LONDON COLNEY, England, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Arsene Wenger said on
Tuesday he feared for the future of English soccer if Premier
League clubs continued to sell up to foreign owners.
'At the moment the point is the love of the game,' Arsenal's
manager told a news conference at the club's training ground.
'Once it becomes investment only, then you have some different
ingredients that are not necessarily for the love of the game, or
the good of the game.'
'It looks as if we have gone from one period to a new one with more
people who look at it as an investment - where they want to be paid
back quickly.
Wenger said the days of Englishmen buying clubs for the love of the
game is gone and he is worried about the future.
'What was traditionally true in England is that the people who were
the owners were the supporters. The biggest example was at
Blackburn where a guy called Jack Walker, who was a passionate
supporter of the club, was in charge.
Walker ploughed the wealth he made from the steel industry into
Rovers and they won the Premier League title in 1995. The
Blackburn-born steel magnate died aged 71 in August 2000.
'What happened, chronologically, was he was a supporter, he became
wealthy and he fulfilled his dream by buying the club of his
dreams,' said Wenger.
'But that looks to be a period of the past. It was really
reassuring for the fans because it looked as if the heart of the
owner was like their heart.
'It didn't matter whether it was blue and white, or red and white,
or yellow and black, but it was the same colour - the heart was the
same colour.
'It looks like that period has gone because the implication of the
financial investment is too high. This tradition has gone.'
'We are one of the biggest clubs left with this tradition.
Liverpool, until now, were another.'
The Merseysiders look set to be the next Premier League club taken
over by foreign backers, with Dubai International Capital (DIC) in
talks about investing what British newspapers have said could be
worth up to 450 million pounds ($882.7 million).
Wenger fears the Premier League could lose its competitive streak
if too many teams take up the lead set by champions Chelsea, owned
by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich.
'What is dangerous for us, is once the financial potential of the
club goes above their natural resources we will be in trouble,'
Wenger added.
'At the moment, we can do it because only Chelsea has those
resources. But once three or four have that, are you dead?
'If today you go into football and think 'I have 100 million pounds
available and could put that into Arsenal Football Club to make 200
million', it looks very dangerous - both for football and for the
club.
'To find people who put 100, 200 or 800 million into a club and are
prepared to lose their money, you must be lucky.'
