Lord Alan Sugar has delivered a biting analysis of the financial state of global giants Manchester United and Liverpool.
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Lord Sugar: Why I would never buy another club
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Lord Sugar: Owned Tottenham Hotspur from 1991 to 2001
Lord Sugar, who headed the Labour Government's taskforce on business affairs, forecast a doomsday scenario for both elite clubs and the former Spurs chairman also had his say on the controversial issue of foreign owners.
''If you are asking me if foreign owners are good for football then I would have to split them into two categories,'' Lord Sugar told
ESPNsoccernet. "There is Roman Abramovich and that bloke from the Middle East [Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan at Manchester City]. To a certain extent [Fulham's] Mohammed Al-Fayed and, although I was not a foreign owner, I would include myself in this category of owners who use their own money to buy football clubs.
"How can you say anything about these foreign owners? Roman Abramovich is passionate about Chelsea and football and he is putting up the money to buy the best players in the world, and now Manchester City are doing the same. Yes, it might be unfair to everyone else, but that's life, and it hasn't done much harm to their football clubs, now has it?
"But there is another type of foreign owner: The Glazers and those guys at Liverpool, Hicks and Gillett. Now, I am sorry to have to say this, but they are done. They are gone. They have big problems ahead.
"When you buy big clubs like Manchester United and Liverpool without using your own money and lumber the club with enormous interest repayments on the debt, then you are asking for problems, and both clubs have got them."
Manchester City posted the second highest one year loss on Friday (at £121 million), with Abramovich's Chelsea the top of the list in 2004-05 (at £141 million), but as Lord Sugar maintains it is meaningless in terms of the clubs' business plan, as they are supported by their owners own cash.
"Reckless lending caused the demise of the banking industry throughout the world, and banks were irresponsible in lending to these guys to enable them to buy such big football clubs,'' he said. "They have used the club as an asset against the loans and that has resulted in big interest repayments on the debt.
"Here's the bad news: One day the Glazers, the Gilletts and Hicks's will find its payback time and, when that day comes, if they haven't got the money, they default, and it's a nightmare scenario for the clubs.
"A bank somewhere is going to own the football club and hope desperately that some investor will take over the debt. But why would they? I wouldn't. Absolutely not. Football is not good business. An electrical company, a food chain, yes, why not, but football, you've got to be joking.''
With his own experiences of owning Tottenham behind him, Lord Sugar has nothing but fear for United and Liverpool's current situation.
"Manchester United is funding £50 million a year in interest repayments with a debt of £700 million plus,'' he said. ''If it didn't then that £50 million a year would be spent on players and the club. Same at Liverpool, £40 million a year on interest repayments. That leaves me really, really worried for those clubs.
"What a great institution Liverpool is, what a great football club, but my forecast is that the owners will inevitably default on their loans, it puts the bank in an embarrassing position, and the bank will write off a large chunk of the debt to make it viable for an investor to step in and take it over.
"Liverpool don't need to build a stadium straight away, that's not the priority, the priority is to find the right business model to enable it to buy players and stay where they are, and challenge for the top four places. To do that they need to wipe their debts clear of the bank.''
Lord Sugar cites the example of Leeds United, who dropped to League One because of their financial problems as a warning from the past, but thinks that history could repeat itself.
"It would be an unbelievable travesty if Liverpool would slip away like Leeds and end up in the second division,'' he said. ''That will happen if they are not careful. Manchester United have more time, the Glazers have given themselves more breathing space as their loans are not up until 2016.''
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Manchester United fans have protested strongly against the Glazer regime
However, he does not believe that the Red Knights' bid to save United from the Glazers is the answer to their problems.
"This Red Knights fiasco, well that is rubbish,'' he said. ''Supporters might have passion and love their club but it would be out of the frying pan into the fire, with other debts to the banks, as I doubt whether it will be their own money.
"It's all very well saying the Glazers are horrible people with no passion and they borrowed far too much money, but the Red Knights are not the answer.
"I can see the Glazers selling up and they must be waiting until the world economy improves or some mad Russian or Chinese comes along and gives them £2 billion for the club. I cannot believe they turned down £1.5 billion, as they would love to get themselves out of their debt, I am sure.
"They realise now that whatever prompted them to buy Manchester United they got it wrong, They need to find someone with many billions to spare who just wants to own Manchester United."
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What You See Is What You Get: My Autobiography by Alan Sugar is out now, published by Macmillan, £20 hardback
