US owners have taken over half of the Scottish Premiership – what's in it for them?
It's not just at the top, however, where American money is reshaping Scottish soccer. Six of the Scottish Premiership's 12 clubs are now American-owned. The 49ers' purchase of Rangers wasn't even the only US takeover of a Scottish club this summer: Calvin Ford, the great-great-grandson of Henry Ford, completed a deal to buy Livingston. Scotland's top division is now just one club away from having a majority of American owners.
The trend started in 2013 when Tim Keyes and John Nelms turned up at Dundee. Five years later, Mark Ogren bought Dundee United. More recently, Bournemouth owner Bill Foley invested in Hibernian, who have been owned by the Gordon family since 2019, while St Johnstone were bought by Adam Webb. All Americans and all bullish on the untapped potential of Scottish soccer.
Of course, American investment in soccer is not unique to Scotland. Half of the Premier League's 20 clubs now under US ownership following Dan Friedkin's takeover of Everton in September, adding the film producer's name to a list that includes Foley, Fenway Sports Group, the Glazers, Stan Kroenke, Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, Wes Edens, John Textor and Shahid Khan. Nine EFL clubs, including Birmingham City and Wrexham, are also American-owned, offering a lower on-ramp for those without the funds to go toe-to-toe with a sovereign wealth fund.
The on-ramp to get into Scottish soccer is even lower, partially explaining why so many American millionaires have looked north of the England/Scotland border to invest. While the 49ers were able to snag a majority ownership stake in Rangers for £150m ($200m), New York Jets owner Woody Johnson has agreed to pay more than that (£190m/$254m) for a smaller share (44.9%) in Crystal Palace, a club that finished 12th in the Premier League last season. Friedkin had to pay over £400m ($535m) for Everton who have spent the last few seasons flirting with relegation.
Rangers can only look enviously over Hadrian's Wall at the self-proclaimed Best League In The World and its associated riches, but they do have access to European soccer. Indeed, the Govan club made a run to the Europa League final three seasons ago and played in the Champions League two seasons ago, earning tens of millions in the process.
Today there are more Scottish teams in Europe than ever before, largely due to the creation of the Conference League. The likes of Aberdeen, Dundee United, Hearts, Hibernian, Kilmarnock, Motherwell and St Mirren were previously locked out of continental competition on account of Celtic and Rangers' strength, all have qualified for the Conference League in recent seasons, giving them a path to continental football and associated financial rewards.
Sign up to Soccer with Jonathan Wilson
Jonathan Wilson brings expert analysis on the biggest stories from European soccer
after newsletter promotion
This along with the rise of multi-club ownership has changed the investment landscape in Scottish soccer. Hibernian are part of Foley's Black Knight network that includes Bournemouth, Auckland FC and FC Lorient. Brighton owner Tony Bloom recently acquired a stake in Hearts that puts the Edinburgh club under the same umbrella as the Premier League club and Belgian champions Union Saint-Gilloise. Aberdeen have a partnership with Atlanta United.
And now, with the 49ers purchase, Rangers have a connection with Leeds United. But which club sits higher in the hierarchy? Scottish fans are insecure about their position in the food chain and the growth of multi-club ownership has only exacerbated that anxiety.
Not every new American owner has been welcomed with open arms. Motherwell supporters last year voted against a takeover by US-based Erik and Courtney Barmack, a former Netflix vice-president and a Snap Inc executive. Foley, too, has faced questions. Should Hibernian really be a feeder club to Bournemouth, a team with an average attendance of just over 11,000 last season that had until fairly recently played most of its history in the lower leagues? Perhaps not, but this is the reality of the modern game.
It's also an indication of how Scottish soccer needs help. It's been 40 years since a team not called Celtic or Rangers won the title. A study commissioned by the Scottish FA last year said the sport is 'significantly underachieving' in youth potential compared to other countries of a similar size. Just 12% of all minutes in the Scottish Premiership last season were given to players age 21 or under.
And while more Scottish teams are involved in Europe, none made it past the group stage of the most recent Conference League, a fact made starker by Irish side Shamrock Rovers' run to the knockout phase last season. The hope was that the new third-tier competition would give Scottish clubs a platform to reach new heights. Instead, it has exposed just how far off the required standard they are.
There's no guarantee American money will change any of this. Nelms has been in charge at Dundee for over a decade, but has yet to turn the club into the talent factory he originally planned. St Johnstone suffered relegation for the first time in 16 years last season not long after the arrival of new owners. Their fans expected more.
