Foreign Investors In Scottish Football – Why ?

As we await a manager being appointed at Tynecastle, there was news recently of another Scottish club being taken over by a foreign investment group when Pearse Flynn agreed to sell his majority shareholding in Livingston to a group of Italian lawyers/financiers.

Apparently the plan is to install an Italian coach, with David Hay (who is the father-in-law of one of the investors) as Football Director. The group are claiming that they have saved Livingston from bankruptcy, but will retain a strong Scottish identity in the team as they chase a return to the ‘glory days’ the club experienced a few short years ago. Hmmm…where have we heard that before?

Flynn had gone on record as saying that it would cost nearly £0.5m just to attain a decent position in the First Division – presumably that’s the shortfall between revenue and costs. It is not clear yet how the new owners will proceed in trying to recruit players good enough to win their league, while retaining a Scots majority. They have stated that they do not intend to follow the ‘Romanov model’ (whatever that is…answers on a postcard, please).

Apparently they intend to approach West Lothian council in an attempt to buy Almondvale stadium – perhaps this fact alone may set some alarm bells ringing among fans.

In some respects, NOT being burdened with maintenance costs of a stadium is preferable for a small club, if an affordable rent agreement can be put in place on a long-term basis.

An interesting twist is that the coach who has been mentioned – Roberto Landi – previously worked in Lithuania as U-21 national coach, so he will be known to our own Mr Romanov.

In the late 1990s, Dundee and Raith Rovers were ‘infiltrated’ by foreigners promising great things – both projects ended in tears from the fans’ point of view, and there were rumours of financial irregularities too. Thankfully both clubs are now restored to local ownership, and have been showing steady improvement on the field too.

In England, it seems to be the huge clubs which attract the foreign interest – Man Utd and Liverpool for example. The reasons for that seem easier to grasp – a huge brand-name to sell TV & Internet access and shirts to a worldwide market offering the potential for big profits. Yet in Scotland, it is ailing loss-making clubs with limited potential (and close to bankruptcy!) which seem to hold an attraction.

So all of this begs the question – why?

On Vital Hearts we have all struggled to find logical explanations for what the Romanov regime is up to. Certainly they were able to buy the club cheaply in the first place, but given the regime’s record of hindering the development of our team recently, we’ve only managed two plausible reasons so far – to showcase players from the Romanov scouting stable with a view to selling them at a profit, and to provide a captive debtor for Ukio Bankas as they seek to establish themselves in the UK.

Since Livingston operate on a lower financial scale than Hearts and have a smaller fan base, it’s even less clear what is driving this latest investment. Gretna and Hearts have shown that paying outrageous wages does not bring success – indeed it can be counter-productive on the pitch and can lead to financial ruin.

Maybe corporate investors see the exorbitant wages being paid to players at even modest UK clubs, plus the huge fees being paid to agents, and simply want a slice of the action themselves. No doubt it’s the fans who will have to foot much of the bill, as yet more parties seek to make money out of the beautiful game.

Personally, I hope the group are successful in getting the club into the SPL. Livingston is a large town with a potential to establish a regular fanbase of at least 6,000. Anyway, my boss is a season ticket holder there, so I have to say nice things in case he reads this!!