By David Butler
Some weeks ago the British author, journalist and Olympian Matthew Syed questioned the morals and motives of several Premier League owners live on Sky Sports News. Syed's argument in a nutshell was that over time football clubs had transformed from their humble beginnings as a community institution, to a commercial and moneymaking
enterprise and now, with the arrival of Roman Abramovich, to that of a political tool. The cultural visibility of iconic premier league teams, in Syed's view, provided no better vehicle to shield investors whose business activities were
less than squeaky clean. In the case of Abramovich the context of how he acquired his wealth was as important for Mr.Syed as his contributions to Chelsea football club on the pitch.
With this sentiment in mind I used the Forbes and Times rich list's (which are in some cases two years old) in addition to the FourFourTwo Magazines rich list to investigate the net wealth of the major shareholder for the current twenty Premier League clubs. Information on Crystal Palace and West Brom was inaccessible but needless to say Manchester City's Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan came out on top. The graph below allows a comparison to be made between all the top flight teams and really highlights the financial muscle of Manchester City and Chelsea.
Some weeks ago the British author, journalist and Olympian Matthew Syed questioned the morals and motives of several Premier League owners live on Sky Sports News. Syed's argument in a nutshell was that over time football clubs had transformed from their humble beginnings as a community institution, to a commercial and moneymaking
enterprise and now, with the arrival of Roman Abramovich, to that of a political tool. The cultural visibility of iconic premier league teams, in Syed's view, provided no better vehicle to shield investors whose business activities were
less than squeaky clean. In the case of Abramovich the context of how he acquired his wealth was as important for Mr.Syed as his contributions to Chelsea football club on the pitch.
With this sentiment in mind I used the Forbes and Times rich list's (which are in some cases two years old) in addition to the FourFourTwo Magazines rich list to investigate the net wealth of the major shareholder for the current twenty Premier League clubs. Information on Crystal Palace and West Brom was inaccessible but needless to say Manchester City's Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan came out on top. The graph below allows a comparison to be made between all the top flight teams and really highlights the financial muscle of Manchester City and Chelsea.
The Net Wealth of Premier League Major Shareholders
Several billionaire owners pale in comparison to the wealth of Manchester City and Chelsea's major shareholder. Interestingly, Southampton’s Liebherr's Estate headed by Markus Liebherr's comes in third with an estimated net wealth of £3b while Tottenham's Bahamas based Joe Lewis is fourth, with a suggested worth of £2.8b. Delia Smith props up the list with 'only' a net worth of £20m at Norwich.
Out the twenty Premier League clubs, seven have major shareholders that are English. Another six belong to Americans. The figure below cumulates the wealth across the nationalities of all the major shareholders in the Premier League (the English estimate excludes the owners of West Brom and Crystal Palace).
Out the twenty Premier League clubs, seven have major shareholders that are English. Another six belong to Americans. The figure below cumulates the wealth across the nationalities of all the major shareholders in the Premier League (the English estimate excludes the owners of West Brom and Crystal Palace).
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