Manchester City’s regular title rivals Liverpool have reportedly been put on the market by American ownership group FSG, which has owned Liverpool and Anfield since 2010. FSG says it welcomes bids for the club and has set up a stadium of sales to prospective investors in a solicitation bid. But who is willing to spend more than £4 billion to buy a Premier League football club? Britain’s richest man, Jim Ratcliffe, has already ruled himself out and the richest sovereign wealth funds, including those of Saudi Arabia (Newcastle United), Qatar (Paris Saint-Germain) and Abu Dhabi (Man City) are off the table . An approach from America is very likely, as we saw when Todd Boehly and co bought Chelsea recently. But another name that has been mentioned is Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Al Maktoum made an approach to buy Liverpool in 2006, four years before FSG arrived, but an important event has happened since then. Al Maktoum is the current leader of Dubai, which is an emirate of the country, the United Arab Emirates, and Abu Dhabi is another one of those emirates, closely connecting the two regions. This means that Al Maktoum and the owner of City Mansour have very closely aligned interests. Not only that, but Mansour, who is the leader of Abu Dhabi, is actually married to Al Maktoum’s daughter, so the Liverpool-linked billionaire is Mansour’s father-in-law. Any prospective owner or manager in the Premier League must pass an owners and managers test and in relation to conflicts of interest, the league’s regulations state that the person is ineligible if: “He is either directly or indirectly involved in or has any power to determine or influence the management or administration of another club or Football League club, or either directly or indirectly owns or acquires any Material Interest in a Club while having either directly or indirectly any interest in any class of Shares of another Club.” Sheikh Mansour, who is a member of the royal family of Abu Dhabi, is the majority shareholder of City Football Group. The company owns Man City after first buying the club in 2008. Significant interest is defined as: “The possession and/or the possession of the legal or beneficial interest and/or the ability to exercise the voting rights applicable to the Club Shares which in aggregate assign to their holders 10% or more of the total voting rights exercisable in respect of any class of Shares of the Association. All or part of any such interest may be held directly or indirectly or by contract, including but not limited to membership of any Contracting Party and, for the purposes of determining whether an interest or interests amount to a “Significant Interest”: (a) any rights or powers held by any Person shall be attributed to any Affiliate of such Person. and (b) any rights or powers held by an Affiliate or Designee of any Person shall vest in such Person.” Interpreting those rules, Al Maktoum would have to prove there are no shared interests with Mansour, which could prove difficult given how reluctant the UAE has been to make public how it distributes money to the various emirates, which are administered separately. – something that could be the defense. It would become even more difficult for Al Maktoum since he has strong family ties with Mansour. Clearly, there is a common financial interest, either because of the country they both essentially work for or for family reasons. These factors would cause concerns for the Premier League, which does not want any risk of collusion at the top of the league. There could still be a way for Al Maktoum to pass the owners’ test, especially given how subjective the process has proven to be in recent years, especially with the takeover from Newcastle. But with criticism and fears of “sportwashing” gaining momentum, there will likely be enough evidence here for the Premier League to prevent a takeover, especially if there is rival interest from America.
