Is state ownership football’s future?
The immediate answer is no. There’re only so many mega-rich oil states to go around and some of these already have an ownership or are heavy investors in football clubs. However, the seemingly unstoppable, unregulated growth of “sportswashing” that we are seeing at the moment is worrying, to say the least.
With Paris Saint Germain in France, and Manchester City, Newcastle, and possibly Manchester United soon in England, what is stopping more rich states with questionable human rights standings from coming in for clubs?
We currently find ourselves in the midst of what may end up being the biggest sale in sports history, and the more the reports come out, the more it seems that the Qatari bid submitted by Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani will prevail.
The chairman of the Qatari bank QIB, submitted his official £4bn bid a few weeks ago, and though it was rejected, they are expected to up the bid in coming weeks. Sheikh Jassim’s most serious opposition will, in all likelihood, come in the form of Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos.
If Twitter were to be your judge, you’d come to the conclusion that the vast majority of Manchester United fans are in favour of a Qatari-led takeover. Honestly, this wouldn’t be an unprecedented view .
In the buildup to Newcastle’s takeover by a consortium of the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), their supporter’s trust conducted a survey to gauge fans’ openness to the takeover. A whopping 96.7 per cent of Geordies were in favour, this sends a potentially troubling message.
The loud minority of fans from both Man Utd as well as that 96.7 per cent from Newcastle, illuminate the current landscape of world football and the pursuit of success, trophies or nothing.
These fans would seemingly be happy if clubs just accept the route of most investment as transfers and potential infrastructure upgrades loom large.
However, it’s important to point out that in both clubs there are fans that acknowledge the extremely negative backdrop behind both the Saudi Arabia takeover and the QIB bid.
Having countries which still outlaw same-sex marriage and which still have horrendous track records when it comes to the treatment of women, being the face or even the driving force of clubs is more than problematic, it’s unconscionable.
Future Regulation?
So what is being done in terms of managing the number of state-owned teams that may emerge going forward?
In the recent publication of the UK government’s white paper on football, they agreed that reform is needed to ensure football’s integrity; and have committed to introducing an independent regulator for English football clubs.
It was stated that this regulator will enforce financial regulation by requiring clubs to “demonstrate good financial practices”.
Despite the prospect of a new regulator for football, and the clear concerns of sports clubs and organisations being used to propel sportswashing, Sports Minister Stuart Andrew has said the regulator will not intervene with state ownership.
He said: “The state side of things is obviously a matter for the foreign office”.
He did, however go on to insist that they would observe what regulatory mechanisms are currently in use and will be implemented going forward by other institutions.
Deeper than just investment?
It’s not just in club ownership though. At the time of writing, FIFA has received heavy backlash on their Visit Saudi sponsorship at both the World Cup and Club World Cup, with many calling for the sponsor to be removed for the Women’s World Cup this June.
A country that still has such clear and unsettling human rights issues being promoted at three of football’s biggest tournaments, one doesn’t have to explain why that is more than a bad look. The painful irony was pointed out best by US international Alex Morgan.
She said: “I think it’s bizarre that FIFA has looked to have a Visit Saudi sponsorship for the Women’s World Cup, when I, myself, Alex Morgan, would not even be accepted and supported in that country,”
Morality has never been FIFA’s strong suit, so perhaps we shouldn’t expect better.
Cause for concern.
Despite the opposition of the fans and the wider football world, and in spite of the white paper put out by the government, the prospect of state ownership does not seem to be slowing down anytime soon.
State ownership of football clubs, if normalised and unregulated, is a very dangerous prospect. The biggest brand and arguably the biggest club in world football being owned by a “sportswashing” state would send the worst message imaginable.
