Since being acquired by Qatari billionaire Qatari investor Abdullah bin Nasser bin Abdullah Al
Ahmed Al Thani, Málaga Club de Fútbol has invested heavily in players and staff. Featuring
established...
As expected Racing Santander have reappointed former coach Marcelino Garcia to replace the
sacked Miguel Angel Portugal.
Racing, who were taken over last month by Indian investor Ahsan Ali Syed, terminated Portugal's
contract on Monday and Marcelino has agreed a deal until the end of next season, a club spokesman
said.
Let's say you ran a small business. It doesn't matter what industry, just a small business, a
start-up, still young. You're still trying to make it work, still losing money, still hoping you
can find a committed local investor who will put some money into the thing.
So you work on this one project for a week or so, while doing all the other things you do on a
regular basis to try to keep the lights on and the staff paid.
Its a slow news day around these parts for me. What can I say I really don't care to talk about
the hundreds of players rumored to come to MLS during this transfer window. Just isn't my cup of
tea at the moment.
Instead I'm hitting the way-back machine for this one as Argentine club Boca Juniors is once
again going public with their hopes and dreams of owning a MLS club one day.
Joint-ownership of football players; the future or a financial cloak? - originally posted on
Soccerlens.com
Long gone are the days of simply buying and selling players; due to the extortionate amounts of
money that football players are worth modern day contracts are intricate, with many different
beneficiaries in every deal.
In the murky business of football agents Kia Joorabchian is a breed apart.
The Iranian-born Brit considers himself more of an investor than an agent. And in many ways,
it's true. He is not licensed to represent footballers, but came to power by peddling in the
"third-party" ownership of players and still exerts tremendous influence over his clients even
after the ownership rules changed.
Yes Canberra A-League Bid is about to hand $340,000 back to their community members. As early as
next week I'm hearing. We know this amount of money won't give us a team, but we also know that no
other team in the A-League had such Community funds before getting a licence, some didn't even get
it in their annual season ticket revenues.
Every Aussie city should be able to have a football club given we've got so many players.
Right?
So how do you get one that is sustainable? You work from the ground up, and have a salary cap in
keeping with revenues that we can bring in. If your salary cap is way too big then every club gets
into debt in the scramble to win the league; and clubs eventually fail.
Well it took a while and I think the deal changed (possibly more than once) but Martin Rivero, a 22
year old Argentine midfielder, has finally been signed by the Rapids. As usual terms of the deal
were not announced but it is a loan, not a signing. He's expected to travel with the team to
Hawai'i on Sunday.
I may be going out on a limb here, but I'm pretty sure that when Don Garber gave the
greenlight for the league's current playoff system, he didn't honestly envision that 17 teams
would remain mathematically alive for the postseason on September 29th.
Think about that for a second. In addition to Seattle, Salt Lake, and Dallas, the five-win
Revolution, six-win Toronto, and six-win San Jose, despite their horrid records and overwhelmingly
disappointing form this season, are all eligible for the playoffs right now.
The current owners do not have the resources to match other A-League clubs.
While they are happy to have an investor or investors, for the right and big price, take minority
interests, they will not give up control. Unfortunately, this has been a deal breaker for ambitious
potential owners.
Earlier this month we learned that FC Gold Pride and the Washington Freedom had failed to make
escrow payments, to secure a 2011 season. The deadline was extended to mid-November, so that
hopefully new investors would step up and save the teams from folding. Only one team made it
though.
WPS released a statement that said the Washington Freedom were able to secure one more season as
an investor came through for them, but FCGP has ceased operations.
Liverpool FC does have various serious bids on the table for the sale of the club before the
October RBS 8th deadline.
A senior source close to Barclays Capital believes there to be some interest in the club, with "as
many as five bidders at in-depth stages of due diligence" and a "Hong Kong-based investor leading
the race" to take over at Anfield.
Their Words We all agreed a change of direction was needed to reverse the trend of the past couple
of years. New England Revolution investor/operator Jonathan Kraft. Other Sources Red Bulls coach
Hans Backe confident Thierry Henry, Rafa Marquez will help carry team in MLS playoffs - from The
Newark Star-Ledger's Frank Giase: Henry, however, didn't agree.
Jay-Z has reiterated his ambition to buy into Arsenal and says he wants to be on the Gunners'
board. I know this story has been flying around for about 2 years now but we have to keep the faith
that it might actually happen.
The rapper insists that he and wife Beyonce Knowles would even move to London so he could be
"involved in the decision-making" alongside septuagenarian (lmao) chairman Peter
Hill-Wood
He said: "We would have to spend much more time in London.
The new ownership group of AS Roma has set aside 10 million euros ($14 million) to buy
Landon Donovan's rights, and also may have U.S. midfielder Michael
Bradley on the radar screen.
