A Lottery-winning millionaire, his mysterious billion aire rival and the bonkers battle for Partick Thistle
IN THE divided city of Glasgow, Partick Thistle has long occupied the centre ground — the safe option between Celtic and Rangers. The Jags have worked hard over recent seasons to throw off their ‘cuddly’ image and build on their eccentric reputation. From pink away strips to a club mascot that would frighten the children.
Currently, however, the Maryhill club are headline news for an entirely different reason. On one side stands a billionaire Chinese/ American businessman who wants to buy a controlling stake in the struggling Championship outfit. On the other is Britain’s biggest Lottery winner, desperate to win the battle for control so he can immediately gift it back to the fans.
It was back in June Sportsmail first broke the story of how an international consortium, featuring wealthy Chien Lee of NewCity Capital and Paul Conway of Pacific Media Group, was in shock talks to buy a 55-per-cent stake in Thistle.
Lee and Conway, who own a controlling stake in Barnsley FC, boast a sprinkling of Hollywood stardust in their story with one investor, Billy Beane, the inspiration behind the hit 2011 film Moneyball.
With Brad Pitt in the title role, it tells how Beane brought success to baseball side the Oakland Raiders by using data to scout and recruit potent but undervalued players on a limited budget.
If that was their plan for Thistle, then they were keeping their cards close to their chest. Very little is known about the Lee/Conway bid because they have yet to go public with their intentions let alone reveal why they see a club currently bottom of Scotland’s second tier as ripe for investment. Certainly the Thistle board at the time had their doubts, although they had little time to express them.
Life at Firhill got very interesting indeed in July when a boardroom coup saw chairman Jacqui Low ousted and previous incumbent David Beattie return. And that was just the start of it. Colin Weir — who scooped £161million with ex-wife Christine in 2011 and is a lifelong Thistle fan — had been acting as the club’s benefactor. He funded the youth academy which took his name and, amongst other things, has pledged £6m for a training complex.
So grateful were Thistle of his largesse that the main stand was named after him. Yet such was his anger at watching close friend Low toppled that Weir cut all ties with Thistle.
In a statement in early August he said: ‘I can’t provide the benefits of significant monies and a facility to an unknown entity or group. Current uncertainties about its potential new ownership, combined with no substantive plan for the club’s future and the instability caused by recent board changes, mean I feel unable to make any further investment in the club at this time.’
With the path seemingly clear for the Lee/Conway group to move in, Thistle fans have been anxious and urgently seeking clarity. Many have been left frustrated that meetings with chairman Beattie have been short on detail.
There remain also significant problems over a breach of dualownership rules, with the SFA seeking its own answers on the issue given the consortium’s controlling stake in Barnsley.
Their buy-out of the Yorkshire club at the end of 2017 came too late to prevent the team’s relegation from the Championship but they bounced back at the first attempt, although they currently sit third bottom eight games into the new season.
‘The jury is out on Lee and Conway,’ a source close to Barnsley told Sportsmail. ‘The damage was already done when they took over and the team bounced back. Their model is to sign players exclusively under the age of 25 with an aim to developing them and selling them on.
‘But results have not been great so far this season, although it is still early days.’
Results have not been great at Thistle either. Bottom of the Championship, manager Gary Caldwell was sacked this week and replaced with Ian McCall. It was at the parading of the new management team that Beattie was pressed again on the takeover and admitted he hoped Weir would get back involved with the club. Just 24 hours later, he was to get his wish.
A hastily assembled group of fans under the banner Thistle for Ever announced the very next day that they were launching a rival bid for the control of the club, fully-funded by the slighted Lottery winner.
Weir’s financial support for the fan-led takeover comes without condition. If successful, he promises to resume his funding of the Thistle Weir Youth Academy.
His plan also aims to secure the club’s future by purchasing the south terrace area and Main Stand — currently held by Firhill Developments — placing the whole club and its assets in the hands of supporters for the first ever time.
TfE also say they have a fiveyear plan to get Thistle into the Premiership top six, although doubters are sceptical about their lack of track record in running a football club and whether a fan-ownership model can indeed be successful at Thistle. Soundings from the Beattie-led board also suggest that they see the Weir-backed bid as flimsy on details. But in the week when a new management team left fans hopeful for a brighter future on the park, the TfE believe they can secure Partick Thistle off the pitch for years to come.
‘TfE stands for community, certainty and stability,’ Paul Goodwin of the fans’ group told
Sportsmail. ‘If we got the keys tomorrow, we want Thistle to be run as a sustainable club, with no over-spending and no debt — but with ambition. What we can bring to the table is an income source like the Foundation of Hearts or the Well Society.
‘We want to put the politics of the last wee while behind us. We have a cracking management team under Ian McCall that can
drive Thistle onwards and upwards. And we’ve got a longstanding supporter who is wealthy and happy to make this dream come true. Colin Weir says as part of this deal he would reinstate his funding of the academy, which would cost around £200,000£250,000 per annum.
‘I’m not having a go at foreign investors as being bad investors. But this move would see Thistle fans taking charge of their club and in this case it really would be their club now — and it would be their club for generations.’
Supporters Direct Scotland chief executive Alan Russell believes fans gaining control of boardrooms is a positive development.
‘Getting supporters closer to their club is fundamentally a good thing,’ he told the Daily Record. ‘Having a club with an individual owner usually leads to problems rather than great outcomes. ‘The biggest positive about supporter ownership is decisions are made by people accountable to the supporters. They also take a longer-term view than shortterm profitability.’ Key questions, however, remain as to whether the TfE group can attract enough fans to back their plan and make it viable. There is also a suspicion that it has been rushed and is without foundation. Beattie (left) continues to champion the Lee/Conway bid and is confident that it can be completed in less than a month. The club’s annual general meeting passed last night without drama despite further shareholder request for information. Beattie has insisted the board have the club’s best interests at heart — and dismissed speculation that Firhill could be sold by the prospective new owners.
‘I’d ask the fans to trust us. I can tell the fans that the board of directors and the shareholders only have one thing on our agenda — doing what is best for Partick Thistle,’ added Beattie.
‘If the best thing for the club is the consortium — which I believe it is just now — then fantastic. We have one thing on our agenda — doing what is best for Partick Thistle. We are not going to do anything to the detriment of the club.’
The multi-millionaire lottery winner versus the mystery billionaire businessman doing battle for Partick Thistle. Scottish football is never short of intriguing stories, but this one is bonkers.