they buy nice cars? Owning a soccer team is most definitely a status symbol.
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. He probably knows more about soccer than any of the American owners yet he's managed to chase away the best coach in the game(Mourinho), pay an astronomical sum for a player (Torres)who is clearly unfit/past his best and generally poke his nose into areas that he is no expert in. JMO
There are only 20 Barclays Premier Leagaue teams and roughly 1300 billionaires thus ROI and prestige of an English Football Club ( football) is much higher than any American team, just look at the wealthiest sports teams list on Forbes ( do the odds in your mind world wide appeal vs just US appeal and in the future there will be allot more BRIC billionaires than American). ps. Spanish teams are owned by the club members i.e. fans and not publicly owned. Besides show me a Spanish team outside of Real Madrid or Barcelona worth owning. Glazers bought Man Utd via leveraged buyout, the club is mired in debt and would be in deep trouble should they miss the Champions League one of these years.
"somehow it always ends up that the club and its supporters are left holding the baby." please explain.