Why Don't Billionaires Buy Non-League Football Teams?

Almost every Premier League team is now owned by a billionaire, or a company controlled by a billionaire, and the influx of the super-rich into football is not a phenomenon that is unique to the English game.
Yet, whether it be Manchester City, Chelsea, or Newcastle United, billionaires always seem to buy fairly established clubs, rather than taking on the challenge of building a club up from their ground in their own image.
In this video, HITC Sevens takes a look at why that is the case, why billionaires buy football clubs at all, and whether it would be a good or bad thing if they were to start buying non-league teams.

[@JohnSmith-rw2yn]

If I was a billionaire, I'd buy the local team who are conference North, it would literally be real life video game. Ground upgrades, staff hiring, budgets for sqauds. Love it.

[@Kushagra.j]

That's why you'll never be a billionaire

[@1607Adi_Manz]

@@Kushagra.j he can't differentiate between sport and business minded

[@JohnSmith-rw2yn]

@@Kushagra.j I won't be a billionaire because of a fictional scenario on a KZbin video 😂 OK pal.

[@JohnSmith-rw2yn]

@@1607Adi_Manz thank you for your assumptions.

[@1607Adi_Manz]

@@JohnSmith-rw2yn no I'm saying that you really believe that billionaire buying football club for satisfaction and not for money laundering and investment ?

[@steel4o]

Just a cool fact from a lesser known competition : In Bulgaria, the richest man billionaire Kiril Domuschiev bought a 3rd flight team for just 25.000 euros worth of investment. In their debut season in the Bulgarian first league, achieved after back to back promotions, they won the championship. They have still not been dethroned, having won it 11 times in a row. 4 more and they break the European record, though Bayern are on their heels with 10 in a row for now. Check Ludogorets Razgrad FC for more info.

[@jlkanne8330]

yea, everyone in Bulgaria hates them...

[@FozzQuaker]

Hasn't Alfie done a video on this already

[@barbarian92]

@@FozzQuaker He has, but explaining why Ludogorets is hated in Bulgaria

[@gandalfgreyhame3425]

Somewhat similar story with Hoffenheim FC in the Bundesliga, stuck in the fifth division of German football until Dietmar Hopp, a software billionaire, bought the club of his youth and pushed it into the Bundesliga after 8 years with Ralf Rangnick at the helm. Not an individual billionaire, but the Red Bull cmpany finally broke into the German Bundesliga by buying the sports license of a tiny fifth division side SSV Markranstädt for 350,000 euros and turned it into RB Leipzig.

[@xBatboys4]

Ludogorets is the most disgusting club on earth

[@Dionysos640]

I'm not sure if you have come across the Dorking Wanderers story yet? No billionaires involved but it is an incredible tale of building a brand new club from the ground up. Founded in 1999, starting at the lowest possible level of park football. 23 years, 12 promotions (and no relegations) later, they are into the National League and playing in a 3k capacity, town centre stadium. Marc White, the owner, chairman, first team manager has been there from the very beginning. They have a successful Reserve Team, a Ladies Team and a youth development program with over 1,000 children enrolled. If there ever was a real life example of Football Manager, this is it and the story is far from over.

[@elliottdenton5150]

Very true

[@kaseylapan]

one more promotion to be in fifa lol

[@gm2407]

Hope they continue to be promoted.

[@jamiechalmers3931]

What a story

[@chris94kennedy]

I spent 25 years living in Dorking lol and it's actually so bizarre to see it mentioned because of football on sky sports, youtube etc. So weird. Up the Wanderers!

[@almchendolf]

A Greek example of how hard it is to build a fanbase regardless of success: The mayor of Volos, Greece (city of around 150k people), Achilleas Beos created his own club, Volos FC, and lead them to the Greek Superleague within 3 seasons. The only problem: they have literally 0 fans. They play against the best Greek teams in a 20000 capacity stadium with no one in the stands. Volos inhabitants mainly support two historic clubs (now in the lower leagues), Niki Volos and Olympiakos Volos, and no one wanted to change clubs just because of the success Beos' money can get.

[@drago939393]

Sounds like he should have bought one of those clubs instead... Or both!

[@almchendolf]

@@drago939393 The best thing is he did try to get them both. He wanted Volos to have one strong club that competes in the Superleague, so he firstly tried to get those two (rival) clubs to merge. When no one agreed to this he said fuck it and created his own.

[@drago939393]

@@almchendolf Ah, I see. That's kind of a shame then since it's a good idea on paper, but I understand those clubs refusing.

