Where Britain's richest man ranks compared to Premier League's top 10 wealthiest owners

Britain’s richest man, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, has plenty of involvement in sport, but so far has nothing to do with the Premier League.

The 69-year-old has made his money by being the owner of chemical powerhouse Ineos and he has used his riches to invest in the sports industry.

Ratcliffe is the owner of Ligue 1 side Nice, professional cycling team Ineos Grenadiers, Sir Ben Ainslie's sailing team, Ineos Team UK, and is one of the sponsors of the Mercedes Formula One team.

His vast wealth and clear interest in sport has combined with the fact he is a boyhood Manchester United fan to see him linked with a bid for the club in the past.

That is not something which is currently on his mind, however, with Ratcliffe previously being very critical of the way the club is run by owners the Glazers.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has invested in football, cycling, sailing and F1 (TOLGA AKMEN/AFP via Getty Images)

"(Ineos) never wants to be the dumb money in town, never, never," he told The Times in 2019.

"(United) haven't got the manager selection right, haven't bought well. They have been the dumb money, which you see with players like Fred.

"We won't look elsewhere until we have had a good run here (at Nice). We need to find out how to be successful before you ever want to write a big cheque. It's quite difficult."

Were he ever to get involved in the Premier League, Ratcliffe would immediately become one of the biggest players in the top flight.

According to the Forbes 2021 billionaires list , Ratcliffe is worth around £12.58bn ($17bn) – a wealth that makes him the world’s 113th richest person.

That is an awful lot, but it is still not enough to claim top spot when it comes to the owners of Premier League clubs, for an obvious reason.

Newcastle United made headlines around the world when long-time owner Mike Ashley sold the club to a consortium backed by the vast wealth of the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund.

Mohammad bin Salman is the chairman of the Public Investment Fund (Royal Court of Saudi Arabia/Getty Images)

PIF, who took an 80 per cent stake in Newcastle, are the investment arm of the Saudi government therefore have a near bottomless pit of money – the headline figure of which has been quoted as both £320bn and £250bn.

Either figure makes the Magpies the richest club in the world and puts them well clear of Ratcliffe and any other Premier League owner.

Ratcliffe is also out-gunned by Manchester City ’s owner, Mansour bin Zayed bin Sultan bin Zayed bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, who is better known as Sheikh Mansour.

The United Arab Emirates' deputy prime minister is also chairman of International Petroleum Investment Company and bought Man City in 2008. Sheikh Mansour is reportedly worth around £22.9bn.

If he were to buy a Premier League club, Ratcliffe would become the third richest owner, behind Newcastle and Man City.

Currently in third place is Roman Abramovich, who bought Chelsea in 2003 from Ken Bates for around £140m.

Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea back in 2003 (Getty Images)

The Russian, who made his billions by selling previously Russian state-owned assets after the fall of the Soviet Union, is worth around £10.74bn ($14.5bn) according to Forbes, who place him 142nd in the world.

The fourth-richest Premier League owners are at Aston Villa, whose money comes from Egyptian construction magnate Nassef Sawiris.

Sawiris, who holds a 55 per cent controlling stake of Villa, is worth £6.15bn ($8.3bn) according to Forbes, who say his six per cent share of Adidas is pulling in big bucks.

Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke is worth £6.08bn ($8.2bn), putting him fifth in the Premier League owners list and 304rd in Forbes’ list.

Kroenke married Walmart heiress Ann Walton in 1974 and later founded a property development firm, the Kroenke Group, in 1983, going on to buy a whole host of sports teams, including NFL side LA Rams and NBA franchise Denver Nuggets.

Next is Wolves owner Guo Guangchang, who is worth around £5.11bn ($6.9bn) according to Forbes, making him the 380th richest person in the world.

Guo Guangchang is chairman and co-founder of Fosun International Ltd. (Paul Yeung/Bloomberg/Getty Images)

Guangchang is chairman of powerful investment firm Fosun Group, who bought Wolves in 2016.

Josh Harris, who co-founded Apollo Global Management, one of the world’s largest investment firms, has an 18 per cent stake in Crystal Palace and is worth £4.3bn ($5.8bn) according to Forbes .

Tottenham ’s Joe Lewis is next on the list due to his wealth of £3.63bn ($4.9bn), which has been made through Tavistock Group, which has more than 200 assets across 13 countries.

Manchester United’s owners, the Glazer family, are no longer on the Forbes list, but were reportedly worth around £3.48bn ($4.7bn) back in 2015.

Finally, in 10th place on the Premier League list, is Leicester City’s Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, who is better known as Top.

Top became chief executive of King Power and the chairman of Leicester when his father died in a helicopter crash outside the club’s stadium in 2018. He and his family are worth £1.59bn ($2.15bn) according to Forbes .

The Premier League’s top 10 richest owners:

1. Newcastle United – Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (£320bn)

2. Manchester City – Sheikh Mansour (£22.9bn)

3. Chelsea – Roman Abramovich (£10.74bn)

4. Aston Villa – Nassef Sawiris (£6.15bn)

5. Arsenal – Stan Kroenke (£6.08bn)

6. Wolves – Guo Guangchang (£5.11bn)

7. Crystal Palace – Josh Harris (£4.3bn)

8. Tottenham – Joe Lewis (£3.63bn)

9. Manchester United – Glazer family (£3.48bn)

10. Leicester City – Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha (£1.59bn)