Friday High Five – what’s been in the news this week

In my book Death At The Edge, a fictional account of a Cheshire entrepreneur in the 2008 financial storm, one of the subplots features the main protagonists trying to buy a football club.

At all levels of corporate life, sports club ownership is the ultimate trophy asset. A hubristic statement of intent, yet in so many cases, big and small, also the first step towards disaster and chaos. The sporting world sucks in its excitable investors and bleeds them dry.

There are so many of these stories you could file under “you couldn’t make it up…”

At Manchester United here’s Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who thinks charging kids £66 a ticket and sacking the tea lady will bring financial sustainability to Old Trafford while forking out £14.5m on sacking the management team that won them the FA Cup last season.

Everton have teetered right on the brink as they prepare to move to a very well-designed and appointed new stadium at Bramley Dock. Neil Hodgson has consistently had a ringside seat on the unfolding story, but he went one better this week and sat in the freezing winter night at the first test event.

Last week, via video link from India, short form cricket franchise Manchester Originals unveiled Indian industrialist Sanjiv Goenka of RPSG as the new shareholder valuing it at an eye-watering £116m.

You couldn’t miss the new would-be owners of Salford Red Devils, 7 foot tall Pacific islanders holed up in the Dakota Hotel, interviewing for commercial roles and securing RFL approval for their first game in charge this week. Yet there’s still no acknowledgement of who they are, and on what terms they have “bought” an asset that lives in a publicly owned sports facility.

Maybe they’ll reveal themselves before Saturday’s game against Leeds Rhinos as Bez and Shaun from the Happy Mondays get the crowd going. 

Nothing in sports ownership surprises me, frankly.

Have a great weekend.