[@sziklamester1244]

I played both teams in fm 2015. Basically to make a fan base you need time, investment both in the place you wish to make your team and in your team. You can have star grade players of team if you have no audience you will just throw out a lot of money. There is no problem with newly created teams because sometime need to refresh or make something new but you need to consider how fast you want reach something. Basically Felcsút in Hungary is a very small city or town with 1688 inhabitants and their team was represented usually in lower divisions till our current Governor Orbán invested into it and now it is a first class team filled with legionaries. The team was rebranded in 2012 as Puskás Akadémia with a 3 816 capacity stadium. Ironically the major of the town is Orbán's friend so he is involved into the football too. At least for this capacity that settlement should have at least 10-15k people so it could give some basement for fans but here things work different because our leader likes football and makes unnecessary spendings on stadium project around the country with basically no backings.

[@bloodspartan300]

According to your logic nobody should create anything.

[@sheldon97sheldon]

Buying a Non League team and slowly building up to the top sounds so much more satisfying than just buying a PL club. It's like playing FIFA, there's much more satisfaction playing with a League 2 club and taking them to the CL than using a 'Big 6' (Soon to be big 7) club from the start.

[@onyxt3589]

Yeah but... Nobody cares about Luton Town besides the people there irl...

[@sheldon97sheldon]

@@onyxt3589 I get what you're saying, but I'm a Man United Fan, yet the thought of buying the club in the small town I grew in (Thetford) and taking them from an insignificant team most people haven't heard of to European Champions, sounds better than buying Man United and taking them back to glory. Man United will get there again one day anyway, be it 5, 10, 20 or 50 years, it will happen again eventually. But a small Non League club will likely never even come close to such heights. That's why it sounds so much more fun.

[@bricktop.]

I used to do that all the time in FIFA career, it does get boring fast and seems a bit silly when you defend the Champions League trophy for the 4th time with Forest Green Rovers. These days I just play as the super clubs and have more money for the top players straight away.

[@shawklan27]

Very very true

[@gejamugamlatsoomanam7716]

Fifa video game is not real life, you really think billionaires want to wait to take a non-commercial non league club to premier league with no ROI

[@chimsuaumo]

I remember buying 'Lets make a soccer team'. Creating a local team really appealed to me. Then I saw that the only West Sussex place I could put a team in was Brighton (yes I know) and it was Eastbourne for East Sussex.

[@Tom_Star]

21:55 one of the big reasons Hoffenheim and Hopp are hated in Germany is their PR following the promotion to the 2. Bundesliga in 2007. Claiming to be just a normal promoted Club (by Ralf Rangnick) they spent over 20 million € on new players. That was more than any other club in Germany spent on new players except Bayern (and, for comparison, nearly the transfer fee of Thierry Henry on his way to Barcelona).

[@Ninja-gt3zi]

Rangnick a fraud

[@gothicgolem2947]

I don’t get this those clubs and rb are hated for spending that much and yet no one complains about Bayern and they don’t seem as hated as those clubs

[@cameron9385]

@@gothicgolem2947 yeah I've always found that a bit ironic really. It's basically just a complaint about new money despite the clear signs that old money is actually a bigger problem

[@gothicgolem2947]

@@cameron9385 exactly i would have thought they’d be more upset Bayern seams to keep winning anymore rather than some new clubs getting money

[@cribless810]

@GothicGolem29 @Cameron I dont think you guys follow german football at all, Bayern is extremely hated in germany because of their money and rb are now hated for the same reason

[@J_ZD]

A guy named Marc White is doing the football manager challenge. He started Dorking Wanderers from absolutely nothing in 1999. They played in the 16th tier and next season they will be in the National League up against Oldham Athletic, a former Premier League team. That would actually be a good topic for a video.

[@elliottdenton5150]

Yes would love to see a video on this

[@BALHAM69]

a documentary on the afc Wimbledon on the nine promotions in eleven years, how they’re a fan own club and how they have a stadium in plough lane now. The story of they lost the club, how the F A allowed that and won’t allow that anymore. How they were very close to moving to ireland How they went up the English football leagues. It would be a good documentary video if you can do this. #thepeopleschannel

[@alehlete830]

Move to Ireland what

[@alehlete830]

Rmember afc Wimbledon use to be eith mkdons

[@abgy237]

