Cash-rich owners can spell disaster

Modern football is awash with big-spending owners, promising immediate success through buying the world’s best players and expanding on a global scale.

But whilst every fan dreams of a boost to the transfer kitty should clubs be so keen to ape the free-spending likes of Manchester City and Chelsea?

Taking the example of Cardiff City, who were taken over by Malaysian businessman Vincent Tan in 2010, the freewheeling investment of a wealthy owner can shake the very identity of the club they support.

Tan has promised fans an £100m spending spree on players and training facilities, but used his power to subject the club to a “rebranding” in 2012, bastardising the club’s famous badge by shrinking the blue bird that adorned the centre and replacing it with a red dragon.

Cardiff’s blue shirt was laced with footballing history, and Tan’s audacity in changing the home strip to red – based on the fact that red-wearing Liverpool and Manchester United “are much more successful and have a bigger fan base” than blue-clad Manchester City and Chelsea – served only to highlight a contempt for the club’s heritage.

Problems of identity aside, Tan’s mismanagement has extended into the hiring and firing of the club’s recruitment staff.

While the money to sign top-level players such as Sevilla’s Gary Medel and Tottenham Hotspur’s Steven Caulker came from Tan, the recent sacking of the man responsible for scouting said players and negotiating the deals has undone the good work.

That Iain Moody, Cardiff’s former head of recruitment, was replaced by 23-year-old Alisher Apsalyamov, the son of a friend of Tan’s formerly on work experience painting walls at the club, raises significant doubts about his suitability as the owner of the club.

Cardiff manager Malky Mackay appears set to stay on at the club, but has pointedly praised Moody in subsequent interviews. Moody himself has been recruited by Crystal Palace, a development Mackay will have witnessed with frustration.

Furthermore, what happens if the big spending ownership get bored of their investment, and decide to withdraw their hatfuls of cash?

The plight of Leeds United should again serve as a reminder of the consequences of irresponsible spending

Russian side Anzhi Makhachkala are currently dealing with such a situation. Billionaire Seleyman Kerimov bought the club in 2011, pledging to finance a rise to the top of European football, but recently decided to dramatically slash the club’s budget from £116m per season to around £40 million, after becoming frustrated with poor league form and training ground strife.

This has resulted in a firesale of their star performers, including Willian and Samuel Eto’o to Chelsea. Rene Meulensteen, erstwhile assistant to Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, was sacked as manager after a paltry 16 days in charge.

And if Anzhi’s tame 2-0 surrender to Tottenham Hotspur in this year’s Europa League is anything to go by, this new “strategy” is unlikely to lead to any improvements on the pitch.

This tumultuous episode surely serves as a warning to all clubs with generous owners: having a wealthy owner does not guarantee success.

Leeds United provide the perfect example of the long-term implications of an ill-judged spending strategy.

While rumours that former chairman Peter Ridsdale offered central midfielder Seth Johnson a contract worth £35,000 – double what the player expected – are wide of the mark, the club vastly overspent on their playing squad.

The club borrowed £60 million against future gate receipts, which they were unable to pay back following successive failures to qualify for the Champions League in 2002 and 2003.

Lavish spending on the likes of Johnson and Darren Huckerby crippled the club with debt, necessitating the sale of star asset Rio Ferdinand to Manchester United for £30m in 2002.

The damage was already done, however, as a proud club sleepwalked into the third tier of English football. Meanwhile the term “doing a Leeds” entered the footballing lexicon as a phrase synonymous with financial mismanagement in football.

Ten years later, Leeds are in the Championship, but still look no more likely to return to the promised land of the Premier League than they did when they first tumbled spectacularly out of it.

An asset-stripping owner in the form of Ken Bates has left the club devoid of any real talent in the playing squad. Shorn of its best players, such as Norwich City-bound Robert Snodgrass, Jonathan Howson and Bradley Johnson, Max Gradel and Jonathan Howson, the current side lacks the width and creativity needed to launch a genuine challenge.

Moreover, the owners installed halfway through last season, Bahraini investment bank GFH Capital, ostensibly do not possess the necessary financial clout to push for promotion, even with the impressive Brian McDermott in the managerial hotseat.

The plight of Leeds United should again serve as a reminder of the consequences of irresponsible spending.

While fans and players alike may hope for a ‘moneybags’ owner, modern football shows that spending without thinking can have disastrous ramifications.