Every Premier League owner rated from worst to first on current performance
Taking a look at the heroes and villains behind the scenes
Manchester United will reportedly be subject of a £4billion takeover bid from Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.
Bin Salman, who has a reported net worth of £850billion, hopes to meet with the Glazers in the near future to hold talks about a potential purchase of the Old Trafford club.
While United have previously dismissed reports suggesting the Glazer family would look to sell the club, they may be tempted by such a huge offer as that being reported.
If the Glazers do sell up, they would leave United 13 years after purchasing them outright in 2005.
Their time has been marred by a general negative reaction from the Old Trafford faithful towards the Glazer family's ownership, with fans long critical of the huge amounts of money they have withdrawn from United.
But where do the Glazers rank when compared with the owners of England’s 19 other top flight clubs?
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You can see talkSPORT.com’s ranking of the 20 Premier League owners, from worst to best, below…
Despite Newcastle keeping their place in the Premier League last season with relative ease, ill feeling towards Ashley has not lessened. Much of the praise for top flight survival was directed at manager Rafa Benitez, rather than Ashley, and there are still doubts as to whether the Spaniard will remain at St James' Park if Ashley does not sell the club. Amanda Staveley looked set to buy Newcastle sometime during the last season, but Ashley ended talks and there is no news about a new potential owner. A lack of spending over the summer transfer window appears to have Benitez at breaking point, especially after a winless start to the season.
Sullivan and Gold may have been the two most hated men in east London last season, but their work over the summer helped to lessen some of the pressure on the pair. Hiring Manuel Pellegrini and making big-money moves for star players have increased expectation that 2018/19 could be a positive season for the Hammers, though the poor start has restored pressure on Sullivan and Gold. Many issues, created by Sullivan and Gold, remain in the memory – the move from Upton Park to the London Stadium, the hiring of David Moyes, the ‘Dildo brothers’ affair – and another pitch invasion to protest against the pair could be on the cards.
Jisheng bought an 80 per cent stake in Southampton last August, and his reign has hardly been a positive one. In the 13 months Jisheng has been in charge of Saints, the club lost their best player – Virgil van Dijk – sacked a manager – Mauricio Pellegrino – and were almost relegated to the Championship. Admittedly, Jisheng did oversee the appointment of Mark Hughes, who kept Southampton in the Premier League, but deciding to keep Hughes on for this season reeks of desperation and short-termism, rather than suggesting there is an in-depth plan for the club’s future.
Getting rid of Arsene Wenger after 22 years was the only thing Kroenke could do to ease the increasing pressure on his head. There were almost consistent protests against him throughout 2017/18, and replacing Wenger with Unai Emery was as much about saving himself as helping Arsenal out. Still, he has backed Emery in the transfer market, and bringing in the Spaniard could be a shrewd move given the success he enjoyed at Sevilla. Kroenke will take all the criticism should it not work out, as Alisher Usmanov agreed to sell all his shares in the club to the American.
If you could use only one word to describe Moshiri’s time in charge of Everton, it would be ‘tumultuous’. In just over two years of Moshiri’s ownership, Everton have had three permanent managers – Marco Silva is the latest – as well as one interim boss, they’ve spent a load in the transfer market with hardly any returns on the pitch, and fan support for the Iranian has dwindled. This season seems like a fresh start for Moshiri and Everton following the disastrous 2017/18 campaign, and Moshiri could regain trust from the supporters if the Toffees enjoy success on the pitch under Silva - something he has shown potential of doing. Moshiri’s biggest impact since arriving on Merseyside was securing the deal for Everton to buy Bramley-Moore Dock for a new stadium.
Parish's reign in charge of Palace has seen the Eagles rise to the Premier League and establish themselves as a top flight club. Last summer's appointment of Frank de Boer as manager was a mistake, but Parish showed faith in Roy Hodgson after his failures with England and was rewarded. Hodgson is staying on at Selhurst Park, but Parish will be tested when Hodgson, already 70, decides to step down. The owner's first attempt at bringing in a foreign coach to change Palace's culture was an epic failure, and he will rue making the same mistakes again. There has been no work on Palace's stadium since promotion to the Premier League in 2013, but Parish has announced plans to redevelop Selhurst Park to modernise the ground and the club.