@@alehlete830 In the 90s Wimbledon FC wanted to move to Dublin. However, the theory then became that Sam Hammam was using the Dublin move to inflate the value of the club which was eventually sold to two Norwegian Millionaires / Billionaires. A terrible business deal when you think Wimbledon FC had no ground, trained on a public park (yes really) and had the smallest support in the Premier League. But great to see Wimbledon no longer have the lowest attendance in the PL because of the pandemic. I know all this as I'm an AFC Wimbledon fan who went through it all. It's amazing to think that AFC Wimbledon made it to the football league, and back to Plough Lane, given they didn't have a Billionaire (there were some people putting money into the club). But the resources needed to raise a playing budget and fund a £30 Million stadium through mostly the fan base is incredible. I know Darragh MacAnthony (Peterborough Owner) did bid to buy AFC Wimbledon when they were in the Ryman League.

[@lewisblackwiththenicehair]

Nice nod to Total Club Manager, great game back in the day

[@CrackaPackify]

Will it include them fucking over Kingstonian by selling their ground to Chelsea?

[@bricktop.]

Comments section: " How about a video about the floodlight bulbs they use in the Austrian Bundesliga?"

[@m4dm3th0d]

I think that the lower leagues as a whole needs more revenue-generating options aside from the attendances nowadays. That would go a long way in helping them operate. Maybe some sort of KZbin or Twitch or Facebook subscription model would the clubs grow without relying on sugardaddies to bail them out.

[@Scrufty22]

That would then mean less and less fans would go to games if they can simply watch them on Twitch, thus meaning a drop in revenue.

[@laoch5658]

thats not what non league is about..its about fans going to games and supporting their local community

[@MrKioder]

We need less money in football, not more. We need for it to return to its community roots, not getting more and more embroiled in money, politics and corruption.

[@tomshaw5025]

Like Hashtag United then! Perfect example of non-match going revenue building

[@dbz9393]

Or maybe they just need good team management and sound fiscal policy when it comes to recruitment, scouting and transfers like Brentford?

[@keighlancoe5933]

Gloucester City would be great candidates. They're the largest city in England to have never had an EFL team and play in the National League North; it has a population of about 160.000 so its larger than some Premier League clubs home towns.

[@jman1276]

I feel like the only way a billionaire is gonna buy a non-league team is if they are a Football Manager fanatic who wanted to play the game in real life.

[@johnmorris1009]

I'm an Oxford City fan (conference south). A few years ago, we were bought by some rich Americans, who then pumped money into the squad and built a new stand. Their goal was to take city to the Premier league (I'm not joking! And we're a team who've never played in a higher division than now in our history). The Americans soon bailed though, and were arrested and jailed for fraud and corruption related activities, which left the club massively in debt. We've only just recovered from all this, several years later. The moral is: millionaire owners ain't necessarily the answer, even at non league level.

[@history-maker]

I like this comment (but know nothing about Oxford City). The biggest problem in the game today is not really the billionaires who want to buy success and use the club as a plaything, but the millionaires who bite off more than they can chew, use highly questionable accounting, plunge their clubs into debt, and leave their very existence in danger. Having said all that, I'm lucky enough to follow (and part-own) my local fan-owned club and we've just won promotion to Oxford City's level, albeit in the National League North, not South.

[@ry_jayy]

Ah yes Oxford City. Fond memories of travelling to watch our playoff final against them in horrendous conditions that would result in matches being called off in literally any other league or country on the planet, on a pitch more suited to scuba diving, with a local referee because the actual ref couldn't make it for kick off because of the weather.

[@johnmorris1009]

@@ry_jayy We've got an AstroTurf pitch now, although I miss our old pitch :)

[@sidosh2229]

Day 37: Considering that the last player who played in the miracle of Bern died about 6 months ago, I would really like to see a video about the whole story between Germany and Hungary, especially because it meant so much to at least the German population

[@timshaw9525]

Surprised Rushden and Diamonds didn’t get a mention.

[@OfficialFingazMC]

A video about the success story of Port Vale since Carol Shanahan took over, considering we just won the playoff final.Her charity work, bringing in Darrell Clark, then the things he went through this season. Plus we were on a winning streak and 1 point off the playoffs and she voted to end the first covid season early.

[@MrBlazemaster525]

It's amazing how ownership that gives a fuck does for a club, ANY club

[@RustyVaperGameplay]

Please tell me Kian Harratt has a future in the game. I'm a Huddersfield fan and we have seen nothing of him of any value at Town.

[@OfficialFingazMC]

@@RustyVaperGameplay Mate he's gone to Bradford on loan, and we couldn't keep him with us unfortunately. Even though I think he is league 1 quality....

