This is getting a little ridiculous at this point. Having already acquired perennial French champions Paris Saint-Germain in 2011, the Emir of Qatar is now looking to buy Manchester United from The Glazers for over £4.5B.
This proposed deal cannot go through for the sanctity of competition in European football.
Not only would a massive conflict of interest arise if the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, owned two of the largest clubs in world football, but the very footballing pyramid would be subject to collapse as more and more government investors would take an interest in football.
I mean, it’s no secret that the Emirs/kings and government-connected businessmen of Middle Eastern nations have aggressively and rapidly expanded into European football with some of the biggest clubs in the world, such as PSG, Manchester City, and Newcastle United, now owned under their control.
For those who don’t know, Newcastle is owned by Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Man City is owned by the Deputy Prime Minister of the UAE and family member to the rulers of the UAE Sheikh Mansour, and the owner of PSG is obviously the Emir (aka: ruler) of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.
So, just to summarize, either the head of a state or a direct government minister/partial ruler of a state now owns three of the largest clubs in the world and it might grow to four if The Glazers sell Manchester United. Can you see why this is becoming a serious issue?
Say what you will about these men and the nations they represent (there’s plenty of material to critique), but the idea of having an entire nation running a private football team is just wrong for me. These teams should not be bought up like prized antiques and then be held in perpetuity (which is most likely going to happen) by some ruler of a nation that has no direct link to the clubs.
Now, you could make the same case that all foreign owners of clubs should be banned under those conditions, but I would retort and say that a private businessman owning a club is completely different than a ruler of a sovereign country. These people literally have hundreds of billions of dollars their countries generate at their disposal to inflate the natural value/standing of the clubs at will, while the private businessmen only have the hard-earned money received from their business dealings.
Perhaps someone can convince me there’s no difference, but I can’t say with a straight face that there’s nothing wrong with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia or the Emir of Qatar owning a club over private businessmen like Todd Boehly, Stan Kroenke or The Glazers.
So, from a purely classic sporting standpoint, having all of these rulers, no matter where they come from, is a bad idea and should be rejected by the major leagues from here on out. Or else club football might as well be a quasi-international tournament between the governments of the world.
As for the competitive balance of the Champions League and intra-European competitions, if this sale rumor is true and goes through, the very notion of meaningful games between the top teams of Europe goes out the window.
How can you have a competitive game between Manchester United and PSG, which is a very common matchup as these two teams have faced each other the last two times both were in the Champions League, if they are both owned by the same guy? Or, as I should say, the same country.
If Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani wanted PSG to win over United for whatever reason, he could force the United manager and hierarchy to play backup/reserve players in the game without any consequence or barrier. And vice-versa. He’s the owner after all and has the power to do whatever he likes.
I’m sure he would never do that, but the risk of such a thing happening is just too great if he is allowed to own both teams.
Plus, with one of these ruler’s clubs currently under investigation by the Premier League for illegal club inflations (cough…Man City…cough), it’s not out of the question that an owner or his employees/minister could go rogue.
And if that ever did happen, you can say goodbye to football as we know it as how can you force a foreign government to sell a club in punishment for said action? The things the UK government did to get Roman Abramovich to sell Chelsea just can’t be done to Qatar, Saudi Arabia, or the United Arab Emirates.
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