The Strangest Takeover Of All Time: Trillion Dollar Fraud At Notts County

In the summer of 2009, the Football League's oldest club Notts County were taken over by mysterious millionaires or billionaires, who outlined a five-year plan to reach the Premier League.
Sven-Goran Eriksson, Sol Campbell, and Kasper Schmeichel were all brought to Meadow Lane on lucrative deals... There was just one problem, who were the owners and where was all this money coming from?
In this documentary, HITC Sevens takes a look back at one of the strangest takeovers in the history of English football, the characters involved, and the remarkable scale of a fraud stretching from Nottingham to North Korea.

[@dairebeare7839]

Between being the son of Peter, signing for Notts County during the sham takeover and winning the league with Leicester, Kasper Schmeichel has earned a documentary all to himself

[@EljaeHD]

He also didn’t earn a penny while at Notts he only stayed because he wanted regular games

[@khaitranngoc4176]

He also took part in the Hogg-Deeney match as well, go figure

[@3coldcapricorn227]

Wasn’t he like one of the first on the scene after the helicopter tragedy

[@jack.lfc1131]

@@3coldcapricorn227 yes

[@simpsonsandchase]

He was also the goalkeeper who conceded that Chris Brass own goal

[@mgs1167]

I admire the time Alfie took to make almost all of the fake company logos.

[@comixmind]

Thank you

[@jack.lfc1131]

@@comixmind 😂

[@olivierotte571]

They were fake?!

[@alfied.5272]

Thanks mate it was a tough job!

[@DBuckyBoy]

He missed his calling in logo advertising imo ;)

[@jmkariuki5863]

I have almost entirely stopped watching your list videos and pretty much only watch your deep dive videos. The amount of time and quality you put into the latter isn't going unappreciated.

[@TheT0ttenham]

So do I, nothing against the list type videos but these are just so much more interesting and have genuine story and depth to them. So I mainly just watch these type of videos here.

[@TeamGeist06]

I watch everything

[@guguy00]

I watch both, though I alt-tab to something else during Alfie's list videos, and pay full attention to the documentaries.

[@MrBaronCabron]

Same. I'm not that into football these years as I used to be, so the list videos are alright but not very interesting, but these mini docs on scandals and weird football goings-ons are perfect

[@yohaanalexanderthomas8849]

I'm sorry but not paying the milk bill has to be funniest part of this whole story

[@kris662]

Not as funny as rangers not paying the facepainter

[@Sam-st2pp]

why are you sorry?

[@Eibarwoman]

@@kris662 Or SD Eibar dodging relegation in 14-15 on Elche not even paying their players.

[@internetdisciple5817]

Or Celtic covering up there pedos

[@SomeMadRandomPerson]

@@kris662 exactly wat I was gonna write Krissy 😂😂😂😂🍀

[@12thMandalorian]

When Notts County brought in Sven, Sol Campbell and Kasper Schmeichel I genuinely got excited to see what they could do, such a shame how it all ended

[@Hi5GhostMUFC]

;(

[@Yotsukaido]

Me too, I was looking forward to the journey. Then Sol left after one game.

[@archstanton6102]

Not a surprise but still sad

[@ashleystringer6662]

I was sad for them too. Remember hearing sol met sven at the hearts hotel in the park before the news of him signing broke😔. But on a happier note that " oldest football league team in the world" banner only had to cross the river into West bridgford to us 😊

[@senorsoupe]

I had an awesome Football Manager save with them, got them to the Champions league

[@EljaeHD]

Being a notts county fan really was surreal at the time seeing Sven at one of the club bars after games just became the norm and no one bat and eye lid ⚫️⚪️

[@redboyjan]

I had to visit Sven's riverside flat for work, mad him or his missus answering the intercom to come in

[@lb_75]

As a notts fan I appreciate this so much, no youtuber other than you hardly even mention notts never mind make a mini documentary

[@HopShotNOTTZ]

You piesssss

[@k9muers]

COYP

[@bobbym8946]

I remember playing cricket in Nottingham and Trembling turned up for the oppo. Absolute weasel of a bloke. ⚪️⚫️⚪️⚫️

[@tobznoobs]

2 days after Michael made a football hipsters video where he roasts us watching niche videos from hitc sevens, here's Alfie uploading a gem of a video.