[@Scrufty22]

No. Sincerely, a Crewe fan

[@OfficialFingazMC]

@@Scrufty22 Amazing performance this season. Shame you couldn't stay up so we could do you over again.

[@calumhollington8028]

This is by far my favourite channel on KZbin. You deserve serious recognition for the quality and consistency of your uploads man. Legend keep it up 👏🏻

[@MrDavidFitzgerald]

One blocker would be stadium I suspect. You're never going to get planning permission to build a premier league stadium in Chipping Sodbury or anywhere nearby. At least buying an already established team usually brings with it a decent stadium, often in a well-populated area.

[@pjkerrigan20]

Dammit Alfie that’s Rob McElhenny! Tbh I would’ve expected Alfie to be an Always Sunny fan. Legit a little surprised he’s not.

[@pjsmith2744]

Cool video man. Your research is always top notch!

[@johankrausse9026]

The ending is classic Thanks Alfie!!!

[@lancashire468]

Really enjoyed this video, cheers Alfie

[@trunter20]

LITERALLY EVERYONE! Look up "Diamond Geezers" by Mike Paul, it's an amazingly written saga within Champ Manager 01/02 wherein the dude takes control of Rushden and Diamonds at their lowest ebb, I reckon fans of Alfie would all love it 💎

[@thegloriouspyrocheems2277]

Day 12 - The Fall and Rise of FK Velež Mostar From a Club that has beaten Borussia Dortmund, Twente, Derby County and many others to a club that was forced from their own stadium, reduced to nothing during the Bosnian War, becoming a mediocre top-level team in the 00s to nearly being forced into folding in 2016 to its amazing rise back to the top-level football which culminated in return to Europe after 33 years which has seen elimination of Coleraine before a suprising win over AEK Athens before exiting 3rd Round against Elfsborg IF and recently continuing in the Cup win this season which has ensured another European summer next season

[@martinmcwilliams]

Excellent work as always Alfie.

[@integrito3323]

You are a very smart, informed and well researched guy! Well done!

[@joepoolman94]

Alfie, you're such a fucking talented writer and your videos are a pleasure to listen to, even more so recently. Keep up the good work x

[@aaaabbbb2483]

Very good video! I watched the whole thing. And I learnt quite a lot by watching this video. 👍

[@gentleken7864]

Hoever? 😀 Eddie Howe called.....he's upset that his name is not being used anymore....

[@BALHAM69]

Good video and good examples Alfie😊

[@travislevison6074]

Hi Alfie, absolutely loved this video. I’d love to see a “what on earth is happening at Valencia?” Video, in light of their president resigning and gattuso being hired.

[@jonathonbrooks8949]

Alfie's football knowledge and research eclipses all in this space he is unmatched

[@MonzennCarloMallari]

"Ryan Reynolds and the other person I forgot" ❄

[@kingfield99]

Woking FC, from non-league to European champions in 12 years, my greatest Championship Manager achievement.

[@fedrikrose2277]

16:18 attempted to buy St. Pauli. He must be crazy or very ignorant about the club for doing something like that.

[@MrJessedg]

Saw the cool skulls, not the degenerate fanbase lol

[@fedrikrose2277]

@@MrJessedg I wouldn't call the fanbase degenerate there is much much worse. It's just they would never want their club to be bought by a billionaire not even if it was facing financial collapse.

[@archstanton6102]

@@MrJessedg Degenerate? Or just against the main stream? Having seen St Pauli play in their stadium and also seen Hamburg I know where the best atmosphere is.

[@MrJessedg]

@@archstanton6102 St. Pauli are one big shill for main stream, supports pretty much everything the Reichstag puts out.

[@archstanton6102]

@@MrJessedg And that makes them degenerate as opposed to other fans? How?

[@GenialHarryGrout]

Three millionaires that come to mind in the UK are Dale Vince at Forest Green Rovers, the late Brooks Mileson who took Gretna from non-league football to the Scottish Premiership and Granham White who tried to buy Colne Dynamoes into the EFL.

[@davidking9222]

Rushden and Diamonds too.

[@AmokCanuck]

And Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhaney with wrexham

[@Ese96Agoaye]

In short, if billionaires did buy Non-League teams, the fifth tier would turn into a pint-sized Premier League.

[@jackansley746]

18:02 Alfie Alfie Alfie... I'm strongly suggesting Rob's show 'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'. It's central to my American culture, as well as being a cynics dream show.

