While Robinho continues to struggle to remember the name of the club he has signed for, Arsene Wenger has voiced concerns over foreign investment ‘destabilising’ English football:
The Frenchman insists clubs must operate within the financial limits of the business rather than delving into the pockets of wealthy owners.”If you push that too far, there are no rules any more,” said Wenger.
“Once you get to the prices mentioned in the media, where is the logic? There is too much destabilisation.”
There is no question that the bottomless pockets of foreign moneymen is changing the dynamic of the top flight, but will it make the league more competitive and dissolve the dominance of the big four? Or will the Premier League eat itself as competing clubs price fans out of the game in order to compete and Garry Cook’s vision of a breakaway Super League becomes more viable?
Forty per cent of the top flight now owned by overseas investors
For a team like Chelsea, foreign investment has proven the difference between success and slightly more success, but not every club benefits. Now that Dr Sulaiman Al-Fahim (pictured above with a Hollywood star and her grandson) has waded in with daddy’s oil cash, eight current Premier League clubs are owned by out-of-towners. Accordingly, The Spoiler has looked at the fortunes of each of foreign-owned club to find out if overseas money has helped or hindered the league…
Aston Villa Owner: Randy Lerner
So far everything seems great. Martin O’Neill and Lerner get on well, money is readily being made available to sign players and Lerner was willing to support whatever action his manager chose to take in the Gareth Barry saga. Other factors that make Aston Villa an attractive model to follow are that they target English talent and although they occasionally pay over the odds, there isn’t the “we must finish in the top four or else sack the manager” mentality.
Chelsea Owner: Roman Abramovich
Abramovich had an advantage over the likes of Lerner in that the club he bought were already a top four team, however, he still delivered a title in his second season. Wikipedia claim that “as of May 2008, Abramovich has spent approximately £600 million on the club since arriving in 2003.” Things have taken a turn
