THE PREM ERA 41Silly money...a Manchester City fan’s mock-up
of the new owners’ potential spending powerThaksin, and City, had become an
embarrassment. The Premier League
and FA had stood aside during the
takeovers of the English game’s greatest
names, not acknowledging concerns
about the possible cultural mismatch
of absentee billionaire owners and the
ladling of debts on to some clubs in
leveraged takeovers. To all questions
about the suitability of some of the
characters involved, the Premier
League answered solemnly that it
had a “fit-and-proper-person test”
for directors and 30 per cent
shareholders in clubs. This test,
introduced by the football authorities
in 2004 after years of resistance,
disqualifies convicted criminals and
bankrupts. However, there is no bar
to anyone with pending prosecutions
or frozen assets buying a club.
The Premier League was bracing
itself for the fit-and-proper-person
test to become “active” for the first time
if Thaksin was convicted when City
showed how instantly, in the modern
era, a football club’s history can be
transformed. On Sunday, August 31,
a Middle East business website broke
the story that Abu Dhabi United was to
buy out Thaksin. Al Fahim was already
boasting that they had “very deep
pockets” and would throw money in
to buy City his wish-list ofGalacticos.
Thaksin is said to have been well
regarded in the Middle East while
Thai prime minister, and one of the
executives he appointed as a City
director, Pairoj Piempongsant, is also
well connected in the region. While
Thaksin had been coming to terms
with his need to sell City, Pairoj had
been looking for an extremely rich
buyer. It emerged that Garry Cook,
City’s new executive chairman recruited
from Nike to do the global branding job
for the club, had produced a document
setting out how City could become a
larger global presence and earning
force than Manchester United in tenyears. That claim, and an interview
that included a series of remarkably
unguarded observations about Mark
Hughes and the Premier League,
prompted sniggering among the
English football fraternity but was
clearly taken seriously in Abu Dhabi.
It emerged quickly that the money
behind Al Fahim came from Sheikh
Mansour, a scion of the Al Nahyan
dynasty that has ruled the emirate
for generations. They have hundreds
of billions to hand, their money not
frozen but constantly gushing. Like
neighbouring Dubai, Abu Dhabi is
looking to diversify its economy and
widen its appeal to western tourists
and businesses. Al Fahim was happy
to say that the purchase of City was
“to attract the world’s attention to
theUnitedArabEmirates”.
That was immediately achieved,
through the incomparable medium
of buying into English Premier League
football, particularly when City broke
the British transfer record by paying
Real Madrid £32.5m for Robinho.ABSORBING STORY
Where the adventure will take City,
and English football, will be anabsorbing story. Money, clearly, can
buy success, as Abramovich’s has for
Chelsea. Britain’s culture secretary,
Andy Burnham, was the first to voice
a warning about a league determined
by huge money chucked into clubs
from outside by billionaire owners.
He called on the FA to “rise to the
challenge” and launch an inquiry.
FA chairman Lord Triesman
responded readily, saying the game
has to strengthen its rules. In remarks
taken as a clear reference to City,
Triesman said: “The distinction is
between those who invest and respect
the values of clubs, and those who are
just shopping. It is hard to believe that
an owner who thinks it is all right to
buy a ‘world first XI’ has grasped
this fundamental point.”
City fans, though, with apparently
few exceptions, are delighted. From
a third-tier play-off final win against
Gillingham to the world’s richest club
in nine years is a dizzying journey in
any supporter’s life. The day after the
news broke, theManchester Evening
Newswebsite was awash with fans
celebrating. One wrote a message
to Thaksin: “Thanks Dr T, and good
luck with your trial!”
Which, as a snapshot of 21st
century English football fandom,
takes some beating.Former regime...Sven-
Goran Eriksson and
Thaksin Shinawatra
Record signing
...Robinho