[@pjkerrigan20]

I can’t believe he’s not already a Sunny fan tbh. Given Alfie’s sense of humor and general outlook I would’ve thought he’d already be really into Always Sunny. Hopefully he sees some of these comments lol.

[@pjkerrigan20]

New video suggestion for Alfie: take a day off and binge the first couple of seasons of Always Sunny

[@vitbot9883]

I'm from chipping sodbury and I am absolutely stunned that I've heard you say chipping sodbury more than 5 times, fantastic stuff ❤️

[@snuggstcg]

My old local club Hemel Town recently posted about how they can get more people down to club. Fans were brutally honest with them saying they have Watford, Luton, Arsenal, Spurs, Barnet ect in the catchment area and prices are too high and parking is terrible. No one actually suggested a decent way to combat it though 🤣

[@cravenmoorehead8]

I think you missed out my hometown team of St Albans in that list! 😉

[@snuggstcg]

@@cravenmoorehead8 well of course they don't count 😘🤣

[@billykuan]

The rich teams buy all the best players and potential players, then because they can not play them all, the players are loaned out to teams in other leagues. This also prevents lesser teams from buying these players and competing in the league. Big money buying and controlling the best talent. For the fan of a mega team, this is fine, but for the local, the real fans of football not so.

[@evansnyamesah1755]

Capitalism affects everything

[@adamlennard1828]

As a Havant and Waterlooville fan I approve of Alfie using the Hawks as an example. Though to be fair I’ve always respected the Hawks owners as they’ve never spent beyond their means putting the club at risk.

[@ChunkiEgg]

was listening to this video and my ears pricked up as soon as he mentioned the Hawks 🤣 I live 10 mins walk down the Petersfield Road from them and can hear the fans cheering if they're feisty enough!

[@luketidbury7551]

@@ChunkiEgg I clicked on this video not expecting it to be about the hawks, was a pleasant surprise though

[@ChunkiEgg]

@@luketidbury7551 it's been a while since the hawks had any major mention, still remember going to the liverpool game at Anfield. I think the gate receipts from that must have brought a level of financial comfort for a bit at least. And us Pompey fans usually pack out West Leigh Park for the preseason game 😁

[@luketidbury7551]

@@ChunkiEgg yeah always gotta go to the pre seasons to help them out, always worth it

[@slips.]

every time i see the cover art for football manager 2005 i literally cry, grew up on that banger of a game

[@Gallasso]

Amazing to see Chipping Sodbury Town featured here! I’ve scored on that pitch and used to play for Chipping Sodbury RFC

[@erickaguilera3479]

Putting out banger after banger. You deserve to get to that 7 figure mark!

[@libertinoradio4597]

Great watch by the way dude.

[@ally_crawford]

Alfie I reckon you'd enjoy the work of the other Wrexham owner...It's Always Sunny if you gave it a chance... it is almost as satirical as you can be!

[@manuarebeast]

Could you do a video on 7 of the most improved national teams based on Fifa rankings. For example Curacao were 188 and are now 79 with a lot of players coming through playing at a good level

[@bamidelepeter9448]

Yo Alfie 😂😂😂😂, the last few minutes were really funny. It's you explaining a different form of a dystopian future. Tesla Torquay United! Virgin Curzon Ashton!

[@shaunsmith7668]

Your Hoever and Watmore transitions completely send me reeling

[@cookthehaggis9154]

Please can you do a video on Charlton, love your videos

[@joepoole7807]

Surely to deal with the fanbase issue billionares could target "phoenix clubs" or "protest clubs" which have established support like wimbledon or fc united of manchester

[@MrBlazemaster525]

You do know that majority of phoenix clubs represent fanbases that have been screwed by moneybag idiots right?

[@jldch26]

@@MrBlazemaster525 Literally. FC United of Manchester hated the idea of the current ownership lol

[@leehaseley2164]

You forgot reason number four: the drive to win one of the greatest willy measuring competition.