The history of Scottish soccer and the passion of its fans is part of what makes it so attractive to outsider investors. So too is the sense that the Scottish game, with some new ideas and renewed ambition, could be something more. The American dream has taken on a tartan tinge.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Record
26 minutes ago
- Daily Record
The Celtic manager mantra rejected as club icon offers Brendan Rodgers contract hope
Strachan has a firm view on managing the Parkhead side which would mean Rodgers departing at the end of this season Gordon Strachan believes every Celtic manager has a shelf life. And it rarely lasts longer than three exhausting years at the coal face. But Martin O'Neill begs to differ. And, having cherished the position for almost five years during his own time at the helm, he's yet to be convinced that current boss Brendan Rodgers will be in any rush to move on at the end of this, his second spell in charge. O'Neill was speaking at Hampden to help launch Premier Sports coverage of the new top flight season - knowing Rodgers is now entering the third and final years of his Parkhead contract. And the veteran Northern Irishman strongly suspects that, having not long turned 52-years-old, his compatriot should have plenty left in the tank should he want to prolong his stay in the hotseat. Asked about Strachan's assertion that three years might be more than enough O'Neill insisted he would have no intention to bow out two decades ago had it not been for the failing health of his wife Geraldine. He said: 'Well, I never felt that. Honestly, I never felt that at all. Eventually, I would have outstayed my welcome but that would have been to do with results. 'Somewhere along the way, you would get a spell of results that nobody wanted. But, no, if my wife had been well enough, absolutely I would have stayed here until, until it's gone. 'Eventually everybody gets fed up with people, no question. Fans get fed up with a manager even if he's doing alright. The manager might think it's stressful - but that's part of the game and it's enjoyable at times. The only thing I hated about it was talking to you guys!' True to form, the barbs remain as sharp as they ever were. But O'Neill has mellowed over time nonetheless. What still burns as strong as ever is his desire to see Celtic stay on top of the domestic pile. And he insists Rogers and owner Dermot Desmond share the same raging ambition for their club. In fact, although Rodgers might be entering the final 12 months of his deal, O'Neill would not be surprised if the pair of them have already reached a secret, verbal agreement to extend their time together - just as he used to do with Desmond back in the day. Asked why an agreement hasn't already been thrashed out and announced he said: 'OK, good point. But I've had times with Dermot as well, where I might have signed a contract in January but didn't do it until August time. It honestly didn't really bother me. 'Do I think there might be something similar in place between Dermot and Brendan? Yeah, I would. 'I don't want to sound incredibly sycophantic here about Dermot but if you do come to an agreement with Dermot in August and nothing happens in October, I would still say that that's still on. 'That's my view - even if it's a kind of biased view.' O'Neill, though, admits relationships can become strained when the transfer window is open for business - and the pressure is on. He added: 'If I turn the clock back, every season I was always looking for more players for the exact same reasons that Brendan's talking about. You have to keep on improving. 'For me, it was trying to get through and, first of all, qualify for the Champions League, which we had to do sometimes. After you've done that you try to make it through to the next stages, which Gordon did. 'So the minute you don't do that, then you think, 'Well, gosh, we're not improving,'. Brendan will have these things on his mind. He set a standard there last season, and he'll want to surpass that. And that would be difficult even if you got another three players in. 'The draw might not be as favourable to you this particular time. It should be OK this season because you're still going to have a couple of clubs of your supposed standing. I haven't spoken to Brendan since the back end of last season, so I don't really know what his position is. 'All I will say to you is that if Brendan is making noises about not improving the team then the contractual situation is the very obvious second part of that.' O'Neill was asked if Rodgers might be upping the ante on Celtic's board in public in order to ensure that his ambitions are matched before agreeing to put pen to paper on his own extension. He said: 'That's a good point and I genuinely don't know the answer. The one thing I do know is that he's working with the fella that I worked with for all my time there at the football club and, seriously, I had a verbal agreement with him a number of times. And it always came to fruition.' But he believes, if Rodgers is ready to call it a day then Desmond will already be working on his replacement. He added: 'If I'm a club owner and someone said to me, 'You've got a year to think about another manager,' I'd be happy with that. There'll be other managers out there at the time. 'But Brendan's done a brilliant job since he came back, which was a brave decision 'But the very fact that Dermot brought him back would tell you everything about the relationship.' And O'Neill admits that, after a summer of more targeted, high end spending in last year's market on the likes of Adam Idah, Arne Engels and Auston Trusty, Dermot is unlikely to be a pushover where the current demands of Rodgers are concerned. He said: 'I always knew the parameters in which I was working but I don't honestly ever remember Dermot saying, 'No, you're not having that other player'. 'And who's to say who's right or who's wrong? Yeah, I must have had a lot of free rein at the time. Life changes a wee bit, you know but I did have that and I enjoyed it. 'The dynamic might be different now in the sense of how the club is run. Dermot may well say that it's run far better now than it was when I was here. 'Again, it's about a bit of trust. All I will say is, on the other side, if Dermot puts something to him and he wants him to stay at the football club, he'll do his very, very best to keep him. "I have to say I was never unhappy with the model I worked with. You might say, well, no wonder if you're able to get John Hartson for £3m! And I'd take your point. "But let me put it this way, if I walked into that situation and that was the thing that was put in front of me, I would have to work like that anyway. So yeah, the model has definitely changed but I would have had to find a way to work with that, you know? I'm not that intransigent!' Martin O'Neill was promoting Premier Sports' coverage of Scottish football including over 80 matches from the Scottish Premiership, Premier Sports Cup, Scottish Cup and KDM Evolution Trophy. Fans can watch an entire season of football for only £99 using promo code PSCUP25.
