Rangers may not become a ‘feeder team’ – but multi-club ownership comes with risksRangers may not become a ‘feeder team’ – but multi-club ownership comes with risks
Rangers may not become a ‘feeder team’ – but multi-club ownership comes with risks | Getty Images
49ers Enterprises are set to complete their takeover of Rangers - but are the “feeder club” fears worth worrying about?
Only a period of due diligence stands between Rangers, one of Scotland’s most storied football clubs, and their new American ownership. On Monday, it was reported that a takeover by the investment arm of NFL team the San Francisco 49ers had been agreed – but it’s a deal which comes with concerns.
Rangers wouldn’t be the first football club to come under the control of 49ers Enterprises – among many other business interests, they also own Championship side Leeds United. That would make Rangers the latest of hundreds of teams to fall under the umbrella of a multi-club ownership group, for good and for ill.
‘Feeder team’ fear aren’t entirely overblown
Interim Rangers head coach Barry FergusonInterim Rangers head coach Barry Ferguson
Interim Rangers head coach Barry Ferguson | Getty Images
Perhaps the most immediate worry about Rangers being brought into such an ownership group is that they could become effectively subservient – a ‘feeder club’ of sorts – to Leeds United.
In the near future, that’s unlikely, especially given that Leeds have not earned promotion back to the Premier League yet, less still established themselves there. Should they do so, however, Leeds are likely to have significantly higher earnings potential than Rangers, and there is a valid fear that under such circumstances, the Glasgow giants could play second fiddle.
Other multi-club ownership groups have demonstrated how ‘smaller’ (or at least poorer) teams within such a set-up can fall into the category of feeder clubs. City Group, for instance, bought Savinho for French club Troyes, their record signing – only he never played for them. He was quickly loaned to Girona and then sold on to Manchester City, all while Troyes were battling relegation from Ligue 2. Troyes’ needs were not a consideration compared to those of the clubs who were in a better position to earn the group money and win them trophies.
Another example comes from John Textor’s Eagle Group Holdings, who own French Ligue 1 side Lyon, historic Brazilian side Botafogo, Belgian outfit KWD Molenbeek and a minority shareholding in Crystal Palace.
Money has continually be shuffled between the clubs, to the benefit of the group as a whole but not necessarily to the individual teams. Molenbeek, for instance, ‘bought’ promising winger Ernest Nuamah for a sum which not only shattered their transfer record but which was greater than their typical annual turnover, before he was immediately loaned to Lyon and bought by them for the same fee a year later.
Some teams under these models benefit, undoubtedly – Botafogo, for instance, spent huge money by the standards of Brazilian football and won the Copa Libertadores under Textor’s ownership, but others may suffer, especially if the plates aren’t all spun in sync with each other. Lyon, despite the financial flexibility offered by their own ‘sister’ clubs, have been provisionally relegated from the French top flight over enormous unpaid debts.
There are upsides for the clubs in these partnerships, of course, from networking and expanded scouting to opportunities to get preferential loan deals involving talented players from larger clubs, and if Rangers were towards the top tier of a multi-club pyramid, it may serve them very well. The question is whether that’s where they would end up.
Asked whether 49ers Enterprises intended to expand their football holdings, its president, Paraag Marathe, acknowledged their plans to grow their interests within the game:
“We are looking at other opportunities. It is doable to replicate the passion [of Leeds],” Marathe said. “What we are looking for is clubs with the right bones, history of success and potential for growth.
“Leeds United stands alone. If we were to look at another club that would stand alone. What you can share and do on the sporting side, we haven’t looked at one club as a feeder club. Just like there is to love all of your children, there’s enough room in your heart to love all your sports properties.”
A degree of reassurance, perhaps, but without knowing whether Rangers would be paired with bigger or smaller sides around Europe and elsewhere, it's hard to know how beneficial such a model might be for them - or the extent to which they could become just another cog in a machine which serves other interests.
