Mirror Mirror on the Wall – who’s the richest club owner of them all

For a long time the owners of Juventus, AC Milan and Inter Milan were the richest owners in football. Technically, Barcelona and Real Madrid had no owners but had purses which were just as deep.

Then Roman Abramovich came in. He took the battle to the Spaniards and the Italians giving Chelsea more financial muscle than any other club. The likes of Man United, Liverpool, West Ham, Aston Villa and Man City have since got billionaire owners of their own but nobody has quite matched the Russian oligarch.

The Russian is the current big daddy of super rich owners

This was followed by the part ownership of Queens Park Rangers by Laxmi Mittal. Mr Mittal is the richest man in Britain and has more billions than Roman but unlike the Russian he hasn’t quite got down to throwing his millions around. While his disinterest in football is bad news for the club, people in India don’t mind – as long as the Mittal Champions Trust continues to be endowed magnanimously. There are other super-rich part owners as well – but minor compared to Mr Mittal – the likes of Alisher Usmanov and Bernie Ecclestone.

The Sheikh has quickly taken ownership of the British transfer record

Now a real challenger has emerged – in the form of the Abu Dhabi group which has bought Manchester City. While the full extent of their money power will be known only during the January transfer window and much beyond that, they have already shown a glimpse of their ambition and their recklessness. Their last-ditch signing of Robinho can beat anything that Abramovich has expended for thus far.

The premiership is the perfect platform for Anil to display his global ambition

And then there are more pretenders. Anil Ambani – the fourth richest man in the world lurks. The Ambani has great ambition and will hold nothing back (meaning no expenses will be spared) in his quest for success.

Paul's an old hand at money games and knows no limits

Paul Allen is another – Microsoft’s co-founder has been linked to Southampton in the past and can be counted upon to make an entry if some other club becomes available. He has less money than Mittal or Abramovich but is far more profligate – has already contributed to changing the money dynamics in the NBA and the NFL.

While the likelihood of the richest man in the world – Bill Gates – jumping in the fray is quite slim, we cannot rule out two others – men who have more money than any of the current owner or the pretenders – the Mexican Carlos Slim and Anil Ambani’s brother Mukesh. Carlos Slim could do on a far larger scale what Thaksin Shinawatra dreamt of - use a premiership club to boost his own popularity in his football-mad homeland. Mukesh Ambani has already tasted blood with the IPL and always loves to take on his younger brother. So Anil’s entry into European football could quickly lead to a purchase by the elder brother as well.

The battle of Britain could be like no other. That there is a fair correlation between spending and foot balling success has already been proved and is a fact known to all the rich guys. The coming times could well become a battle of the purses. I now wonder - If it ever comes to a ‘let the richest man win’ win kind of situation - then who will be the winner? What do you guys think ?

This article was originally published on Goal.com

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