Scotsman
26 minutes ago
- Scotsman
The massive sums paid by Scottish universities to overseas recruiting agents revealed
Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Scottish universities are spending soaring sums of money on overseas recruiting agents to attract wealthy foreign students. New figures show seven of Scotland's mainstream higher education institutions spent £15.2 million on payments and commission for specialist operatives in one year to attract rich international students to enrol in courses. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Scotland rank: 4. UK rank: 31 The University of Aberdeen is a UK Top 20 and World Top 200 University with outstanding levels of student satisfaction. Heriot Watt, Strathclyde and Aberdeen universities all spent more than £4m each on agent fees, the figures for 2023/24 show. The total spent since the 2019/20 academic year is £88.2m for the institutions which responded to Freedom of Information requests. But the true amount for the sector will be far higher, given the small number of the 15 universities surveyed that agreed to disclose the data. Others said the information was 'commercially sensitive' and opted not to share it. Neither Edinburgh nor Glasgow universities disclosed the level of payments made to overseas recruiting agents for 2023/24. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Universities Scotland, the umbrella body for the sector, said foreign students had become 'essential' to propping up cash-strapped organisations. Scottish Conservative shadow education secretary Miles Briggs said universities were 'enhanced' by international students who make a 'positive social and economic impact'. However, he added: 'Clearly cash-strapped institutions are having to speculate to accumulate. They know the SNP has created a near impossible environment, and they rely heavily now on foreign students for their fees. Miles Briggs MSP 'We also know that the SNP's approach to higher education is freezing out Scottish students from their own universities.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Two years ago spending on recruitment agents was at a high of at least £18m - an increase of 50 per cent on the 2019/20 academic year. Fees for overseas students are an average of £22,000 per year while there is an SNP-imposed cap on places for resident Scottish students. The University of Aberdeen has 102 'active agents', who it said were 'active in all regions except for the United States of America'. The university spent £5m on these workers. By contrast, the University of the Highlands and Islands employs five operatives working in areas as diverse as Brunei, Cambodia, Lebanon and Kuwait. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Agents are usually paid a referral fee for candidates who sign up for courses, either as a flat rate per student or a percentage of their fees. They can help applicants navigate the application and immigration process. Concerns have been raised the agents may prioritise chasing commissions over the best interests of students. The number of 18-year-olds from Scotland's most deprived areas securing places at university has increased by 100 to 1,960, which is a record high. The number of young Scots who have secured a place at university this year has also increased to a new high of 16,340 acceptances for 18-year-olds, up 4 per cent on last year. While there are caps on the number of home students who can access a place at a Scottish university - and receive free tuition - there is no limit on the number of overseas students. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad A Universities Scotland spokeswoman said: 'A decade of public underinvestment in university teaching and research has meant that cross-subsidy from international student fees has become essential. 'Recruitment, particularly where institutions look to diversify into new markets, does require upfront investment.' The spokeswoman said investment delivered a 'strong return' for both universities and the wider Scottish economy, saying international students contributed £4.75 billion between 2018/19 and 2021/22. 'The fact tens of millions have been spent on these agents, working in literally every corner of the globe, shows how the SNP has forced universities out into the world just to make ends meet,' Mr Briggs added. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad A Scottish Government spokeswoman said international students played a positive economic, social and cultural role in Scotland. "They add to the diversity of our communities, enrich the learning experience and support local businesses and jobs,' the spokeswoman said.
