The English Football League is desperately trying to get a slice of the action in China, even to the extent of holding the Carabao Cup draw at 4.15 am UK time, something which Karl Robinson rightly grumbled about. However, interest in Charlton in China has been there for a long time. If the Australian bid for Charlton eventually fails, could Chinese buyers be attracted by owning a London club?
Some of these buyers turn not to have the readies they claim to have, Southampton being the most recent example where interests in gambling capital Macua appear to have a slice of the action. Due caution is therefore necessary but, although I have no concrete information and may be putting two and two together to make five, it is not beyond the bounds of possibility: The East is Red
I reproduce below what I wrote about Northampton Town in the last VOTV (the full article - which I originally entitled 'The Chinese Maze' but the sub gave it a more tabloid style headline - can be purchased with the magazine either online or from Rick Everitt opposite the club shop on match days):
It is surprising that the one [Chinese] takeover that [went ahead before the start of the season] is of League One Northampton Town, a team that experienced difficult times under its former owner. There is an ongoing police investigation into alleged financial irregularities associated with a £10m loan to the club by the local council. The chief executive of the council left his post in July. [Without any compensation].
A Chinese firm 5USport took a 60 per cent stake in the club, but the chairman of the Cobblers, Kelvin Thomas, insists that it is a partnership rather than a takeover. It does show that Chinese firms from a variety of backgrounds are prepared to take an interest in football clubs below the Premier League level. 5USport was formed in Guangzhou in 2008. It appears to have a relationship with Eurosport News.
Kelvin Thomas said, "Originally, I believe they started as a media company and they had the rights to TalkSport in China, and they have the rights to Icons.com in China, which is a memorabilia site, selling signed stuff from sport stars. They have developed an education/football division recently, and that is what the investment is here, in terms of them looking at the way we can educate in China, and use Northampton Town as a brand in China."
"There is an emerging market there, we all know that, and it is about how do we, Northampton Town, develop that.' And he added: 'I think what’s in it for them, and I think this is a really big advantage for Northampton Town Football Club, is the education market in China. That’s what they see. They now have a brand that they can take into China and sell their educational services, which is important."
Quite how the Northampton brand will help to sell education services in China remains to be seen. Northampton as a place probably does not have a high profile in China and it is quite possible that it could be confused with Southampton.* However, a relatively new company with a low profile may consider that buying a League One club is a cheap route to raising that profile, particularly in China.'
*Former VOTV writer and self-styled No.1 Iceland Addick Olafur Johnansson always used to get in a muddle over Southend. He thought it was the geographical counterpart to Preston North End and argued that both clubs should either have Preston in front of them or could just be called Northend or Southend. I pointed out to him that Southend had the longest pier in England and was situated in the Tnames estuary, but he countered that I was pulling his leg as Wigan had a pier and was in Lancashire.
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