UP416 Other People's Money: Minority Stakes, Gary Neville and American v Arab Investor Cliches

Unofficial Partner Podcast

Other People's Money is our regular series on sports investment, with regular co-host Matt Rogan, co-founder of Two Circles.
Our guests today are Jonathan Lenson and Sam Johnson, CEO and head of sport respectively at Milltown Partners, the communications and public policy consultancy co-founded by Paddy Harverson, the former PR to Manchester United and King Charles, among others.

The conversation is prompted by some focus group work carried out by Milltown in to the reputational challenges that surround football's relationship with private investors, particulary from the US. It was Gary Neville of Sky Sports fame who called investors from North America 'a clear and present danger to the pyramid and fabric of the game'.

Was he right? How many football fans share that view? How does the reputation of American money compare to other sources of investment from for example, Arab countries, such as Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, or even Hollywood stars like Ryan Reynolds?

This gets us to other, deeper questions as to the cliches and tropes that attach themselves to sport's relationship with private investment of all types.

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