[@sergiom.a.1236]

As long as you ain't a St. Pauli fan.

[@gwangi64]

I'm a Notts fan and was at the meeting where the Munto takeover was announced to supporters. Even though it sounded so fantastical that anonymous Middle East benefactors were willing to put millions into the club, a lot of fans got carried away and the atmosphere at the meeting was like a Nuremburg Rally. There was a single voice of dissent who said "I've found that if something is too good to be true it usually is" but he got shouted down by those wanting to believe it was legit. Someone should make a film about the whole Munto affair as it would make a great tragi-comedy.

[@FrankTownsend]

Notts are my Dad’s team and we used to travel (from Newcastle) to various away games every season. Quite by chance we were at the notorious Morecambe game where Sol Campbell gave the impression that he was out of his depth; I also remember Sven waving conspicuously at the Morecambe and Notts fans (of which there were many) before the game. The whole Munto finance takeover was shameful for English football and should never have been allowed to happen. Notts were the oldest football league club in the world and, as such, embodied the history of the English game; to allow them to fall prey to this horrific scam with no protection from the FA or EFL was an absolute disgrace. Thanks for posting, the story needs to be told as a warning to others.

[@arpadkiraly2782]

I think you should do the same with Portsmouth,they have an interesting story with reckless spending which led to 3 relegations is 4 seasons.

[@bricktop.]

Yeah! They were run by that guy who looks like David Dickinson off the telly but his name escapes me. Mad club run by madman. Remember I went to an away game there and the big screen in the corner of the ground was being hung off a JCB digger 😂😂😂

[@mrkipling2201]

Milan Mandaric was the owner when they first got promoted to the premier league but sold the club to someone who didn’t have the money he said he had and the problems started not long after.

[@anneeq008]

There was nothing as intricate going on as this. They just overspent. That's it

[@avfc85]

@@anneeq008 they got redknapped

[@garyfowkes8794]

No wonder with the shady Rednapp as manger

[@rocky1169pt]

Ive followed Notts County after learning that the Juventus kit is black and white because of them. Also like them because they are 1 of the oldest teams in the world. When I played fifa's career mode, I chose them instead of Porto (the team I support) because it's much more fun to lead them to the premier league title (after several seasons).

[@jameswg13]

Try doing it on FM so much more fun

[@steven_uk]

What a great video. All that work was worth it. Really interesting stuff. Well done, man. Keep up the good work.

[@HITCSevens]

Thanks Stevo.

[@steven_uk]

@@HITCSevens You're welcome. I'm impressed by this video. You should be proud of yourself.

[@bikrambhandari2872]

@@HITCSevens tatty

[@snowleopard62]

Thanks for covering this HITC. Although we got promoted and had some fantastic memories along the way, it was very nearly the end of our club and a sad chapter for many.

[@retu1172]

Fantastic work digging up all this information. I remember thinking wow this is completely bizarre back when it happened. Would be extremely interested to see what else you found out but appreciate how tricky that would be for you.

[@CheekandBluster]

A-plus stuff, Alfie. This kind of in-depth, researched piece is what I like most about your channel. I for one would applaud if they allowed you to put out fewer videos per week so that you could more easily make this kind of stuff. Well done.

[@liamflinders7683]

I went to college at Notts County the season before they were relegated to the national league. There were always rumours from staff that if they got relegated they would lose the stadium and that they actually had even less money than people first thought. The club was in a much worse state than people actually realised and relegation was almost guaranteed by people who worked at the club.

[@calnfl5747]

Great video Alfie, thanks for all the work and research put into it!

[@edvin34]

This has to go down as one of your best videos! Great job Alfie

[@grabynko936]

Please do a research on Slovakian club FC Nitra. It's intriguing that club like that can still exist.

[@balham5606]

What’s the story on that ?

[@grabynko936]

I can't really describe it very well, but the idea is that players and staff don't get salaries on time, there has been more than 10 managers in last 2 years, comments on Instagram are tuned off and on Facebook they delete almost everything. They scammed 2 potential decent looking investors one from Ukraine and one from Germany. They fined they own players for telling UEFA that they don't recieve salary. Of course there's more to this story and they should do more research. Lot of it is in Slovak so that might be difficult. If the owner of this channel would be interested I'd try to help him with some translations and give him contact to some people that could tell him some more info.

