The futures of four English clubs were still in the balance last night while football’s governing bodies demanded more information from their owners.
The Premier League is investigating Ali al-Faraj, the latest “saviour” of Portsmouth, and his backers before rubber-stamping the fourth foreign takeover at Fratton Park in 11 years.
The FA apparently have to deem owners of football clubs to be fit and proper, I suppose this means that you cant be a criminal or have a dodgy financial background, and your suitability is established through a series of checks much like a financial check as done by a lender and a criminal check as done by the police.
So how can the owners of Notts County be a mystery, no-one seems to know who they are the owners are hidden behind a maze of corporations. Notts County recently hit the headlines for the vast amounts of money they have spent trying to get to the big time, the second division club have taken on ex England manager Sven Goran Erickson on a two million pound a year contract as Director of football, which does seem odd as the whole of the first team are only worth a few hundred thousand pounds.
The Notts County case underlines increasing fears that the money trail in takeovers too often leads to tax havens, where even the prying eyes of legal authorities acting in the interests of the sport are not welcome.
The other two teams in question are Leeds and Qpr, there appears to be a worrying trend developing with foreign investors taking over football clubs, as a football fan I worry where this may lead. If our clubs are being bought up for tax scams or worse money laundering, then our national game could be under threat.
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