Friday Freebie: Is Investment Coming From Different Sources?

Are we expecting a new breed of owners to be incoming to non-league football

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Earlier this week reports were out that former Spurs star Jermain Defoe has been in talks to buy a London non-league club. There is plenty of speculation around who it is with the amount of clubs he could potentially be targeting, it begs the question though is it a surprise more former players don’t turn to club owners after retiring?

The easiest pointer is the Class of ’92 taking over Salford City and becoming an established League Two side. Whilst they had the financial clout to move up the leagues relatively quickly they didn’t throw lavish sums at it like those with deeper pockets have done over years.

More recently Wilfred Zaha has become part of a three man ownership model at AFC Croydon Athletic alongside Stormzy and Danny Young, although more of a silent partner with playing responsibilities in Turkey.

While some take ambassador roles, the latest being Matt Le Tissier at Sholing in Hampshire, beyond the billionaires and millionaires who like a football club former players are realistically these days the only other people who can afford to put enough cash in.

Do many feel they don’t have the qualities or know how to run a football club? Are they afraid of getting involved in case it tarnishes their image if it goes wrong? It’s difficult to know. They would know very well in a lot of cases how to succeed on the pitch, although not all the best players have transferred that into coaching.

I believe many would be great sounding boards for when things aren’t going to plan on the pitch having the experiences already albeit at higher levels. They would bring in the numbers through the gate, although you need a winning team on the pitch too to keep that happening.

As much as the billionaires seem to enjoy the trappings of the Premier League and more recently dipping into the Championship there isn’t any reason why the same couldn’t be an investment model by former players in some smaller clubs. There are plenty of attractive clubs out there, who knows maybe some have approached and been brushed away, Defoe has mentioned his deal has been in the pipeline for a year or so.

Plus if one or two players get involved and things go swimmingly it might open up the floodgates of more investment finding it’s way into non-league football, but will you view it as a good thing or more messing around for vanity purposes?