Barry Hearn says football fans need to learn to accept foreign ownership and declares: "We've got to move with the times." He sold Orient to Italian businessman Francesco Becchetti in 2014 - a move he admits that he regrets - as English football’s wave of foreign investment started filtering down into the lower leagues. And while some fans turn their nose up to the idea of foreign ownership, Hearn says that it is the only way that English football can flourish. And whether it's Saudi investors, whether it's American investors, whether it's investors from China, there's a lot of them and they are paying top dollar because of the image of Premiership football - or even the thought of Premiership football. Hearn has struck up lucrative deals with foreign investors for Matchroom, which have included taking boxing and snooker events to Saudi Arabia, but he says he understands why fans have concerns.

Source: Metro November 14, 2024 07:12 UTC