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Our Business and Current Affairs Correspondent Joshua Oware returns with an article detailing the possibility of foreign investors further altering the English Premier League due to the current economic crisis. (Dr Sulaiman Al-Fahim, who heads the Arab group.)
Contrary to previous reports, and initial suggestions, the Barclays Bank group chose not to accept the ‘highly strung’ governmental bailout plan, issued in last month’s financial terror. Many consider this move to be both a brave one, but equally a move not without risk. The quintessentially English bank, however, was not, and is not, immune from the ensuing recession and the credit crisis that gripped the nation, so, obviously, a move to reject a cash injection plan, would plunge the bank, already cemented in an unstable financial market, into danger. Now Barclay’s isn’t just a valuable English bank, a talisman if you will, Barclays is in-fact the primary sponsor of the English Premier League; hence the name ‘the Barclay’s Premier League’. Collapse of such an institution would be devastating for football fans, sports fans, and patriots alike. It would symbol the state of English society as a consequence of the uncertain financial state of affairs. It would truly show how contagious the financial bug is; it would show that nothing and no-one is immune from the markets and that even the worldly sport of football can take-a-hit. If it is seen that the one ‘treat’ that we can still enjoy in these uncertain, recession stricken times, is failing, then thoughts of ‘what’s going to happen to us?’ will creep in.
But hopefully we shouldn’t have to worry about such a situation thanks to our footbaling friends – the Abu Dhabi group. Yes, after their lavish purchase of Manchester City Football club on the last day of the transfer window, the Abu Dhabi Royal family, and the sugar-daddy sheik himself – Sheik Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan - have decided to stretch their financial opium to the Premier League itself. The Royal Family, with an estimated worth of around £350bn, have bought a stake of around 16% in Barclays bank, for a miserly £3bn. A similar 16% investment by the Qatar Royal Family and a Qatar Investment Authority, couples the Abu Dhabi half, meaning that, collectively, 32% of Barclays is owned by these two Middle Eastern entities. This, obviously, seems to secure the Barclays Bank group and as they themselves said, it keeps the bank “strong and independent” by rejecting the English offer and accepting this Asian version. It is theoretically true to say that the Abu Dhabi group could own the entire Premiership, as their oil funded wealth proves unshaken after the credit-crisis, allowing them to invest heavily firstly in a single club but in the league as a whole. This move seems to underpin the notion that football clubs, sports and for that matter, the country, is looking overseas, and, most notably, to the Middle East for a lifeline as they feel the pinch. We can no longer trust English money, we, on our hands-and-knees, are increasingly scouring the deserts of Asia and the Middle East for ‘safe’ money. With such trends, who knows when it will stop? You never know, in time we could have 20 different Abu Dhabi family members owning 20 different Premier League Clubs, under a league named: ‘The Abu Dhabi Premier League’ ; ‘money talks’ remember!... By Joshua Oware
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