Thomas DiBenedetto, whose bid for Roma is pending approval of Italian financial
regulators, is a Boston-based entrepreneur who is a partner in New England Sports Ventures, which
owns the Boston Red Sox and last fall purchased a controlling interest in Liverpool FC.
Two senior officials of New England Sports Ventures have been appointed to the Liverpool board.
David Ginsberg, one of NESV's two vice-chairmen, and investor Michael Gordon have been installed as
club directors.
Both men will watch Liverpool's Premier League match against Blackburn on Sunday alongside new
co-owner Tom Werner.
Real Madrid's start to life under Jose Mourinho has been relatively inauspicious and word reaches
Blood Red that all might not be well within the squad at the Bernabeu.
During a recent Champions League game, Mourinho was heard constantly barking out orders at Xabi
Alonso and the rare occasions he squandered possession were greeted with exclamation of ‘Xabi!
For those that missed it, Omaha's mayor is trying to get his city into the MLS expansion talks. Jim
Suttle cites the cities United Football League team's attendance as a reason Omaha should be
considered for MLS expansion. The Nighthawks have averaged 23,000 for their first two games, both
sell outs, at Rosenblatt Stadium.
Sometimes, we can only stand back and applaud such loyalty. With just four weeks until Christmas
and after having been told to expect redundancies, the staff of Plymouth Argyle the people who,
quietly, efficiently and for considerably less reward than those that are in any way the public
faces of the game held a meeting earlier this week and confirmed that they will work on, without
pay, until the current crisis that is blowing over Home Park has been resolved one way or the
other.
He's back, and it's almost if he never went away. The return of Stephen Vaughan onto our radar
would be funny, if it weren't for the fact that his involvement in anything to do with football
(or, indeed, rugby league) wasn't such a portent of doom for those likely to be on the receiving
end of him.
I really feel for Austin Aztex fans. The rumors of the move from Austin to Orlando that Inside
Minnesota Soccer's Brain Quarstad broke out was right on the money. If anyone knows what Austin
fans are going through it is us South Florida soccer fans who have been down that road before. The
way it was done to Aztex fans seemed like a sneaky exit stage right (or wrong).
Minnesota Public Radio published a report this morning (also in audio) on the new USSF D2 soccer
standards and how Minnesota may lose professional soccer unless an investor is found. MPR's Tim
Nelson interviews Minnesota Stars Head Coach Manny Lagos and IMS's Brian Quarstad (yup, that's me)
in this report called, "Professional Soccer in Minnesota Could Get the Boot".
When is a deal between two clubs not a straight deal? When it involves a third party.
Spurs found out Joao Moutinho's economic interests were not just owned by Porto but a third
party investor who wanted to be paid his share of the transfer fee. It's all quite complex and the
Guardian has the goods.
Speculation abounds in the Leeds fans' media this week, with the announcement we are in talks
with a potential investor. Twiggster is hopeful of a take over, but not counting chickens just yet
and gives his thoughts about the situation on this weeks show. In other news, a Leeds signing
confirmed and an interview with the player in question can be heard!
This is how crazy ideas get started. It's only a matter of time before someone patents it and calls
it a sport.
Would the sport be better on grass or indoors with a machine running the balls back up?
Many variations could be offered for Foot Bowling. Widening the lane could be one option.
It happens like clockwork. Every year, Landon Donovan's name is linked with some European soccer
team.
The latest story had AS Roma interested in bringing Donovan to Italy. Boston investor Thomas
DiBenedetto expressed interest in bringing Donovan and Michael Bradley to the team where he has
gained a controlling interest.
Despite winning trophies in the last two seasons, FA Cup 2009 & League Cup 2010, and reportedly
attracting an investor willing pump serious money into the club it appears negotiations ain't going
well and the the guys may well walk away from the deal, possibly taking some of the team with
them.
More details can be found on Thai Fussball and Thai Port blog.
By J Hutcherson - WASHINGTON, DC (Apr 11, 2011) US Soccer Players -- With Arsenal now in the
control of Colorado Rapids investor/operator Stan Kroenke, it's worth wondering what club takes the
Gunners' place as the one that's too precious to be sullied by American ownership. After all Queen
and country were out in force a few years ago over the possibility that Arsenal might end up owned
by someone without a British passport.
Jeremiah took a tongue-in-cheek look at what Don Garber would say to the Miami Ultras and he met
prior to today's Combine action. Except that the MLS Commissioner pretty much said what Jeremiah
said he would.
Garber emphasized three points that would help most: getting the market excited for soccer,
supporting the second division club that already exists, and supporting the Gold Cup matches to be
played at FIU Stadium this summer.
