Americans: Profit maximisation

Manchester United: The Glazer family

Why do so many Manchester United fans and football fans hate the Glazers? Because they epitomise everything that’s wrong with modern football. While under their ownership Manchester United still experienced a long period of success under Sir Alex Ferguson, the Glazers have transitioned Manchester United into a business. Unlike other sides, the Glazers and Ed Woodward have brought this idea that every move made at Manchester United must have marketing value. This can be seen with the signings of Paul Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimović, Alexis Sánchez. Despite the quality of these players, these players also bring massive marketing value to the club, as they’ll sell shirts and increase the viewership of Manchester United. All in all, while it can be good for decisions in football to have marketing value, a football club should never be run like a business.

The Glazers have helped make Manchester United one of the most valuable clubs in the world (Source: Bleacher Report)

Arsenal: Stan Kroenke

Similar to the Glazers, Stan Kroenke is someone else that also epitomises everything that’s wrong with modern football. While Kroenke doesn’t think about commercialising as much as the Glazers, Kroenke stills operates Arsenal based on a “profit maximisation” basis. What this means is that as long as Arsenal gain Champions League revenue, Kroenke is happy, as he’s more focused on the economic well-being of the club rather than how well the team are actually performing. His inability to see the issues that lie on the field and the issues with him as owner are few of the reasons why Arsenal fans hate Stan Kroenke so much.

Arsenal have been on a steady decline under Kroenke’s rule (Credit: Bleacher Report)

Liverpool: John Henry and FSG

Unlike the other owners mentioned above, John Henry has done a lot as majority shareholder of Liverpool. After his ability to clear the debts of Gillet and Hicks, Henry has since set a stable economic model that allows managers time to build their teams and sell big when there’s a chance. However, selling big for Liverpool is often matched by cheaper alternatives, and under Henry, Liverpool have slowly been able to financially elevate themselves. This can be seen with the recent signings of Virgil Van Dijk, Naby Keïta, and Mohamed Salah. Unlike the Glazers and Kroenke, Henry’s philosophy is mainly about maintaining the community around Liverpool Football Club rather than the glitz and glamour.

AS Roma: James J. Pallotta

After beating FC Barcelona at home to progress to the semi-finals of the Champions League, Pallotta went viral when he celebrated Roma’s victory in a fountain. Nonetheless, Pallotta has brought a lot of financial & economic stability to Roma. By consistently competing for Serie A and participating in the Champions League almost every year, Pallotta has brought an era of stability. Most of Roma’s recent recruitments can be credited to Pallotta’s appointment of Monchi, someone who knows the in’s and out’s of the transfer market, and which markets are undervalued. Unlike the Glazers and Kroenke, Pallotta is more about stability rather than selling their best players when there’s a chance. However, there recent sponsorships with Qatar Airways probably signals that Roma will start to spend more and are using these sponsorships to dodge Financial Fair Play regulations.

Olympique de Marseille: Frank McCourt

Frank McCourt was an awful owner of the LA Dodgers. He put no money into the team, and simply took money out of the team to cover the costs of his mansions. Nonetheless, it seems that McCourt is slowly learning from his mistakes. When taking over Olympique de Marseille, he stated that “he would want to continue preserving the club’s legacy, ”and that he’ll learn from his mistakes. Well, as of now, Marseille are in the top 4 of Ligue 1 and are in the final of the Europa League. They’ve kept their best players, and their ability to attract young Ligue 1 players signals an era of potential success for Marseille.

Chinese: Growing the sport

China’s President Xi Jinping is a massive fan of football and in order to grow the sport in China, he’s encouraged and recommended the idea of Chinese businessman investing in European football clubs. By doing so, he would also hope to assert Chinese domination in world football.

AC Milan: Li Yonghong

AC Milan’s tenure under Li Yonghong’s ownership has been turbulent to say at the least. Despite spending lots of money on players this summer, there’s only a few players that they of which they got a sizeable profit on. In February, he was declared bankrupt, as he was simply borrowing money to fund the transfers. Now, the bank/fund that he owes money to will probably strip him of his most valuable assets, which includes selling AC Milan’s best players. Yonghong Li and Silvio Berlusconi are both very different and have a different vision about AC Milan, yet the one thing that have in common is that they were not the best owners out there.

Wolverhampton Wanderers: Jeff Shi

Unlike Li Yonghong, Wolverhampton Wanderers under Jeff Shi’s ownership has been successful, officially securing Premier League football next season. Apart from injecting lots of money into the club, he’s also had the help of working with Jorge Mendes, a football agent that’s capable of filling the team with capable players. Furthermore, Jeff Shi & Jorge Mendes were both able to realise the “untapped” Portuguese market, with young, cheap players with big potential. With more and more money coming into the club and with the ability to sign the likes of Rúben Neves, Jeff Shi’s tenure at Wolves has been a success.

Arabics: Global recognition

Manchester City: Sheikh Mansour

In the past decade, there’s seemed to be 2 blessings that Manchester City have had: the takeover from Sheikh Mansour and winning 3 league titles. However, the 2nd blessing simply would be possible if Sheikh Mansour hadn’t invested money into the club. Sheikh Mansour invested into Manchester City because he saw a club that he could build into a top team, and also because he wanted to introduce himself on the global stage. Investing into a football club that’s part of the most popular league in the world is certainly a method that helps you gain global recognition, and it has certainly helped Sheikh Mansour. Furthermore, due to the resources that Sheikh Mansour has, he’s been able to inject more and more money into Manchester City, and because of that, they’ve been able to compete with the best. While at times they’re costs were not covered by their benefits, Manchester City must simply thank Sheikh Mansour for an era that seemed nearly impossible 15 years ago.

PSG: Naseer Al-Khelaifi

Similar to Mansour, Naseer Al-Khelaifi owns Paris Saint-Germain in order to change an average team into a top team, and to gain global recognition. Now retired, through his previous work as a businessman, Mansour has been able to fund P.S.G’s hefty expenditures, including the world record signing of Neymar. Nonetheless, P.S.G. fans certainly have Al-Khelaifi to thank for as they’ve been to compete with the best and buy the best.

Everton: Farhad Moshiri

Similar to Mansour and Al-Khelaifi, Farhad Moshiri has invested in Everton in order to get global recognition. However, unlike the other two, his tenure at Everton owner hasn’t gone to plan. With the inability to find the right manager and poor high-cost investments, Moshiri’s tenure can be highlighted by signing the wrong players. At times, it’s not about buying a lot, but about buying smart.

Russians

Chelsea: Roman Abramovich

Roman Abramovich has been one of the most important in Chelsea’s history, starting the new era by building the club into a global brand and signing world class players. However, even though he’s ruthless and doesn’t give managers much time, Abramovich has certainly revolutionised Chelsea. His recruitments of Mourinho, Ancelotti, and Conte has seen the club and the fans experience an era of success. Even though his model only yields short-term results, Chelsea fans certainly have much to thank Roman Abramovich for.

AS Monaco: Dmitry Rybolovlev

Despite excessive spending early on AS Monaco, Rybolovlev is one of the main reasons why AS Monaco have seen the likes of Kylian Mbappé come through their academy. When it was announced that he did not have as much money, AS Monaco were selling their best players. However, the cost of the team that won last year was very low. All in all, despite the fact that Rybolovlev hasn’t put as much money into the club as before, Monaco’s current economic model and recruitment strategy is mainly the way it is because of Dmitry Rybolovlev.