[@razvanmazilu6284]

In Romania there was an interesting case of a guy who was a billionaire at one point - Ioan Niculae - though his fortunes have decreased, who took over a club with a pretty long history, but very little in the way of support or achievements: Astra Ploiești, a club very much in the shadow of former Romanian champions Petrolul Ploiești who dominate the town. Despite establishing the club as a pretty consistent top league team, this did little to boost local support, as the locals continued their support of (a struggling) Petrolul rather than change allegiance. I think there was even a short lived merger between the clubs that didn't work out. He eventually moved Astra about 120km South to Giurgiu, on the banks of the Danube. Giurgiu is much smaller than Ploiești (220,000+ vs about 60,000), has virtually no footballing tradition and, at the time, had no club with even a remote chance of getting to the top league or with any level of support from the locals. He set about expanding and modernizing the local stadium so that it would be able to host European cup matches. Eventually Astra won the title in 2016. It also won the cup once and the (largely irrelevant) supercup twice. They also reached three more cup finals (ironically all hosted at the ground of former neighbor Petrolul). Despite this success and the much improved stadium, Astra didn't receive much backing from the Giurgiu locals and even their biggest matches would usually fail to fill the roughly 8500 seat stadium. Eventually Mr. Niculae's fortunes started taking a turn for the worse and he even landed in prison for corruption and tax evasion. With dwindling financial support, Astra got relegated in 2021. A doping scandal that same year also didn't help matters. They were docked points for both financial irregularities and for the doping incident. This meant they would start the season with a large points penalty and a transfer embargo. They got relegated again. I have no idea if they'll compete in the third league, though their owner is back out of prison on parole. I haven't really kept track of the story.

[@AntoniusTyas]

2:33 fun fact: That Merc guy next to Lewis, if I remembered correctly, is Gilles Pironi. Mercedes-AMG enginer, and son of late Didier Pironi, named after Didier's arch-rival, the (also) late Gilles Villeneuve.

[@caseyimiller]

Loved the ending 😂

[@LeedsUnitedJohn]

I'm a season ticket holder at Leeds United but when I go to London I enjoy going to Dulwich Hamlet which makes a nice change. I can stand and watch the match drinking a pint which I can't do at Elland Rd. Billionaires stay out of non league because we like it how it is.

[@jamesruddock9596]

Thanks for the Ipswich Town shout-out

[@AusMedic89]

Great to see my hometown feature at 17.20 Bellslea Stadium, Mon the Bury!!!

[@uselessmonk2081]

LMAST! this was my favourite game of all on PS2. Couldn't afford a PC in 2006. Brings back so many memories. T.Langerak and A.Bruno 👌

[@faenwulf7540]

Mateschitz also went for Markranstädt, because they where in the highest tier that allowed this total re-packaging, because the upper Regionalliga was then organized by the national federation DFB, and the Oberliga Markranstädt was in, is operated by the regional federation NOFV. While DFB and DFL-rules striktly forbid to take the league-spot from another club, the NOFV-rules didn't.

[@JoDyMa]

Random fact for anyone interested, the image on 1:20 This is a picture from the 90's I would presume. It's taken from Burgess Park in London (unless somewhere else in England has the exact same layout of park and housing behind ofc). I know this because I lived here ofc, not in the 90's, merely 5 years ago, in the building closer. The closest of the three sections to the park and camera, in the top left corner, that was my living room balcony. You may also recognise it of course from the popular programme "Top Boy" as a lot of it was filmed here. These buildings are gonna be knocked down soon, they already started on the indentical ones down the road and they're all gonna rebuilt into new builds. Which look horrible btw. I'm honestly gonna miss these blocks, are horrible as they were.

[@johnwhittaker311]

I definitely do want to start going to more matches for my local non league club, it’s just difficult to find the time to. Shout out to Middlewich Town Football Club of the Cheshire League Premier Division, hope to be there next season

[@mikeywinstone8525]

That ki jana however joke was lovely

[@spongebabe27]

I been wondering about this for so so long, I've never understood why more rich people don't buy out clubs and blast money into them; when you have the money to burn, why not? That being said, I assume it's partially because it's not an easy task to accomplish, keeping the money flowing in rather than all out Either way, very hyped for this video :)

[@neillioen]

Very enjoyable video.

[@ijat2aizat]

Well, I remember playing Championship Manager those days and brought Charlton Athletic becoming Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup, Champions League, Super Cup, FIFA Club World Cup in the matter of 10 season..

[@DimBeam1]

I played for Beverley Town!

[@matthewsmith6176]

love seeing Southport being used in the video

[@ThreeRunHomer]

If I was rich, I might invest in a club in Cymru (Wales). All of the clubs are tiny so outspending the competition would be super easy, barely an inconvenience. There’s little glamour in winning that league, but it would be a very cheap route to competing in Europe! It’d be amusing to take Cefn Druids or Penybont to Europe to compete with much bigger clubs.

