The World

English football fans and the British press are transfixed by the legal battle to sell Liverpool football club, against the wishes of its deeply-indebted Texan owners. Even the FT carries the story prominently on today’s homepage.

In recent years, there has been a vogue for foreign owners to come in and buy English football clubs – perhaps it looks like fun, and some of the teams are global brands. . But – in a trend that is oddly emblematic of the way things are going in the global economy – it is obviously much better to be bought by an oil-rich Gulfie or Russian, rather than an American. Basically, the former have more money.

The current English league leaders, Chelsea, can trace the transformation of their fortunes to the day on which the Russian energy oligarch, Roman Abramovitch, turned up and bought the club. Abramovitch is not spending quite so freely these days, but he still poured enough cash into the club to ensure that it is packed with superstars.

It is now pretty clear that – if and when Chelsea are displaced at the top of English soccer – it will probably be by Manchester City. That is because City have been lucky enough to be bought by Sheikh Mansour of Abu Dhabi, who has paid off the club’s debts and allowed them to plough hundreds of millions of pounds into new players.

By contrast, Manchester United – by tradition, the senior club in the city, with a much longer record of success – have the misfortune to be owned by the Glazers, an American family who have loaded the club down with debt. While City frolic around in cash, things are tight at United – and the results are beginning to show on the pitch. Manchester United have now fallen behind City in the league table. And while City supporters cannot believe their luck, United supporters are in a state of semi-permanent rebellion against the Glazers.

Along with Manchester United, Liverpool are probably the most successful and most internationally-supported club in the English Premier League. But they too have had the misfortune to be bought by Americans rather than Arabs. The would-be new owners, New England Sports Ventures, look better organised and better funded than the current lot. But NESV are also Americans. And the lesson of English football teams to date is that American ownership involves being loaded up with debt.

It is all a bit of a symbol of the way things are going in the global economy. American owners are heavily-indebted and rely on financial engineering. It is the oil-rich Arabs and Russians who have the cash. Meanwhile Far Eastern buyers are beginning to sniff around English football.