[@stevelee574]

Another brilliant post! Its incredible how engrossing your videos are despite the subject matter. I'm serious! You could literally make a post about a cow pat and I'd be hooked watching 😂 honestly tho keep on making these I just love em! 😎👍👍

[@jaydenfisherncfc]

Best video you’ve uploaded and it was a truly weird period within the clubs history.

[@raghashanthy]

What a video! What a lovely presentation! And what thorough research!! Amazing brother 😍😍 .... subscribed! Looking forward to more interesting topics from you!! :)

[@philpatch]

What a great Video Alfie! Was worth every second of research.

[@anthonyjudeaggabao2302]

Knowing this happening years before the Wigan debacle is so frustrating. The Football League and the FA really didn't learned from this.

[@philpatch]

Need a Video about that too not too familiar what happened at Wigan

[@radagastwiz]

Not just Wigan, things at Bury lay at their feet as well.

[@jamesflynn4951]

How did this get past all.the fit and proper things? Honestly this and Wigan makes me certain that people in the FA and EFL are in on it. They must be. These people need to be locked up

[@michaelfisher7159]

Rewatching loads of old HITC Sevens videos and this one is definitely one of the best. This whole story is crazy, that milk bill turned out to be rather expensive 😂

[@karisu4598]

Scamming North Korea? That genuinely takes some balls; I'm surprised they didn't send a agent to Bahrain to take him out due to the sheer embarrassment that they must have faced.

[@jamesflynn4951]

Nobody knew about it until now. Little embarrassment since it was not that high profile. The DPRK's top agent is off to Alfie's now.

[@v1sionary100]

The craziest season ever. Notts went from one of the poorest to the ‘richest’ clubs then back to the poorest, almost went out of existence and still managed to win the title playing some amazing football along the way. Only Notts County could do this - officially the most stressful club to support in the country.

[@prayaaskochhar8783]

Try supporting arsenal... Or the Indian national football team for that matter :(

[@ConnorMcLean44]

@@prayaaskochhar8783 arsenal? A team that have never been out of the PL and win a trophy every few years. Fuck off

[@christopherstaffordd]

@@prayaaskochhar8783 poor you 😐

[@prayaaskochhar8783]

@@ConnorMcLean44 umm i only started supporting them in 2017...so except for a single FA cup... All i have seen is mid table mediocrity :(

[@prayaaskochhar8783]

@@christopherstaffordd Ah yes, sarcasm.....i like it :()

[@johnb9242]

This is an absolutely incredible story. Thank you Alfie

[@martinmcwilliams]

Fantastic work Alfie. Loved the video.

[@tdlovestrains]

This were the good days. Kasper was allowed to go on a free to Leeds. We had owners that took his own company out of business. The Danish brothers have been good. Coyp

[@prometheustv6558]

Now Mark Goldbridge is rebuilding your club 🤣

[@curlyfries9860]

And we have the geordie Messi

[@JOKBO1]

What an amazing video. Great work Alfie

[@jorgetwo4279]

Great work on this one. I've never heard of this before, this is insane.

[@vennulahteenmaki7664]

An absolutely fantastic documentary yet again!

[@sabuteo407]

Always great informative videos man. Keep it up.

[@brtchita7046]

Great job man. I appreciate that. Keep going. I am with you no matter what :)

[@thargoff]

Alfie, you haven't experienced some Eastern Europe financial dealings in football yet, to say this is extraordinary. ;) Anyway, greatly researched and represented, thanks for the quality videos!

[@tomdaw5803]

Fascinating and beautifully clear. Thanks for your efforts!!))

[@Bentley7Cruize]

I never like videos but the detail and effort you put in deserves it. Top notch, never heard of it now I wanna find out more haha

[@Laggskywalker]

Honestly mate this is some of the best football content on KZbin. Keep it up.

[@warsaw8149]

Thanks for your hard work. Very interesting. I remember the story vaguely but good to get the detail.