The Glazer family have never been the most liked owners in the Premier League, despite the incredible success Man United enjoyed in the first seven years of their tenure under manager Sir Alex Ferguson. Since Ferguson's retirement, things have been harder for the Glazers, although fan acceptance of the American family has increased. They have pumped a load of money into the footballing side of the club, having historically been quite restricted with their spending, but the return on their investment has been minimal, with no Premier League title won since Ferguson stepped down. Fans are starting to appreciate just how much money has been put in to the club recently, but the general response to a Saudi takeover seems like it would be positive given there would be even bigger investment in the coming years.
The Srivaddhanaprabha family, led by 60-year-old Vichai, will go down in Leicester history as the man who helped the Foxes complete that most miraculous of sporting miracles to win the 2015/16 Premier League. He purchased the club in 2010, and helped them win promotion to the top flight in May 2014. On the day they reached the Premier League, Srivaddhanaprabha promised he would invest enough in the club to make them a top-five team within three years. It took just two for the Foxes to win the whole thing. Since then, times have been a bit more troublesome for Srivaddhanaprabha, with managerial changes, poor performances, and fan discontent. Keeping Claude Puel on as manager at the end of last season was not well greeted by supporters, but Leicester have started the season well enough to downplay talk of a potential sacking.
Demin's biggest strength as owner of Bournemouth is his ability to stay behind the scenes, injecting money to keep the Cherries' fairy tale appear as just that - a fairy tale. He has been instrumental to Bournemouth's recent successes, but it is not just Demin's money that has played a role. The Russian has shown the kind of faith in manager Eddie Howe that is hardly expected in modern football, and he's been wildly rewarded. Demin has also helped finance a new stadium, with a planning application set to be submitted later this year.
Tan has righted many of the wrongs he made upon first taking control of Cardiff, reverting back to the club's blue badge and strip after his ill-fated experiment with red. He has since endured a rather rocky time in the Championship, before hiring Neil Warnock, who helped Cardiff back to the Premier League by finishing runners-up in the second tier. Tan has so far backed Warnock in the transfer market, but he is hardly going to be able to spend the kind of money other Premier League sides do. It is likely to be a season of struggles for Cardiff, but blame for such a campaign should not be directed at Tan.
Huddersfield fan Hoyle became the club’s majority shareholder in 2009. He has helped his team win promotion to the Premier League – despite their status as one of the relegation favourites in 2016/17 – and has kept them in the top flight by breaking the club’s transfer record various times. Hoyle also showed incredible foresight and trust when hiring David Wagner as Huddersfield’s manager in 2015, seeing as Wagner’s only previous post was with Borussia Dortmund’s reserve team. He is now one of the most highly-rated up-and-coming managers around, and Hoyle insists he will not sack Wagner despite Huddersfield winless start to the season.
Like Hoyle, Bloom is a fan of the club he owns. Brighton won promotion to the Premier League for the first ever time under Bloom, the local born poker player, and he and manager Chris Hughton kept them in the top flight for a second successive season. Bloom showed faith in hiring Hughton when his reputation had taken quite a knock after being sacked by Norwich, and he has backed his manager in the transfer market, breaking Brighton’s transfer record numerous times since the club’s rise to the top flight.
Khan's first season as Fulham owner coincided with the club going through three managers and getting relegated from the Premier League. A few years in the wilderness of the Championship saw Khan stabilise the side, before the appointment of Slavisa Jokanovic as manager in December 2015. The following year (2016/17) Fulham made it to the play-offs, before going one better last season by winning promotion to the Premier League. Khan has helped build one of the most exciting squads in English football, and he is confident Fulham will keep hold of their prize assets - teenage superstar Ryan Sessegnon being the most valuable. How Khan reacts to Fulham's dreadful start to the season will further determine his reputation: does he sack Jokanovic or stick with his man.