[@MrTaktic121]

Yeah the rugby needs the help aswel

[@pjkerrigan20]

I might do the same but for Ireland. Especially in the Conference League, I could see a billionaire-backed Sligo Rovers or Cork City or Bohs or whatever actually having a little bit of European success with some investment. I think in both of our examples, a single team getting big backing would be great for the leagues as a whole. Leagues like Ireland and Cymru will likely only ever raise their standing in the world if one or two clubs make that first (admittedly massive) step. Sure, domestic competition might become a one-horse race for a few years, but realistically it’s the best way to raise the level of play league-wide.

[@andreatommasi3287]

Look at Sheriff Tiraspol it's literally that :)

[@drago939393]

@@pjkerrigan20 Or 2-3 billionaires buying a club each and pushing each other for success lol.

[@ThreeRunHomer]

Now that I’ve thought about it more, TNS already did this in the Cymru. They spent more than any other club in the league, dominated the standings for years, and regularly competed in Europe (benefiting from that extra source of revenue).

[@Boredoutofmywits]

In 1995 you could buy a controllong stake in a very traditional, highly supported middle of the table LaLiga team for a million quid. The cheapest team you could by 100% for half of that. LaLiga had some of the best value for money elite foorballers back then. I was only 21 yo back then so the people I pitched the idea laugh me of the room.

[@Hi5GhostMUFC]

Video on the 22/23 PL teams, where were they during the inaugural season of the PL (like what division were they in)

[@surinamesechicken9780]

Erm Billericay Town or Lewes are examples of why this idea is hit or miss However if a billionaire wants to invest in Hereford FC then we would love it If you want an example of what happens when investment goes bad, look up what is going on at Staines Town

[@derred723]

Building a club from nothing is not the dream of a billionaire. It's the dream of a fan. I'll take it from the perspective of the greatest investor in history, Warren Buffett. Buffett buys two types of businesses. The first, is a well run profitable business (obviously one not in a dying market), with good management. That's why he owns stuff like Coke. Profitable business, nobody's going to start not liking Cokes, and good management. It's stable. The second business he buys is a good business with bad managers that he can replace with good managers. And this kind is riskier. the first you buy and just leave them alone. It's already profitable and working. A lower league football team by and large is neither of the two. It's not profitable, stable, people very well could stop going like they won't stop buying Cokes and most football teams already have bad management.

[@bradstocker1717]

@25:55 NOOOOOOOOooooooooooooo!!! What you are saying/explaining sounds/feels like know could be the start of this crazy football world one is talking about!!!

[@thefootballtales2924]

Odd you say it would be easy-ish to get promoted from non-league to Premier League. Salford would have done it if it was easy! Completely glossed over it. The wage cap is a major issue, as is only one automatic promotion place is NLS/N and NL. Would have been good to have heard that covered. Should have looked at Dorking too and what they’ve achieved (sorry if you did this later on, stopped watching 18 mins in)

[@WaifuVideoGamer]

Sierra - Ultimate Soccer Manager series. I also played Let's Play A Soccer team, about 20 seasons worth.

[@benedictjephcote6815]

I've been waiting for someone to do the perfectly natural, here's how financial football could well play out if legislation to prevent this madness isn't put into place sometime reasonably soon - which is beautifully illustrated at 25:40 - 26:50 - thank you, that was wonderfully cathartic

[@Kiev_The_Great]

Milton Keynes COULD have been a place where someone could have built a team from non-league, but it was decided they should just uproot and existing team as it was easier. The trouble is most places with decent populations already have a league team because they had enough people to sustain a bigger football team. Also fitting to compare Ipswich and MK Dons. MK's biggest attendance for their average was 15k, 6.5k of which were Ipswich fans. Pretty sure if you correct to get just home fans they'll fall significantly more than other clubs.

[@TOTN17]

Wimbledon was going to get wound up regardless no matter what

[@85mattmill]

Forest Green kind of fits the bill also, though not grown by billionaire owners. does RB Leipzig really count? On a different note, San Marino was always the best challenge in FM due to the possibility of international consequences when expanding your youth program 😊 managing club and country was awesome. Andorra does kind of do the same thing but too much regulation in the Spanish league like having to put buy out clauses in contracts kind of kills it.

[@emac8381]

York City ,Bradford City ,Plymouth Argyle. Notts County or a Cornwall club all obvious for investment to improve with a local fan base.