Daily Record
26 minutes ago
- Daily Record
I'll drive Tony Bloom's Hearts title train but let's be realistic about the two big engines in the way
Stevo is loving the ambitious talk coming from the new Tynecastle money man but McInnes will keep it real Tony Bloom fairly got folk talking with his comments about wrestling Scottish football power from Celtic and Rangers. Let's get one thing straight, I loved it. It's great to hear such ambition. If Bloom's Hearts train steams all the way to the Premiership title in years to come, I sincerely hope I'm driving it. But there's a couple of big engines in the way. And I've got to be honest and realistic about the prospect of Hearts getting past them. Bloom is a man of vision and, more importantly, substance. He's done it, so the words aren't empty. He used the examples of Brighton and Union St Gilloise in Belgium and adopting methods and analytics to bridge gaps, but we are on different tracks here in Scotland. This is a different network. I don't want to seem downbeat, or defeatist. I'm not. As I said. I savoured hearing it and I can tell you that my Hearts pals were all the same judging by the messages I was getting ahead of the Aberdeen match in the lead up to kick-off. Fans were buzzing and it carried into their support. I'll go as far as to say that, even had Hearts lost to the Dons, the feelgood would still be there as the new investor has given them something to believe in. So it's not gloom and Bloom when I say my next bit. I'm just looking at it as neutrally as I can. I understand people discussing the success of his other footballing ventures and the man himself using these as examples, but no matter what way you look at it, Hearts are up against two powerhouses. Rangers and Celtic are global clubs. You go to Australia, you've got a Celtic pub, or a Rangers pub. Same in Dubai, or anywhere, pretty much. USG has been a huge success story, but you don't see an Anderlecht pub in Melbourne, or a Standard Liege cafe in Abu Dhabi. Brighton has been immense, but they aren't overtaking Manchester City and Liverpool. I don't mean this bad on Bloom's part, but I'm not sure he'll yet fully grasp the bulk of Rangers and Celtic. Or maybe he does, but sometimes thinking can be clouded until you live something. Hearts are themselves an situation, but on a different scale. As I said, Rangers and Celtic are global and they'll take some shifting. I've also been interested to note the chatter around how Derek McInnes will feel about Bloom's statements. Whether he'll feel added pressure. I'll be honest, I don't think Del's at a stage in his life or his career where he'll be working under pressure. For a start, he'll want to do well for himself. Also, and not in a big-headed way, I think he would have enough balls to sit in front of Bloom and say: I love everything you're saying because it's amazing and I hope I'm on this train when we do go and win the title. But he'll be as realistic as he is ambitious and he'll be keeping the focus short and sweet right at this moment in time. Like me, he'll 100 per cent be looking at the next game. Del will be driving that point home because, again, everything's heightened after Monday events on and off the park. Hearts played well. The start was outstanding. I have said defenders need to chip with goals and Stuart Findlay got that ball rolling. Lawrence Shankland's finish was outrageous and, even though it got chopped off, it's like: He is back. Everything is doubly hyped. I loved the fact that Del came out after the game and made it clear he wanted much more from the second-half performance. He's driving standards and keeping folk grounded. You can see it in the players. They know they don't perform and they'll be watching from the stands. It's next game, next game. Findlay came out after the match and said just that. He's an experienced operator who knows the manager's ways and thoughts. I'll bet that, even if he didn't score, Del would still have nominated him to do the post-match media because there's method in that. Let's be honest, if I'm being brutally honest about this, plenty of footballers are dumb at times and I include myself in that. Sometimes you can sit in that changing room and go: Bloody hell, I think we could beat Celtic and Rangers this year. Then you go out there and blurt it out. Exactly 12 months ago after an opening-day draw with Rangers, Yan Dhanda came out and said Hearts could challenge the Old Firm. A few weeks later they were bottom of the league. I did the column afterwards and said: Aye, maybe he just needs to calm down a bit! If you're the manager, you want the boys to believe it, but you don't want them to say it. And Del's too smart to have someone go out on Monday night and mouth off. So listen, I think everything's bang on the money, but it's just about concentrating on the next game. And if Hearts rack up 10 league wins on the bounce, then fine. Let's talk about splitting the Old Firm. Then let's see where we finish before talking of overhauling them. Right now? It's been a great start to the season, but it's just the next game. And, as much as I enjoy hearing Bloom's ambition, let's worry about winning titles a bit later down the tracks.