[@alexzviovich5407]

These deep dive videos are so good! Well done as always Alfie! I think a topic you would find very interesting to research are the barras bravas in Argentina. These fan groups have a lot of control over the clubs and from what I have heard they operate basically as a mafia. A specific event that would be interesting as a point of reference occurred a couple years ago when my clubs(Independiente) manager was threatened with kidnapping so he would quit. I am not 100% familiar with the story and the role of the barra bravas since I am not living in Argentina atm, but it is definitely something worth looking into

[@atlBG13]

You had fun editing this one I can tell😂

[@Macho_Fantastico]

I remember a friend of mine (who was a Notts County fan) being suspicious about the whole thing from the get-go. Seems like a lot of the fanbase was.

[@ccampbell9176]

Interesting how the average fan can be suspicious about nonsense like this. But those in charge go along with the show, being deluded by the talk of big money and big names.

[@lancashire468]

I loved this video. Wouldnt mind having a video or more less every couple of weeks to have an in depth video like this. Very interesting 👌

[@funkmasterdub]

Great video this and well done with the research.

[@thejamesonthestreet]

What a great video Alfie. I truly love this kind of football video of yours. Of course, I also like your more "mundane" video, but I love this one the most If I can give suggestion, can you make a video about The fall and rise of Fiorentina in the early 2000? Interesting how they were forced to fold and become a phoenix club, only for them to win back the naming rights.

[@AshLilburne]

I like the little football details you add into your graphic design videos. subscribed

[@Paperbagman555]

I used Notts for my road to glory team a few years ago, those Jersey's are so schmick - sad to see them drop to national league. This story is wild, I think I vaguely remember hearing about Sol Campbell joining them years ago but I never knew about everything else. Absolutely love these deep-dive videos, the behind-the-scenes antics of sports can be just as entertaining as the sports themselves (if not more so)

[@ka1ser860]

awesome video mate, would love to see you focusing more on these story type videos instead of the (in my opinion atleast) rather boring "where are they now" vids. This story telling type really suits you and is great fun to watch

[@beane10]

Not only does ur hard work deserve it, but the quality of this vid and utter madness of this story have garnered a well-earned 👍🏻 mate! Well done lad, your channel is by far the most original and entertaining footballing content on the entire YT platform.

[@martinhyde5706]

The research you’ve done is fantastic

[@mrkipling2201]

Absolutely brilliant video. I’ve seen full length documentaries that have cost a lot of money to make that aren’t a patch on this.

[@naxar4246]

Thx for all your good work, u can be sure it is appreciated.

[@jamesgibson6522]

Really good vid, I think you’re the only person to go in to the story, top vid bro 😎

[@Turkosa_Himelen]

Wow this is probably your best video I have watched!

[@BorgusBingo]

this video was class. well done.

[@taison5]

County are technically my local team, and having only been in Nottingham for about 10 years, I didn’t really know about any of this. Incredibly interesting, well done Alfie!

[@richaxe3099]

Great video, didn’t think I’d enjoy it.... bloody loved it.

[@orueom7720]

Loved this video! Thanks for this

[@bricktop.]

Top TOP content lad. Brilliant Alfie.

[@azza0911]

Unbelievable video...this is quite stunning...remember this happening but never got the full story until today. Kasper Schmeichel from this to Premier League winner in 7 years.

[@avengerex]

Brilliant once again Alfie.

[@felixfaillace437]

I really like the way you tell everyone to sit back and relax before you start proper, even if it is always followed by a cheeky ad

[@patagualianmostly7437]

Cheeky ad? Not on my KZbin.

[@danielcasey7069]

Great video as per, I'd love a video about Coventry City, considering we're all over the place off the pitch these days

[@Smrda1312]

Great video! Can't believe I have never heard of this until now

[@GenialHarryGrout]

When Sven and Sol Campbell turned up at Notts County I knew something was fishy and it wasn't the smell from the River Trent that runs along side the ground

[@arannyaroy5601]

These type of documentaries made your channel what it is. Superb quality content! ❤️

[@Lukebr0503]

As a Notts county fan i love to see videos about our club as we’ve had some real tough times with dodgey owners but things are looking up for us now, keep up the great work

[@lutonboy8104]

It would be nice to see one of these on Luton Town with years of mismanagement by various boards, the Kohler Dome, the 'rigged' phone in competition to appoint the new manager all leading to being deducted 30 points by FA to relegation from football league and back to mid level championship team. Its a hell of a story

[@turnpiketumbler8938]

I forgot about the phone in competition! Manager idol or something like that? It was all over Sky Sports news at the time. Who got the job was it Cotterell or Newell?