[@derred723]

6:43 Why do billionaires buy sports teams. You missed some reasons that Brits always miss especially regarding Americans owners: It's not profit because unless it's NFL sports teams are crap in terms of profitability. And they can make loads more elsewhere, like hedge funds, bond trading or a basic index fund. United and the Glazers are probably an exception but even then much of the earnings end up spent as transfer fees. NFL is mostly profit. Not transfer fees, wage controls. The profits make EPL look minor. Americans often buy sports teams, one, because they run sports businesses and two status. All the EPL's American owners own multiple sports teams in multiple countries. It's a play thing. They run it for fun. FSG are one of the best examples. One, John Henry is a Hedge fund manager. The money he makes off Hedge funds dwarfs Liverpool's paltry yearly profits. The taking money out of the club thing in his case is simply not the case. It's just a good way for clicks. He runs sports teams as a business. Has a racing team, owns a hockey team, owns a baseball team. That's common in the states. And it gives him high social status. The second reason is status because owning a team puts them in a status that's even well above the super rich. It's an exclusive club of owners. It's a social capital power move. These reasons are the main reasons Americans buy teams not profit. Again, buying and index fund and getting 12% a year is far more profitable way to spend $2 billion with zero work than buying and running a sports team. Which means it's far safer to spend 100 m on a fund than buy a speculative sports team in a lower league.

[@abgy237]

I'm frankly still amazed that MK Franchise have not become MK Red Bull

[@dan5974]

Don’t give them ideas

[@brucemedley635]

That would upset the traditional big boys

[@simoncaton1226]

Alfie. People don’t understand how kit deals manufacturers and deals work. I also genuinely wonder why Nike, Puma and Adidas are the main kit people. Remembering Liverpool’s court case against new balance

[@razvanmazilu6284]

Hoffenheim are probably the best real world example of building up a 'big' football club in the middle of nowhere. I know about Ludogorets in Bulgaria, but Razgrad is much larger than Hoffenheim and the league standard much lower than Germany, making the achievement less impressive in my book.

[@wagwanbennydj6003]

Now this is the longest intro to a alfie video ;) if I've ever seen one (if thats the right expression) 🤣🤣

[@nyasha_ish]

Do a video of the premier league taking a look at their playing careers n world cup team managers

[@sandiledhlamini6297]

I came here for the football insights. I stayed for the meta-verse tangent😂

[@RomaInvicta202]

Taking Swindon Town all the way to CL finals would be beautiful :)

[@samrabey89]

TOTAL CLUB MANAGER was awesome....a bit buggy let's make a soccer team was awesome was so good....I enjoyed that so much lol

[@fjnemo]

You can't buy a team that's not in a major city and expect the stadium to be full

[@pjkerrigan20]

Villarreal? Burnley? Saint-Étienne? Outside of the beautiful game, the Green Bay Packers?

[@cammiemcmanus560]

Man’s forgetting about Gretnas take over in 2002 by a millionaire who then led them to Scottish cup final and European football

[@adamsky77]

did he say man city had one of the largest fanbases in england prior to the oil money? lol

[@theemperor6413]

If I was a billionaire I would bough a team in either the National League or League Two, Probably Grimsby town though

[@christophercopley6474]

I used to play the lma manager games until they stopped making them until after 2007 so sad that game was stopped

[@theadventuresofshaunperkins]

In fairness the harrods owner took a lowly Fulham up to the premiership and bought them players like van da sar, saha,boa morte etc tho this was at least 20 plus years ago

[@robmontier3770]

First manager game I played, I started at Montrose. Merchandise for the first game comprised of 4 programmes and a pie!

[@arturs2436]

I have read that Ebbsfleet United F.C.(Kent) a club which plays in the National League South is example that Foreign ownership and investment does not assure future sucess. The club is since 2013 owned by a group of Kuwaiti investors but without any visible good results since.

[@OfficialFingazMC]

Salford are despised in League 2. I've never spoken to a single fan from a single club that doesn't hate them.

[@SD_BRFC1997]

Salford tbf bought their way through non league so that’s a extra reason not to like them Wrexham ain’t made many friends either as they are gonna do the same Arrogance doesn’t help either Salford aiming to be in the championship in what was it 10 years after promotion well they have 5 years to get it done doubt it seeing as they sack managers each season when they don’t go up Wrexham fans and the club complained the playoff final was on the same day as the wales game arrogantly making it sound like they was already in the final Grimsby of course punched them right in the mouth AFC Fylde probably the funniest of he lot aiming for the football league by 2022 it’s 2022 and this season they are gonna be playing in the national league north again 😂 also their owner is a mega conservative fan 😂