Manchester City and Newcastle may be immeasurably rich after their respective takeovers, but it hasn’t always been plain sailing for either club.
City, after years of dominance in the Premier League, are now facing charges for alleged breaches of Financial Fair Play, while Newcastle have been unable to fully open the purse strings despite their newfound wealth.
Both teams have had difficult starts to their respective 2024-25 campaigns, and a new development could further dampen the mood in Manchester and on Tyneside.
New football bill proposal on state-owned clubs
An amendment to the new Football Governance Bill could see a ban introduced on state-owned clubs in English football, the Mirror have reported.
Labour peer Lord Bassam of Brighton has proposed an amendment to the bill, which is currently in the committee stage in the House of Lords.
Lord Bassam's proposal states the legislation would read: "No state-controlled club may be granted an operating licence, and any affected club must satisfy the IFR [independent football regulator] that they have divested themselves of their state-control before applying for an operating licence.
"A state-controlled club is one which is wholly or majority-owned by individual(s), entities, or entities controlled by individual(s) who are deemed by the IFR or the secretary of state to be under the influence of any state actor, including but not limited to: members of any government or their immediate family, a head of state or their immediate family, diplomats, lobbyists, or other state representatives, or their immediate family, and sovereign wealth funds."
If the amendment was approved it would be bad news for City and Newcastle, who are owned by Sheikh Mansour, vice president and deputy prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) respectively.
But the Times report that this being part of the final bill is unlikely, while financial expert Kieran Maguire has dismissed suggestions of a blanket ban on state ownership.
"The bill will not address state ownership, it very much makes it clear the government doesn't want to get involved in moral or ethical decisions," Maguire told Sky.
While football idealists and romantics - as well as rival fans - would likely welcome such a change, don’t expect to see City and Newcastle scrambling to find new owners any time soon.