[@lutonboy8104]

@@turnpiketumbler8938 Mike Newell got the job and had apparently been at the club signing contracts even before the phone lines closed. The fans had clearly voted for Joe Kinnear who they liked as he was the previous manager but went to Newell who no one really knew about. It was then Newell who went to the FA about being offered bribes to sign players and the only club hit by it was Luton

[@alejandrovillamil1734]

Congratulations on 400k Yaaaay 🥳🥳🥳

[@mattdill881]

Videos like this make this channel the best football channel on KZbin, bar none

[@jamestuff5240]

Honestly i cant state how much i love these weird football case study videos

[@bravosierra2447]

Interesting vid, great logo designs too. I remember reading about Notts County miraculous fortune. But here is the real story behind it all.

[@craigoconnor6147]

I'm a notts fan and I think your the 1st person on KZbin to do a video about us we had a good team that season even with everything that went on at the club was sad to see how it ended but we now have good owners that seem to be putting the club 1st come on you pies ⚫⚪⚫⚪

[@ELmeinz]

Love the company logos you made up. The right combination of sinister and mysterious.

[@beatownsend9253]

The effort that has gone into making, researching, and producing this video is insane

[@markmills5611]

Needs to be a video like this about Oldham. Signing players from France on 10 grand a week whilst not paying the electricity bills. Owner hiring his brother with no football knowledge as director of football, 10 managers in about 3 years.

[@tomthomassony8607]

It’s called money laundering. Transferring over priced players across international borders to hide proceeds of crime or simple tax evasion. Harry Redknapp was an expert at this, especially at Portsmouth.

[@meeseinoddplaces]

omg the logo humor, bless you alfie. up there with "anyhow"

[@seancharlie8476]

Good video, it was interesting 👍🏾👍🏾

[@drewdavies3010]

Really good video and a story i didnt fully know

[@jackgrimley5780]

Another excellent video. A warning to all clubs searching for new owners.

[@jameswaterton12]

I think this is possibly my favourite ever video. So interesting

[@lewl284]

Class video Alfie

[@BOABModels]

I think you're the king of Clip art, Alfie. Also I've looked up Russell King and your clip art man is a very accurate representation.

[@sandiledhlamini6297]

Fantastic work

[@ajaxben4603]

Great video Alfie

[@Roowfc705]

Good video, enjoyed

[@hithere589]

You deserve more subs

[@rog23dodge]

An excellent investigation video 👍🏿

[@PreDatoR1873]

Great video as always. Also I did laugh a few times with the logos. However, currently my beloved PFC Levski Sofia is in takeover talks with an English investor from a New York investment holding, who claims to have guaranteed £1.4 million... and it is frighteningly close to the situation in the video. This makes me sad.

[@gabrielmendonca8490]

Alfie, you should really take a look at the 2013/14 Atlético Mineiro, a cursed team that won it's maiden Copa Libertadores and Brazilian Cup. A "Saint" at keeper with a blessed left foot, Ronaldinho, a mantra meaning "I Believe", last minute penalty save, miracle comebacks in the knockout stages and a win against the main rivals in the finals of the domestic cup

[@stephenkoshy3127]

This was the last time Alfie uploaded on the HITC sevens channel as he quit to pursue his passion of logo making.

[@jordannadroj9061]

Loved this!

[@Sarcaman]

Why is it that you can't make more videos like this? It was a fascinating video. Don't get me wrong I like the channel, but this a bit of another level.

[@jimharkin8802]

Great video👍

[@_Chairman_Meow]

Another amazing documentary

[@jackjude]

Excellent storytelling! :)

[@rossi6113]

Very interesting. Thank you.

[@madcap73]

Forza Notts County from a Juventus fan.