Sven and Notts County: Who’s Footing the Bill?
Sven-Goran Eriksson at Notts County? Really?
Yes, in just three years, Sven has gone from England manager to Director of Football at a League Two club, via Manchester City and a disastrous spell in charge of Mexico — albeit, Notts County are a club with a proud history as the world’s oldest professional football club, fallen on hard times. Sven described the job as the “the biggest challenge I have faced”. Somehow, with a straight face, Sven added that “I’m not here for money, I am here for the challenge.”
How the hell can a League Two team afford Sven?
Notts County were taken over by a mysterious Middle Eastern investment consortium last month. Their new ownership, Munto Finance, is a subsidiary of QADBAK Investment Fund, which according to Chairman Peter Trembling “consists of a number of investors based in the Middle East.” Little else is known about Munto or QADBAK — neither entity even has a website.
Who are Munto/QADBAK’s backers?
Munto was created by QADBAK solely for the takeover, and is registered in the British Virgin Islands. When asked to reveal the names of the investors behind it by supporters before the takeover, the Notts County board cited confidentiality reasons for refusing to answer.
Munto’s public face as members of the Notts County board are new CEO and Chairman Peter Trembling and Peter Willett of the Al Thani Investment Group — who are likely the primary investor in QADBAK.
So what’s Al Thani Investment Group all about?
Peter Willett is listed as the Executive Vice President, Development of Thani Investments, based out of the United Arab Emirates, an “Investment firm with interest in oil, mining, power, and real estate sectors; property developers.” Abdulla Saeed Al Thani is the Dubai-based oil tycoon behind the fund, and the mastermind of an outrageous £1 billion golf course project, Dubai Golf City, a $1.8 billion project spread over 55 million sq. ft.
Al Thani is a first cousin of Sheikh Zayed, the late president of the United Arab Emirates, and a key member of the royal family’s oil dynasty. The key word here is oil.
So who is Peter Trembling?
Notts County’s new CEO and Chairman has just eleven months experience in English football as Commercial Director for Everton. Before that, he worked in the banking industry, so it’s no surprise he was the genius behind this charming scam at Everton to get fans to pay to use a debit card. Seems to know a lot of rich people, not clear if he knows anything about football.
Did the supporters approve of the takeover?
Yes. Notts County were previously majority-owned by their Supporters Trust; they voted overwhelmingly to gift their shares to Munto. Judging from their forums, Notts County fans seem to feel they have nothing to lose and that it was time to “do or die” by handing over control to Munto. The support for the deal of long-term board member John Mountney seems to have swayed many as well.
The club’s long decline began in the 1990s, before the Trust assumed control, but it’s clear Trust management did not find a way to move the club forward on or off the pitch. All the same, it’s a surprise supporters didn’t demand to at least know more about the backing of Munto before handing over control — they seem to have snatched off Munto’s hand out of fear they’d be left penniless without them. It’s understandable that years of frustration left supporters desperate for a fairy godmother, but we’ve seen too often these stories rarely end in fairytales; and perhaps the Trust could have played hardball to ensure the club’s future had more guarantees.
Either way, welcome to the rollercoaster. How long will Sven last?
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Tom Dunmore is the founder and editor of Pitch Invasion. Follow him @pitchinvasion on Twitter.
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Remember that Sven is a Director of Football, and has been put on their board with shares, no less. That makes him one of “the owners”. He isn’t going to be a manager. If the owners become the feared type with no patience for poor results and who will sack at will, he can say – as does every Director of Football – that it’s the manager’s fault that the results are poor, especially since he has far more experience than any manager they will have, meaning he can always claim to be a better judge than their manager. It took a manager of club legend status to force Newcastle to give up their Director of Football, and even that was a long hard battle. If Sven leaves, it’ll either be if he decides he wants to move on and walks out, or if a huge crisis over results escalates which can’t easily be ended by the sacking of the manager and he is implicated as responsible for the team. Neither of these possibilities is likely in the short term, everything points to him staying a few seasons. Remember, as he isn’t a manager the board isn’t likely to sack him at all.
Interestingly, Notts County have form as a lower-league club pulling major names on board. In 1947 Tommy Lawton, then probably England’s premier striker, shocked the football world by leaving Chelsea for Notts County (then a Third Division (old money) club) for a then-record £20,000. Precisely the same questions were asked then as now – “What on earth has he done that for?” and “How have County managed to afford him?”
You don’t suppose the deal was done on a yacht do you?
It was, the fit girl in the pic above with sven is part of his payment
redduffman : You don’t suppose the deal was done on a yacht do you?
Really??