When it comes to the English Premiership, I am quite happy to be a fan of the Chelsea Blues, not only because of their “Double” championship last season, winning both the Premiership and FA Cup titles, but it is also the fact that they have a billionaire owner, who will spend whatever it takes to keep the team at a highly competitive level. Roman Abramovich is an ideal owner for any fan. As detailed in Wikipedia, he is listed as the 50th most wealthy person in the world, and since his purchase of the team in June 2003, the Blues have won 3 Premier League titles, 3 FA Cups and 2 League Cups. That accumulation makes them the most successful English team over the last seven years. He is just like a fan in reality,as most owners are, but the difference is that he has all the money he needs to find the players that are required to get the Chelsea Blues to the top, and keep them there. The owners of North American professional sports teams that I would compare him to, would include Mike and Marian Ilitch, the owners of the Detroit Red Wings and the Detroit Tigers. Obviously the Ilitch’s have an incredible record, with the 4 Stanley Cup championships that their management team has brought to the Motor City. The Ilitch’s purchased the Wings in 1982, and the Tigers in 1992.
Conversely, I am so glad that I am not a fan of Manchester United even though, they are the most popular of the Premiership teams in Canada, and they have a vastly superior record to any Premiership team other than Liverpool, in terms of championship hardware. But I don’t really care about that. In a way, because they have a much smaller following in Canada than either the Red Devils, or the Reds, it is a great feeling to be among the comparative few, who are in the Blues camp. That feeling is even more enhanced when I continue to read and hear about the animosity among the Manchester United fans, towards their American based owners, the Glazer family, who also own the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers. There is a similar degree of resentment towards the U.S. based owners of Liverpool, in terms of Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr. On the surface,it seems that both situations relate to the financial well being of the teams, but one can’t help but wonder if there is a little anti-American sentiment mixed in there, considering that both Manchester United and Liverpool are ranked by Forbes, as being in the top 6 of all professional soccer teams world wide, in terms of their financial worth.
The organized group that wants an ownership change for the Red Devils, is known as The Manchester United Supporters’ Trust (MUST), and they protest the Glazer ownership through their own color campaign of the Green and Gold protest. Over the objections of manager Sir Alex Ferguson, the group maintains that even his support of the Glazer’s, isn’t enough to change their feelings about this ownership group at all. They told ESPN Soccernet: “ Green and Gold will remain a powerful symbol of the continued desire for a change in ownership at Manchester United – a desire which burns within the vast majority of Manchester United supporters whatever colours they choose to wear…………..The Glazer family are loved by fans of Manchester City, Chelsea, and Liverpool as much as they are disliked by Manchester United supporters. That tells you all you need to know about their effect on our club.”
As a fan of Chelsea, I could really care less who owns Manchester United, but if the Red Devils lose to the Blues as they did last season, I will be quite pleased, no matter who owns the team.
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