American consortium San Francisco 49ers in talks over multi-million pound investment in Rangers after launching takeover bid
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00:00Hello and welcome to the latest episode of today's FITBA talk, where we are joined by
00:10Yorkshire Evening Post correspondent Joe Donoghue to discuss the latest murmurings that has
00:19surrounded rangers over the last 24 hours.
00:23Rangers currently at the centre of a US-led takeover bid, with talks currently at an advanced
00:29stage alongside the San Francisco 49ers, who are fronted up by businessmen and current
00:37Leeds United chairman Parag Marath.
00:42These discussions have reportedly taken place over the last couple of months, since the
00:46turn of the year, and as I said, are at an advanced stage.
00:51Now Parag Marath, basically Joe, great to have you on this afternoon, thanks very much
00:57for taking the time to chat to us.
01:01Talk to us a bit about how Parag initially got involved with Leeds United all those years
01:06ago.
01:07Yes, so Marath was part of and sort of really led the minority acquisition of Leeds United
01:16in around sort of the 10% mark initially in around 2018, when previous chairman Andrea
01:24Radrizzani still had majority control.
01:28Over the years, the 49ers gradually increased their holding in Leeds.
01:33There was always an agreement with Radrizzani and his company that the 49ers would have
01:40the option to become majority owners, which was then exercised in September 2023.
01:48So they increased their 44% stake in the club to then absorb the rest of Radrizzani's
01:57shareholding to make them sole owners.
02:00They've since portioned off a little bit to Red Bull, who are now minority shareholders
02:06in Leeds as well.
02:07But yeah, Marath has been at the forefront of that acquisition of Leeds throughout the
02:13last six and a half, seven years.
02:17And yeah, we've spoken to him a couple of times at the YEP, he's a very sort of level
02:23headed character, very shrewd businessman.
02:27And yeah, on the whole, I think in the eyes of supporters at Leeds, has done a steady
02:34steady job after taking charge of what was really not a great financial situation 18
02:41months ago.
02:43This is quite an exciting prospect for Rangers fans given there's been a lot of kind of off-field
02:48unrest at boardroom level.
02:52There's obviously been a lot of chat around a new chairman coming on board, a new CEO.
02:58Since the turn of the year, there's been a lot of kind of movement there and there's
03:03been crying out for investment going forward because obviously everyone's kind of well
03:07aware at this stage around Rangers' kind of fragile financial situation at this moment
03:14in time.
03:15So the prospect of this multi-million pound investment is certainly an exciting one.
03:21Joe, can you give us a kind of idea as to Parag, obviously an incredibly well connected
03:29president, of course, of the San Francisco 49ers, and we know they are one of the richest
03:36sports clubs in the world.
03:39Can you give us a flavour as to what implications this might have for Rangers as a football
03:44club, just as it did for Leeds a few years ago?
03:48I mean, I suppose it would depend on the level at which the Niners or Parag and whoever else
03:55is part of this US consortium, what sort of level of investment they are willing to come
04:00in because obviously I understand that there are a number of individuals on the Rangers
04:07board or have a decent sized shareholding, but they're all minority shareholders.
04:13So that obviously complicates things because you ultimately have to persuade each of those
04:17to part with their share to then accumulate enough to be in majority control.
04:23That wasn't the case at Leeds.
04:26All they had to do was to buy shares from Andrea Radrizzani's pool.
04:32So I wouldn't say that the circumstances are identical.
04:37They could be comparable because I think if it is the Niners that are backing Marath with
04:44this sort of proposed buyout or proposed takeover, then they certainly have the financial backing.
04:53It's just a case of how that is then structured because, for example, if it is Marath doing
05:00this pledging financial backing off his own back, but alongside a consortium which isn't
05:08linked to the 49ers, then that would be something which could be completely different to the
05:14Leeds setup.
05:15But speaking from experience with the 49ers at Leeds, they're very much serious business
05:23people.
05:24They are shrewd operators.
05:29They very rarely do or say anything unless they deem it worthy of being said.
05:37They are more than happy to be seen but not heard, which isn't always the case with football
05:44clubs.
05:45You might get an overzealous owner who likes to speak off his own accord rather than
05:53going through the official communications channels.
05:55I know there's been clubs in England, clubs in the Championship, where that happens quite
06:00occasionally.
06:02But with the 49ers, everything is planned out, streamlined, and it's seen as they have
06:11a good handle on things.
06:14They're not going to put clubs that they have jurisdiction over into financial difficulty
06:20by spending beyond their means.
06:25Parag Marath is a big part of that.
06:28They are very well-versed and very well-experienced.
06:31They've got deep pockets, but also they've got a really extensive network.
06:37As we've seen with the Leeds ownership, there are a lot of minority investors within the
06:4349ers enterprise's investment arm.
06:46A lot of high-profile minority investors from American sports, from Hollywood, that sort
06:54of thing.
06:55So they definitely have good connections as well.
06:58I think it's important to stress that, you touched on that earlier, that this proposal,
07:02the information that we've been given at this moment in time, is that the proposed investment
07:05is not on the scale of Leeds United's £170 million takeover deal.
07:12However, it's also understood that at this stage, we know that there's at least one other
07:17high net worth American business mogul involved in this consortium as they look to potentially
07:26re-establish a range of standing within Scottish football.
07:29They are currently obviously well behind old firm rivals Celtic at this stage.
07:36Joe, I want to touch on Leeds' player trading situation since Parag has been involved in
07:45the club.
07:46This is something that could hugely benefit Rangers.
07:49Recruitment has been a talking point for several transfer windows now as not being good enough.
