Of England's elite football clubs a considerable number are now in foreign hands. Chelsea and Portsmouth have Russian owners; Aston Villa and Manchester United are American-owned and a Dubai-based company hopes to grab Liverpool.
West Ham United has just become the property of an Icelandic group. This means that half of London's Premiership clubs have overseas owners (if one includes al Fayed's Fulham). Why England and why now?
Capital is always looking for a quick buck and a handy bolt hole.
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Fans at Old Trafford, now in American hands.
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For some, the property boom in London has made football stadia in the capital an attractive proposition. Should Abramovich ever encounter problems extracting his wealth from Russia, he has the "Chelsea Village" to fall back on. Similarly with Pompey's backers who have issues of their own in both Russia and France.
The "Iceman" cometh to West Ham because once the Olympics are upon us, the Boleyn Ground is going to become a sought after chunk of the East End – only a mile for two from the new Olympic park and Stratford East, which will become Stratford International rail link.
Liverpool's Anfield home is adjacent to one of the government's Pathfinder regeneration areas and is set to become a prime site. Dubai International Capital are not merely buying into the Liverpool tradition. They want the brand and the land.
Across Stanley Park, Everton's Goodison Park is planned to become a Tesco. A new stadium, presumably with attendant subsidies, is planned in Kirkby. No wonder Thailand's erstwhile prime minister wanted to slot some of his dodgy money into the scheme before he was ousted by the military.
As for the Americans, they love leverage; buying chunks of Manchester and Birmingham with money they don't really have and forcing the debt onto the clubs they've bought. Furthermore, they hanker after merchandising tie-ups with their own NFL American Football clubs. Should soccer franchises match the enthusiasm for the amateur game in the States, Lerner and Glazer will have a head start in branded merchandise.
Newcastle United and Manchester City are mooted to be next so virtually half the premiership will be foreign-owned before the next season starts.
Chelsea fans probably don't care overmuch as long as the owner continues to bankroll the club. No doubt it's the same with most of the others although Everton supporters don't want to move and some Manchester United fans were so opposed to the Glazer takeover they set up their own club, F.C. United.
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...and now the EU puts the boot in
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The Premier League has hit out at EU plans to give the EU and UEFA ultimate control over UK football. The proposals were agreed at a meeting in Brussels of the 25 European sports ministers. Richard Scudamore, Chief Executive of the English Premier League, argued, "UEFA is not and should not be the governing body of European football - they have their own competitions to run and should be free to do so, as we have ours... The idea that the rest of European football can decide what is best for the English game is a nonsense, just as it should be down to the Germans, French, Italians, Spanish, Dutch, etc, as to how they run their leagues. ... There is no need for a pseudo-European Sports Minister pushing an agenda that runs counter to continued success for the Premier League."
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Wenger's warning
It does matter, because clubs run by overseas interests are always vulnerable to external factors, especially where the genesis of the cash is unclear. Somewhat ironically, it has taken Arsenal's French manager, Arsène Wenger, to sound a warning. He has pointed out the way in which foreign owners do not generally have an organic link to their club. They're not fans and they have no loyalties. It's business and they'll behave accordingly. They will cut and run if and when things go sour – a smaller-scale version of what's happening to our water, power generation, airports and steel.
In Spain, where many clubs have a large membership and a form of democratic executive as with Real Madrid and Barcelona, they are not such an attractive target. They can't be bought and sold in the same way as English clubs, especially those that have plc status. Nowhere else in Europe, even in Italy, are there so many clubs with a large support base.
Here, it seems, we'll have anybody as long as they can pay and with the new relaxation and removal of planning laws, this government is encouraging the break-up of yet another piece of our national fabric.