Phil Hay: You can’t assume Leeds shareholders 49ers won’t be aligned with Glazers and FSG
Phil Hay has made a worrying claim about Leeds United shareholders San Fransisco 49ers amid the recent uproar over the European Super League.
It’s been widely published that the formation of the ESL was backed by American owners in English football with Fenway Sports Group (Liverpool), the Glazers family (Manchester United) and Stan Kroenke (Arsenal) playing major roles in the controversial plans.
Speaking on the latest episode of The Phil Hay Show podcast, The Athletic journalist claimed that the 49ers could hold similar values to the likes of FSH and the Glazers.
Hay said: “The 49ers obviously come from a franchise environment in the NFL so you can’t just assume they wouldn’t be aligned with FSG or other American owners, even potentially the Glazers in the way that they think.
“But there’s certainly nothing to say that they do and there’s nothing to say this week that actually they would be supportive of the ESL.
“In terms of what they’re actually thinking, I can’t answer that. All I can say is Leeds as a club were 100 per cent opposed.”
Radz v Marathe?
Andrea Radrizzani has not shied away from showing his stance against the European Super League with several tweets blasting the concept.
Leeds, as a whole, have also shown their anger against the idea with the shirts they wore on Monday ahead of the Liverpool game. Victor Orta was also a fan of those.
But Leeds’ American vice-chairman Paraag Marathe has been very quiet on the matter. Why is that? Would he be in support of a closed-door league like the ESL?
The San Fransisco 49ers have an illustrious history in American football.
They’ve won five Super Bowls, which makes them the joint-third-most successful franchise in the NFL’s history.
However, in four of their last six seasons, they have finished bottom of their group in the NFL regular season. If there was such a thing as relegation in the NFL, the once-proud team could have been saying goodbye to games against the New England Patriots or the Green Bay Packers.
The 49ers have a similar history to Leeds in the fact they were once giants but in recent years have not been so good. The 49ers and Leeds have shown signs of coming back in recent times but the California-based franchise has never had to worry about playing minnows of the sport like Leeds has in their days in League One.
That’s where the difference could lie between Radrizzani and Marate. One may expect an easy ride no matter how tough times get while another will always fight to ensure times don’t get tough.
In other Leeds United news, Paul Robinson has made a big Raphinha claim ahead of the Man United clash on Sunday.