The American invasion in Premier League ownership started in 2005, when the Glazer family gained control of Manchester United.
While most owners are generally not well liked by Premier League fans, American ownership seems to be exceptionally displeasing to English football fans over recent years.
Some of England’s most historic clubs – Man United, Liverpool, Aston Villa and Arsenal – have seen ownership from billionaire Yanks since the turn of the century.
The League will always belong to the fans, but many owners see it as a way to turn their billions into more billions. At the moment, clubs owned by Americans have one team in the top four, two in the bottom three and see two typical Premier League giants underperforming.
Let’s take a look at how the fans have reacted to decisions made by the owners from the other side of the pond…
Green and Gold ‘til the club is sold
The Glazer family took control of the Red Devils in 2005 when the club was in a steep £780million debt, now around £380m, even though United is the third richest club in the world.
Outrage against the owners started in 2009, when support group The Red Knights were upset with transactions during the transfer window. The club sold Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez only to purchase Michael Owen, Antonio Valencia and Gabriel Obertan.
It was at this time that The Red Knights tried to buy back the club, and started a campaign with the colors green and gold as a sign of protest. This was a reference to the six years when United wore those colors. Green and gold became a means of unification against the ownership. They even got support from David Beckham when in 2010 the former United star wore a green and gold scarf at an AC Milan-United match at Old Trafford.
In recent weeks there have been talks of a revival in the movement. Sir Alex Ferguson backs the fans as they are upset with decisions made by the owners, like the Glazer’s children receiving £15million from the club every year in dividends to shareholders.
Walk Alone Walk Out
Fenway Sports Group, owners of Major League Baseball’s Boston Red Sox, purchased Liverpool in 2010 and has been under fire in the past few weeks. T
he group planned a ticket price increase to £77 a ticket, and this did not fare well in working class Liverpool. Unlike many owners, FSG listened to their supporters after a walkout by more than 10,000 fans during the 77th minute of a match against Sunderland.
Four days after the protest, FSG issued an apology and claim to have revised their ticket price increase policy to please the fans.
Gooners Slam Stan
Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke has shown his ruthless nature in the past month after moving the NFL’s Rams from St. Louis to Los Angeles in a move motivated by money.
What makes it worse is the real estate mogul is from the St. Louis area, proving he’ll do anything to generate more money for himself. Fans in St. Louis are upset, and the outrage has made it’s way across the Atlantic to Arsenal supporters.
Like Liverpool, the North London club terminated their original plan to increase ticket prices for next season. The attempted ticket price increase disgusted supporters as Arsenal already make more money than any other club in the world on match day.
Kroenke also infuriated Arsenal fans when the club paid the owner £3million this fall.
Arsenal fans showed support for the #SlamStan campaign started by a lawyer from St. Louis during a Super Bowl advertisement.
Nothing but bad times at Villa
American Randy Lerner purchased Aston Villa in 2006 and has probably been the worst American owner in the Premier League.
Lerner, who had the Villa badge tattooed on his ankle, promised that the club would compete at Europe’s highest level. The fact they’re currently sitting in 20th in the table shows he’s no where near delivering on his promise ten years later.
Lerner first hired Martin O’Neil as manager and spent £200million on players – the result was three straight sixth place finishes. O’Neil quit days before the 2010 season following the sale of James Milner to Man City. It’s only been a downslide for the club since the 2010 season where they finished ninth, a position they’d currently love to be in.
Since then, the club has finished 16th, 15th twice in a row and 17th, and they will most likely be relegated. Even after relegation, Villa do not seem like they are poised for a return to the Premier League any time soon.
Randy Lerner has driven one of England’s most historic clubs into the ground.
Struggling Sunderland Supporters Not Happy
Two of the three teams in relegation territory are under American ownership.
At the beginning of this season, Sunderland Yankee owner Ellis Short received criticism from ex-defender and radio personality Michael Gray claiming that he had been lying to fans for years about promised transfer window activity. T
During the 3-1 loss at home to Norwich City, Sunderland fans chanted, “Are you watching Ellis Short,” showing their disapproval of the club’s summer transfer policy.
Since then, the owner responded to the insults claiming that he is committed and even said he would “appoint the devil” to save the club from a drop to the Championship.
Fulham Long for Premier League Return
Pakistani-American billionaire Shahid Khan took ownership of Fulham when it was a sinking ship on its way to relegation in 2013.
Khan was under a lot of criticism from the media after a season with three different managers saw Fulham sent down in the first year of his ownership.
Since then, Fulham have failed to find success in the Championship and do not appear to be back on their way up anytime soon.
Khan has showed that he has devoted interest in what’s best for the club with extensive coaching searches and spending during the transfer windows, while also freeing the club from debt.
