Big Toys For Big Boys

Its always boys isn't it!? You never hear of ladies buying mega toys to satisfy their ... whatever they are trying to get at. Well, I expect at least half of the Premier League clubs to fall into foreign ownership within 3 years. Its a shift in assets and globalisation, you can say, or rather recycling of trade surplus?!



Arsenal - USA's Stan Kroenke
Chelsea - Russia's Roman Abramovich
Manchester United - USA's Malcolm Glazer
Manchester City - Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan
Aston Villa - USA's Randy Lerner
Portsmouth - HK's Balram Chainrai
Liverpool - USA's George Gillett and Tom Hicks ... soon to be China's Kenny Huang?
West Ham - Iceland's Eggart Magnusson
Fulham - Egypt's Mohamed Al-Fayed
Sunderland - USA's Ellis Short

Of course, Vincent Tan owns Cardiff City, but its not in the Premier League.



To some these clubs are no more than toys, to some its a genuine investment, to most its a show of wealth ... you know, its no good being wealthy if nobody knows how wealthy you are.

Its not just football clubs ... I love my single malts ... do you know how many of these Scottish or Irish distilleries having foreign owners? Its mind boggling. Of course some were genuine purchases by companies in wine and spirits.



CL Financial (West Indian) - Burn Stewart (Deanston and Tobermory)
Suntory (Japan) - Auchentoshan
Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy - Glenmorangie
Asahi (Japan) - Ben Nevis
Takara Shuzo (Japan) - Tomatin

Sigh ... if I had the cash, I would buy a distillery anytime over a football club, its a saner investment... and I would have Glenfarclas at the top, followed by the hard to get Lagavulin. Not to show wealth but to preserve its identity and character so that excellence can be maintained for a much longer period without needing to think solely in terms of marketing and profits.