Spurs’ recent rise under Mauricio Pochettino has been one of the best stories in English football, and it is in no small part thanks to Joe Lewis, who owns Tottenham through ENIC Group, and chairman Daniel Levy (pictured above). They have backed the project Pochettino wants to see through in north London, whilst also not breaking their own principles by keeping their transfer spend relatively low in relation to their league rivals. This financial caution has been achieved while Spurs have seriously challenged for the Premier League for the first time since it was created in 1992. However, the failure to spend any money during the summer transfer annoyed fans, who were then hurt a second time by the delays to the opening of the new stadium. Supporters have consistently criticised just how poorly Spurs have communicated their stadium issues, with leaks in the press revealing far more than the club ever have.
Abramovich's tenure at Chelsea has been filled with success, with 15 major trophies won in 15 years. However, things have been harder for the Blues recently, with Abramovich choosing to put stadium redevelopment plans on hold, and starting to restrict his spending in the transfer market. Chelsea are still spending a lot in relative terms, but compared to the likes of Manchester United and Manchester City, Abramovich cannot compete. This has led to issues on the pitch, with Chelsea failing to qualify for the 2018/19 Champions League by finishing fifth in the Premier League last season. Despite all these issues, Abramovich is said to remain fully committed to Chelsea.
Some of the smartest owners in the Premier League, Burnley’s entire approach to the sport is about stability and consistency to achieve success. Manager Sean Dyche has been shown incredible faith, even after a relegation from the Premier League in 2015, and he has guided the Clarets back to the top flight and into Europe for the first time in 51 years. This brilliant success has been achieved on a meagre budget, with much of the money made since Burnley’s rise to the top flight being invested in the club’s infrastructure to ensure the Clarets’ long-term survival. This approach has led to recent criticism, however, with a lack of transfer business over the summer seeing Burnley knocked out of the Europa League qualifiers and struggle in the opening stages of the season. Excellent prior work should not be forgotten despite recent struggles.
It took three seasons from the Pozzo family buying Watford before the club won promotion to the Premier League, and since then they've established themselves in the top flight. Gino is now sole owner of the Hornets, and he looks to run a well-oiled machine at Vicarage Road, especially now the Hornets have gone through a summer without sacking their manager; admittedly Javi Gracia was only hired in January. This current squad is Watford's best since the club's heyday under Graham Taylor in the 1980s, and Pozzo continues to invest both on and off the pitch, securing big-money signings, improving the club's training ground, and expanding the stadium to keep the fans flocking to Vicarage Road.
After a shaky start to life at Liverpool, Henry has established himself as one of the best owners in the Premier League. He managed to secure the appointment of Jurgen Klopp as the club’s manager, and has backed him completely in the transfer market. This has seen Liverpool return to consistent top four finishes, and reach last season’s Champions League final. Most impressively, however, is that reaching the final was not seen as the pinnacle. Henry and Klopp have used this as a springboard for future success, with a host of brilliant summer signings making Liverpool one of the favourites to win the Premier League this term.
Fosun International, owned by Guo Guangchang, bought Wolves in the summer of 2016 and have taken them to Premier League football. With the day-to-day running of the club left to Jeff Shi (pictured above, right), and with help from super-agent Jorge Mendes – who has no official title at the club – Wolves romped to the Championship title last season to secure a return to the flight. They made some of the greatest signings ever seen in the Championship, and bought a host of top class players for the current Premier League campaign. Given what they have done for Wolves so far, many expect Fosun to keep investing in the Molineux club to make them one of the best teams in England.
Since Sheikh Mansour purchased Man City, through the Abu Dhabi United Group, in 2008, the Etihad Stadium club have become a giant of European football. The biggest prize - the Champions League - continues to desert City, but they have won all there is to win in English football - including the most recent Premier League by a record 100 points. Mansour managed to secure the services of perhaps football's most sought after manager, Pep Guardiola, and he's spent the money required to bring some of the best players to the Etihad. If they continue on this trajectory, it surely won't be long until Man City win that long-awaited European Cup.