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Last week, Liverpool became the seventh Premiership club to be taken over by foreign money, joining Fulham (owned by Egyptian businessman Mohamed Fayed), Chelsea and Portsmouth (the Russian connection), West Ham United (Icelandic biscuits), and Manchester United and Aston Villa (American dollars). Liverpool, too, has been bought by Americans: George Gillett Jr. and Tim Hicks. If any Liverpool fans were suspicious of the American duo (as Manchester United fans initially were of the Glazer family), Gillett was making all the right noises to ease their worries: “This isn’t about making money – this is about winning, passion and tradition.” Indeed, Gillett appears to be as much a sports enthusiast as a businessman; he also owns the ice-hockey team Montreal Canadians and has, by all accounts, done a quiet, respectful job there.
One of Gillett and Hicks’ plans, though, is to break with tradition and move the team away from the legendary Anfield to a larger stadium yet to be built in Stanley Park, which separates Liverpool and arch enemies Everton. Everton are also considering a move, to nearby Kirby from their current home, Goodison Park, but the geographical distancing will not dissipate the rivalry between the clubs. They recently played out the 205th Merseyside Derby – a dour 0-0 draw – after which Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez referred to Everton as “a small club”, an insult that will not be forgotten on the blue side of Liverpool for some time to come.
Further south, another club that seems to be owned by a foreigner – Reading / John Madejski – actually isn’t; Madejski is British (although his father was Polish) and is among the 200 wealthiest people in the UK. He has been at Reading since 1990, and the 25,000-seat Madejski Stadium, inaugurated in 1998, was built mainly with his money. There are millionaires and there are millionaires, though: while Abramovich at Chelsea may not think twice about getting his cheque book out to sign players like Shevchenko and Ballack, Madejski has always been much more discreet: the club’s record transfer fee was recently broken, Greg Halford moving to the Royals from Colchester United for just £2.5 million (around 3.75 million euros).
But this doesn’t mean that the club is struggling in the Big Boys’ League – quite the contrary, in fact. In the first Premiership season in the club’s long history (136 years!), many have been surprised by the quality of the team’s play, especially their organisation and spirit – under the quietly efficient manager Steve Coppell. From being everyone’s favourite at the start of the season to go straight back down to the Championship, they are now sixth, which will mean qualification for the UEFA Cup next season if they can stay there: an amazing feat if they can pull it off. And presiding over the success story, John Madejski, much loved by Royals fans.
Which is not necessarily the case at one famous Scottish club. Lithuanian banker Vladimir Romanov arrived at Hearts in January 2005, and while things looked good in the early days, with Romanov promising to make Hearts one of the top clubs in Europe, things have turned sour this season, with Romanov himself controversially involved in picking the team (he has experience as a submarine commander, not a football coach) and having to deal with a players’ mini-revolt. Hearts may be in an apparently respectable position in the league – fourth – but they are 24 points behind Celtic. And during this controversial season at Tynecastle, they have been knocked out of the Champions League in the qualifying round, the UEFA Cup in the first round and the Scottish Cup in the fourth. For Hearts fans, it’s been a case of ‘Money can’t buy them happiness’. For Romanov, and to paraphrase some famous Liverpudlians, ‘Money can’t buy him love’.
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