Foreign owners? We can’t say no

May 29 2008 by Our Correspondent, Liverpool Daily Post

A STORY that seems to lack very little substance is the one doing the rounds about Everton being in talks with some Russian zillionaire about a takeover or some sort of investment.

This one has all the classic hallmarks of an internet-based Chinese whispers story. One site makes an unfounded comment, others pick up on it and then before you know where you are the net is ‘ablaze’ with talk of an imminent takeover. The whole thing is self-perpetuating but already we are seeing discussions about whether we should welcome this hypothetical investment from this unknown individual or not. Obviously it’s kind of hard to say without knowing a few more details, if of course there are any grounds to these stories at all.

Any potential investors surely have to be assessed on their own merits. Debates about foreign investment per se in English football seem to miss the point a bit.

Evidence would suggest there are plenty of decent foreign owners and more than a handful of rubbish homegrown ones. Chelsea seem to have done alright out of Roman Abramovich, Manchester United haven’t actually fallen apart under the Glazer family, and despite Rafael Benitiz’s protestations, Liverpool appear to have been able to spend plenty of cash since they welcomed Tom Hicks and George Gillett into their club with open arms.

Even Manchester City fans must be in two minds whether to be too critical of Thaksin Shiniwatra.

He does appear to have been rather hasty in his dismissal of Sven-Goran Eriksson, but the former Thai prime minister would argue that without his money the former England manager wouldn’t have considered taking over at Eastlands in the first place.