Leeds United owners 49ers Enterprises are not expected to run the Whites and new sister club Glasgow Rangers as affiliates in a multi-club ownership arrangement according to football finance expert Kieran Maguire.
On Saturday it was confirmed that an American consortium, led by healthcare tycoon Andrew Cavenagh and 49ers Enterprises, had completed a takeover of Rangers, acquiring a 51 per cent controlling stake. The takeover received approval from the Scottish Football Association and handed Leeds chairman Paraag Marathe a seat at a second boardroom table in UK football. While Cavenagh will be chairman at Ibrox, Marathe is to take up the role of vice chairman.
Club sources have been keen to stress that Rangers will be seen as a completely separate project to what is going on under Marathe and 49ers Enterprises' control at Elland Road. Just as there is communication and idea-sharing between staff and departments at San Francisco 49ers and Leeds United, it is expected that there will be similar dialogue between Glasgow and Leeds. It also remains possible that there could be player trading between the two sides, as there might have been before 49ers Enterprises' takeover but a free flow of talent across the border is not anticipated and the clubs will retain their own separate investment, finances and operations.
Paraag Marathe statement
Speaking at the Financial Times Business of Football Summit earlier this year Marathe said: "If you are a sports person, and you love it and treat it as a way of life like I do, then absolutely there is enough room in your heart to love all your sports properties, just like there is to love all your children." In April a spokesperson for 49ers Enterprises Global Football Group added: “The strength of our commitment, resources, and ambition for Leeds United remains unchanged. We look forward to competing in the Premier League next season.”
As Rangers fans wonder what the takeover will mean for their challenge to Celtic's recent dominance of Scottish football, Leeds fans have been asking what, if any, ramifications there will be for their own club. Speaking on his talkSPORT show, ex-Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan posed the question of whether the 49ers takeover at Ibrox would come to be seen as beneficial to Leeds at Rangers' expense.
He asked: "Does it become something that's slightly disadvantageous to Rangers and preferential to Leeds in terms of Rangers players finding their way in the Leeds team, rather than potentially finding their way and allowing Rangers to dominate Scottish football? Of course, they'll push back against that."
In response, football finance lecturer and podcaster Maguire put forward his belief that there will be separation between 49ers Enterprises' two football clubs. And though qualification for European football is a regular occurrence for Rangers as one of Scotland's 'big two' it is currently more of a hypothetical possibility than a reality that Leeds could meet their 49ers stablemate in continental competition. Maguire believes those issues have been considered by 49ers Enterprises as they plot a future for two clubs.
Man Utd, Aston Villa and Brighton precedents
"Well, my understanding, it's not going to be an MCO [multi-club ownership]," he said. "There is going to be quite a lot of independence between the two clubs, and you need that in order to get the deal past the SFA. And also, whilst this is looking ahead a wee bit, to make sure that there's no issues in terms of UEFA as well, because we've seen with multi-club ownership - Villa had to make a divestment, Brighton had to do the same. We've seen Jim Ratcliffe have to set up a blind trust, and Marianakis and Forest, Olympiacos and so on. So all of these things have been, I think, forethought by the new owners at Rangers."
Maguire was referencing UEFA's ruling that barred three pairs of clubs from trading players with their fellow affiliate until the end of the next year's summer transfer window. Two of the pairs were made up by Brighton and Union Saint-Gilloise, and Aston Villa and Vitória Guimarães.
Manchester United co-owner Jim Ratcliffe, via his firm INEOS, placed its ownership of Swiss side Lausanne-Sport into a blind trust to comply with UEFA rules on multi-club ownership regarding European competitions. INEOS has a stake in Manchester United, Lausanne and Nice. And Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis took a step back from his role at the City Ground as the Reds battled for Champions League qualification towards the end of the season, with his other club Olympiacos set to compete in the Champions League next season.
Maguire also suggested that the presence of 49ers Enterprises would add ‘sparkle’ to the takeover for Rangers fans, while talkSport host Jim White noted the investment vehicle’s ‘track record’ - something Jordan took issue with. He said: "I mean you make a point about the 49ers' track record with due respect, what is it? They were on the board when Leeds got relegated. They've taken two seasons to get them back out of the Championship. They've probably got the biggest budget in the Championship. I'm not sure, entirely sure, that their track record is quite as brilliant as we'd like to paint it."
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