Will Rangers play second fiddle under 49ers Enterprises?
49ers Enterprises' Paraag Marathe in 2018.49ers Enterprises' Paraag Marathe in 2018.
49ers Enterprises' Paraag Marathe in 2018. | Getty Images
Uncertainty over the scale and nature of the future expansion of the 49ers’ interests in football doesn’t necessarily suggest that Rangers would suffer relegation to a subservient status, of course, but it would be more reassuring if it the group’s future ambitions were clearer.
Nor does anyone doubt Marathe’s genuine interest in sport (he was previously involved in a recent growth spurt in American cricket), but he is ultimately representing a group whose primary aim – no matter how sincere their affection for sports in general or any of the clubs that they purchase – is to make money.
As it stands, there is little imminent prospect of Rangers being in a position where they would become a ‘feeder club’ to Leeds but given the vast financial gulf between the English and Scottish top divisions, it isn’t impossible to imagine a situation down the line in which Leeds found themselves getting preferential treatment over other clubs that they shared a stable with if they do return to the upper echelons of the English game.
Perhaps the sheer scale of Rangers’ history and fanbase would provide a safety blanket of sorts. Former forward and now pundit Ally McCoist has said that he views Rangers as “far too big an entity to become a feeder club to anyone” but the harsh financial reality is that simply by virtue of being an SPL side, they are a selling club, viewed by ambitious players from outside of Scotland as a stepping stone rather than a final destination. It may be optimistic to expect American businessmen not to take that on board over time, especially if a sister club hits the heights in a more lucrative league.
Even beyond concerns over status within a group, there are concerns over the impact on a club’s sense of identity that becoming part of a broader stable can have. An example is the case of Strasbourg, former French national champions with nearly a century of history behind them who are now owned by BlueCo, Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali’s multi-club ownership model which places Chelsea at the top.
“[Strasbourg] is now nothing more than a financial asset, owned by an investment fund that already owns another club,” read a 2024 statement from fan group Ultra Boys 90. “All we can do is watch helplessly as our club is stripped of all its experienced players in favour of young, up-and-coming players. We’re not fooled! No professional club can be competitive under these conditions.”
A young Rangers fan waves the stars and stripes during the game against St. Mirren.A young Rangers fan waves the stars and stripes during the game against St. Mirren.
A young Rangers fan waves the stars and stripes during the game against St. Mirren. | Getty Images
The feeling among many Strasbourg fans is that despite being a top-flight team in a ‘Big Five’ European league, they now only exist to service Chelsea, both in terms of its financial needs and by providing a destination for the London club’s younger players to develop. The loss of the sense of a club existing for its own purposes and ambitions seems to have had a significant psychic impact on many fans.
Then, far worse, there is the ‘house of cards’ concern, perhaps best exemplified by 777 Group, who owned a number of clubs worldwide and attempted to purchase Everton before going bankrupt amid allegations of fraud. Suddenly, clubs including Genoa, Hertha Berlin and Vasco da Gama face an uncertain future after being taken over by 777’s primary creditors. Being part of a multi-club ownership model means not only worrying about your own finances, but those of several other teams at the same time.
So far, Marathe and 49ers Enterprises have given Leeds mercifully little cause to complain. A summer of shrewd work in the transfer market has put the squad in a superb position to achieve automatic promotion back to the Premier League and there are, as yet, no signs of the potential overspending or scattershot recruitment that has been associated with Eagle Group Holdings and BlueCo’s work in football.
But we still don’t know what kind of multi-club owners 49ers Enterprises will be. Maybe Rangers will only enjoy the benefits without the pitfalls. Maybe their proud identity will be undiminished. Perhaps the 49ers really will keep all of their clubs separate financially and treat each team’s history, heritage and fan base with the respect they deserve – but if they do, they would arguably become the first owners of their sort to do so.
Related topics:Paraag MaratheAlly McCoist
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