PRR

Guess who is joining the Premiership Rat Race (PRR) of use-lots-off-wealth-on-team-to-become-rich-and-famous – our very own, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Maktoum Al Mohammed, the proud ruler of Dubai. Yes Govind, you can partially rejoice – his Highness is planning to pitch in 480 million pounds to buy the living hell out of Liverpool. So, that somewhat means ,that Arsenal is the only nor-foreign-bought club, which ironically has a non-foreign coach and only 1 English player in its top playing 16. Right. The English, I tell you.

Anyway, why Liverpool is all happy is because now they can get a new stadium, and be totally wannabe’s of Arsenal. It’s okay Govind, it’s only natural for any club to do so. What Sheikh Mohammed is going to be doing is clearing all Liverpool debts (which not surprisingly is about 80 million pounds), buying controlling stake worth 180 million pounds and investing in the new stadium that will be built in Stanley Park. He, the owner of Dubai International Capital (DIC), is one rich man. Respect sir, and please don’t kick me out of the country.

It’s also fun, yes plain fun, to note that Dubai now indirectly owns major chunks of 2 clubs - Arsenal, with all the ‘Emirates’ sponsoring and Liverpool, with the latest DIC take-over bid. What’s even more fun to note is that now the premiership might turn out to be a 3 way battle – The Americans (Glazers & Man Utd) v/s The Russians (Abrahamovich & Chelsea) v/s The Middle East (Sheikh Mohammed & Liverpool). Boy oh boy – World War III indeed.

On a more saving-my-ass note, actually quite seriously, I have deep respect for our ruler Sheikh Mohammed. He is one hell of a strategist, and his vision is boundless but practical. Dubai is where it is because of him. Hats off on a great job sir, and good luck with Liverpool.

P.S. This post is a mixture of football and Dubai, so you’ll find it on both of my blogs. =)