UAE's Sheikh Mansour tops British football rich list

Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan has been rated as the richest man in British football, according to a new survey. UK-based Four Four Two magazine has estimated Sheikh Mansour’s wealth at £20bn ($31bn), 61 percent more than the second-placed owner. Sheikh Mansour – who is Deputy Prime Minister of the UAE and Minister for Presidential Affairs – has invested heavily in Manchester City since the Abu Dhabi United Group took over the club in 2008. He is estimated to have spent as much as $1bn on the takeover, plus new players and salaries. In May, club chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak said the club was likely to scale back spending on players after announcing a pre-tax loss of £121.3m ($192m) last season, the second-highest loss of any Premier club on record. Despite this, Al Mubarak has said he believed the club is being managed "prudently" and he has no worries about meeting new financial targets being set by governing body UEFA. In May, Manchester City signed football’s biggest-ever sponsorship deal with Etihad Airways, which is worth an estimated $482m over ten years. Another Arab owner, Egypt-born Mohammed Al Fayed, who runs Fulham, made eleventh spot on the list, with an estimated worth of £1.3bn. Arsenal shareholder Alisher Usmanov was second on the list with £12.4bn, while QPR owner Lakshmi Mittal placed third with £11.8bn. Chelsea’s Roman Abramovich, who has topped the list in the past, was in fourth place, with £10.3bn. Malcolm Glazer, the owner of champions Manchester United, was placed ninth on the list. He is believed to be worth £1.64bn.