When Stockport County went on tour to China in 2001, it seemed symptomatic of a breezy optimism that the People’s Republic’s new-found enthusiasm for football might somehow make international brands of even comparatively small European clubs.
With this week’s new $400 million Chinese investment in City Football Group (CFG), the Abu Dhabi-owned investment firm behind Manchester City, I wonder if the wheel has turned full circle. By which I mean I wonder if the great Chinese money machine – which has long seemed a bit of a mirage as far as football is concerned, but is now finally starting to fulfil its promise – will ultimately only benefit the already rich.
My reason for suggesting this is as follows. That $400 million has proved enough to buy the Chinese group, which is led by China Media Capital (CMC), a big media, entertainment, sports and internet investment company, some 13% in CFG, with new shares being issued. This is a significant stake, but far from enabling them to call the shots, in the way that football investors tend to want to do with these ultimate trophy assets.
Now this investment gives the Chinese, in effect, a stake in football clubs in the United States, Australia, Japan and – who knows? – maybe soon China, as well as the Premier League’s Manchester City, the flagship of the fleet. It could be that this geographic diversity appealed to them.
And yet, for this sort of sum, I reckon they could have bought a fair-to-middling Premier League club – many of whose owners appear, to say the least, open to offers – lock stock and barrel. And there would probably have been change to pick up clubs in smaller leagues if that was the investor’s wish.
So, one might infer, that for this Chinese investment group at least, a minority holding in the entity that controls Manchester City looks a more appealing prospect than full ownership of an Everton, say, or an Aston Villa, or a Newcastle United, or a Southampton.
If this view turns out to be a one-off and other Chinese buyers continue to snap up controlling interests in smaller clubs such as France’s Sochaux and Spain’s Espanyol, then it changes little.
If, however, the new wall of Chinese money expected to hit European football any time now chooses to focus, like CMC, on the Big Boys – and let’s remember that Dalian Wanda, which claims to have become the world’s largest sports operating company, has opted for a 20% stake in what we can probably describe as Spain’s Number Three club, Atlético Madrid – then one might start to imagine that a major consequence of the Chinese influx could be to widen the already gaping chasm between Europe’s 10- or 12- or, at a push, 20-strong super elite and the rest.
That might in turn, although here I may be getting ahead of myself, place further pressure on the already creaking structures through which European club football is currently organised.
It is just a hunch, but with the Chinese State Council estimating that the Chinese sports market may be worth a colossal $790 billion by 2025, I think this one is worth watching very closely.
David Owen worked for 20 years for the Financial Times in the United States, Canada, France and the UK. He ended his FT career as sports editor after the 2006 World Cup and is now freelancing, including covering the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the 2010 World Cup and London 2012. Owen’s Twitter feed can be accessed at www.twitter.com/dodo938.