07:56Obviously, with this potential takeover, they would gain access to this cutting-edge data-driven
08:02technology that will help them with player recruitment.
08:05Can you give us an idea as to some of the dealings that Leeds have carried out over
08:13the last few years on the back of Parag's influence?
08:17I wouldn't say that Parag is involved in the daily scouting recruitment meetings that I'm
08:24sure that Daniel Farker and the staff in the recruitment department have.
08:30While the 49ers were minority shareholders, I think their role was very much investors
08:37who provided the funds to be able to carry out these ambitious transfers.
08:42They signed Jorginho Ruta, who's now at Brighton, for around £35 million and then sold him
08:48on after his excellent season last year.
08:52But in terms of the deals that they've been able to do, the 49ers have been willing to
08:59do business for Leeds to improve the squad.
09:04For example, in January, just past, there were no signings made because ultimately they
09:09didn't meet the criteria that was set out by Daniel Farker, which was you have to be
09:14affordable, you have to be of the right character and you also have to add quality to what is
09:18already a very accomplished group at the championship level.
09:22So there seems to be a good understanding between the day-to-day staff and the bigger
09:29picture stuff, the people at board level and with investment and backing, that sort of stuff.
09:39I think in terms of player trading, I wouldn't say there's much that has the 49ers imprint
09:45on it because I think they are separate to that, but ultimately decisions on transfers
09:51do go through them because they are the majority shareholders of the club.
09:57They're the ones who provide and release the funds.
10:00And I think that would be at any other club, given how consistently they've operated, I
10:05think that would be the similar role that they would take.
10:09What they would do is they would employ trusted individuals to run that for them, run
10:14it for them, rather than having a say on it themselves because they're the first ones
10:20to acknowledge that, yes, while they have expertise in sport, they're maybe not the
10:24most experienced in the world of football.
10:27Obviously American football, yes, but this side of the pond, no.
10:33Earlier this season, Leeds' technical director, Greta Steinsson, ex-Bolton defender,
10:38Icelandic international, he left his role as technical director at Leeds to take on
10:44sort of like a sideways step to basically become or fulfil a similar function, but for
10:50the 49ers.
10:51He came in with them last, not last September, but the one before, slightly before.
10:57But he was a 49ers man, he was a 49ers appointment.
11:01He's taken up a role within their sort of aspirational global multi-club model, which
11:09it's not been overtly outlined that that is their aspiration, but that they definitely
11:15want to explore that as a possibility because they've seen the success that Manchester
11:21City have done with City Football Group, that Chelsea are doing with Blueco, and there are
11:26others who I'll be forgetting.
11:28I mean, Red Bull is a big example as well.
11:31But yeah, so that is why initially when I saw the reports, I was thinking, OK, well
11:36that makes a little bit of sense because Steinsson moving over suggests that they do have
11:43plans to establish a footing in more than just English football.
11:50Yeah, that's interesting.
11:52And just, you touched on it earlier, there's obviously some high profile names who kind
11:58of have minority shareholding within Leeds now.
12:01I'm thinking Michael Phelps, Will Ferrell, the most kind of recent one.
12:06I guess a lot of that's kind of stemmed from the Wrexham story.
12:10Everyone's well aware of how that kind of all materialised.
12:17But from a Rangers standpoint, how beneficial?
12:22I mean, it's quite difficult to gauge, but from a Leeds aspect, getting these kind of
12:28high profile celebrities involved in a British club, what was the kind of fans reaction to
12:37that initially?
12:39And can you just kind of give us an idea as to maybe how that all happened?
12:45I mean, it's a very good photo op is what I will say.
12:47I think the day-to-day running of football clubs is so far removed from these minority
12:52investors that I don't think if the 49ers or Marath or any sort of US investor with
12:59high profile backing were to get involved with the Rangers, I don't think Rangers fans
13:03would need to be concerned that, I don't know, Buddy the Elf was all of a sudden going
13:07to be sort of deciding on transfers.
13:10The cynic in me says that it's nice for Hollywood types to maybe have a play thing or a dog
13:21in the fight sort of thing.
13:23But the people who are actually in charge are the serious business people who actually
13:28know what they're talking about.
13:29They've been in sports for 20, 25 years.
13:33And yeah, I mean, as I say, it's a nice photo op.
13:38It's something for them to wear the shirt once a year, put on social media channels
13:42and when teams get to finals or big games and stuff to publicize it.
13:48But ultimately, from a material sense, there's not really much influence that they have.
13:54Leeds fans have been pretty open to it.
13:56I think it's always nice when a celebrity supports your club or purports to support
14:01your club.
14:02If they've got money in the club as well, it obviously kind of helps.
14:09You may be having that affinity with that individual.
14:14There are a lot who have not disclosed their identities.
14:18I imagine there will be many more high profile names who've got some sort of holding in Leeds
14:24via the 49ers investment arm.
14:26But the ones who have been made public, I wouldn't say they've overdone it.
14:32They've kind of just stayed beneath the surface apart from a select few who've very
14:38delicately sort of intimated that they are involved in some capacity.
14:44Well, this is going to be an interesting story to see how it develops over the coming days.
14:48I think a lot of the draw as well around Rangers from the American standpoint is that
14:54they view Rangers as kind of ideal investment opportunity given their regular involvement
14:59in elite UEFA competitions as well and involvement in Champions League, Europa League
15:05on a relatively consistent basis.
15:08One to keep an eye on over the coming days and weeks ahead.
15:12My thanks to Joe Donoghue for taking the time to give us a flavour as to what Rangers fans
15:18could potentially expect from this takeover bid.