ESL collapse may see Americans heading over here
David Low, who was financial advisor to Fergus McCann when the latter saved Celtic from being plunged into bankruptcy by the Bank of Scotland in 1994, has issued a warning that an increasing number of US companies are looking to buy up distressed football clubs.
The Covid-19 pandemic has seen clubs everywhere hurt financially, due to matches being played in empty grounds, and Scottish outfits could be high on the list of American investors looking for more bang for their buck.
Companies across the Atlantic are taking over clubs all over Europe as many put themselves up for sale to avoid going to the wall.
And last week’s collapse of the European Super League has refocused stateside attention on football club takeovers.
“The pandemic last year caught clubs on the hop,” said Low, the co-owner of Basketball club Glasgow Rocks.
“Consequently, they were ill-prepared for the lack of match-day revenue streams – and no country in Europe is more dependent on that source of income thanScotland.
“The ramifications continue. It’s still not over, and it’s still unclear when, if at all, grounds will be able to return to full capacity.
“Clubs are being put on the market because they are owned by individuals who don’t have the money to replenish the damage done to their balance sheets by the virus.
“The ones which will come through it unscathed are the ones which had the most money behind them. “That should make Celtic relatively immune to this. “They had more than £30m in the bank before the pandemic hit, they have a billionaire cornerstone investor, Dermot Desmond, and they also have an unused and expanded overdraft facility.
“So Celtic have all the tools required to come out of the other end of this catastrophe.
“Rangers are funded by regular share issues, and their auditors said in last year’s accounts that their ability to continue as a going concern depends on these capital injections.
“Meanwhile, Frank McCourt, the former LA Dodgers owner, has just bought Marseille.
“But Americans like the UK because it’s Englishspeaking, it has a sophisticated legal system and because London is the world’s investment capital.
“Most of the major Premier League clubs already have wealthy owners.
Americans already own top English clubs, and have controlling interests in Aberdeen, Hibs, Dundee United and Ayr United up here.
The collapse of the ESL has made them keener than ever to buy British.