Here We Go Again - Americans Buying EPL Teams

There have been informal discussions about the potential takeover of Newcastle United by American Investors.

Representatives of Muke Ashley, the current owner have been meeting with New York based private equity fund InterMedia Partners.

The price is said to be aproximately £420 million. This is about £286 million more than Ashley paid for the club a year ago. Could you imagine the amount of money this guy is about to make in one year on a half-assed club like Newcastle United. Sure they have Michael Owen and Blondie from Man U - Alan Smith, but they haven't been able to put together a decent team in years.

Personally I think it's insane that an American investment group would pay anywhere near that amount for a failing club. Now buying Arsenal would be something else. Actually I hope that Arsenal stays in it's current hands.

I'm not sure all the current clubs around the world that are owned by Americans, but it seems to be a trend for Americans to buy clubs outside the US. Maybe what they should start thinking about is how can they build good clubs in the US that are profitable and have top named players as well as youth organizations that will help develop young talent to be the stars of the future.

We always seem to be two steps behind. We have always had a handful of good American players, that all play in Europe. We have never had enough good players to compete with Germany, France, Italy or Spain. That's where we need to be, but with baseball always lurking and never going away it will be a challenge to keep kids in the sport after they reach the age of 12. I can tell you all the bous in my Smallville, KS suburban neigborhood of Metropolis all chose to play baseball over soccer. That needs to change.