Manchester City’s hugely wealthy owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan has toppled Roman Abramovich to head British football’s rich list.
Sheikh Mansour, a member of the royal family of Abu Dhabi, has a personal fortune of £15billion according to the Football Rich List, researched and published
in a magazine.
The 38-year-old bought City in the summer, while Abramovich, Chelsea’s Russian owner, has slipped to third in the list – his wealth is estimated at £7billion and he has been said to have lost over £3billion in the economic downturn.
He has also been overtaken in the list by Lakshmi Mittal, the 58-year-old Indian industrialist worth £12.5billion who joined Formula One’s Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore investing in Queen’s Park Rangers.
David Beckham remains the richest player associated with British football – his personal fortune of £125million being streets ahead of his closest rivals Michael Owen (£40million) and Wayne Rooney (£35million).
Beckham is 38th in the overall list, while England head coach Fabio Capello is at number 73 worth an estimated £25million with a £6million-a-year contract and a £10million private art collection.
Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson is at number 78 in the list (£22million) and Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger at number 92 (£14million).
Celtic shareholder Dermot Desmond, the Irish entrepreneur, is the richest person in Scottish football – he is eighth on the list and said to be worth £1.2billion. Rangers chairman Sir David Murray is 19th on the list, worth £600million.
Despite the huge fortunes of the wealthiest owners, football finance experts fear British football’s bubble may be about to burst.
Professor Tom Cannon told the magazine: "Season-ticket numbers will probably be down by about 10% but renewals will be down by at least 15 or 20%. That’s where the problems will be as you go down the divisions."
Rich List Top 20
1 Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan (Man City) £15billion
2 Lakshmi Mittal and family (QPR) £12.5bn
3 Roman Abramovich (Chelsea) £7bn
4 Joe Lewis (Tottenham) £2.5bn
5 Bernie and Slavica Ecclestone (QPR) £2.4bn
6 Stanley Kroenke (Arsenal) £2.245bn
7 Alisher Usmanov (Arsenal) £1.5bn
8= Lord Grantchester & the Moores Family (Everton) £1.2bn
8= Dermot Desmond (Celtic) £1.2bn
10= Lord Ashcroft (Watford) £1.1bn
10= Malcolm Glazer and family (Man Utd) £1.1bn
12 Simon Keswick (Cheltenham) £966m
13 Trevor Hemmings (Preston) £900m
14 Mike Ashley (Newcastle) £800m
15 Randy Lerner (Aston Villa) £750m
16 Tom Hicks (Liverpool) £700m
17 The Walker Family (Blackburn) £660m
18 Mohammed Al Fayed (Fulham) £650m
19 Sir David Murray (Rangers) £600m
20 Steve Morgan (Wolves) £400m
Top 20 players: (overall position in the main list in brackets)
1 David Beckham £125m (38)
2 Michael Owen £40m (56=)
3 Wayne Rooney £35m (61)
4= Rio Ferdinand £28m (69=)
4= Robbie Fowler £28m (69=)
4= Sol Campbell £28m (69=)
7 Ryan Giggs £23m (77)
8= Michael Ballack £20m (80=)
8= Frank Lampard £20m (80=)
10 Steven Gerrard £19m (86)
11 Cristiano Ronaldo £18m (87)
12 John Terry £17m (88)
13 Didier Drogba £15m (89)
14= Nicolas Anelka £14m (92=)
14= Damien Duff £14m (92=)
16= Dimitar Berbatov £13m (96=)
16= Ashley and Cheryl Cole £13m (96=)
16= Fernando Torres £13m (96=)
19 = Emile Heskey £12m (100)
20 Gary Neville £11.75m (101)