A Ransom for Racing Santander

Last week the Spanish papers were following a story that saw Racing President Francisco Pernia was in Bahrain negotiating with the business interests of an Indian financier named Ahsan Ali-Syed for the take-over of the Cantabrian club. This was the same businessman who failed in his attempt last year to secure a bid for the sale of Blackburn Rovers from the family of the late Jack Walker.

The effort to acquire one of the oldest clubs in England was successfully blocked, but Ali-Syed's purchase of Racing Santander has seen very little resistance. In cash strapped Spain, where everyone wants a Malaga marvel of their own, a magic bullet to shoot-through the economic constraints that affect every Spanish club, there are few people questioning whether this a Manchester City miracle or a Portsmouth mishap.

There is plenty to evaluate. He was born, or so he claims, in Bhongir, India to a rich, agricultural family and left at the age of 16 to make his fortune in investments, consulting with the rich and the royalty of the world. He states that his personal assets are in the range of 3.0 to 3.5 billion dollars and that he plays a role in over 133 companies world-wide. The BBC investigated him last year and found that much of it just wasn't true. No one in the regional government in India seems to have heard of him, no one in his hometown knows who he is, and his wealth seems to be built on a foundation of sand.

According to the BBC, for the past decade Syed has apparently struggled with solvency, has taken over companies that he has then run into the ground, dissolving their assets without paying returns on them, and has moved on to the next investment without punishment. He is being investigated in the UK, Canada, as well as in Bahrain for unpaid rent, unpaid taxes, and penalties accrued in financial markets amongst a litany of other damages.

I realize that Spain is hurting as are its football clubs. The world-wide financial crisis has hit them hard, and it would be crazy to forgo a helping hand, but it is often in dire financial times when the sharks are out because they smell blood in the water. There are real assets in Spanish football, especially at Racing Santander; the history, the supporters, and their collective memory are as valuable as the steel, mortar and concrete that built the Sardinero. There is a permanence there certainly, going back generations, but ask all those fans of clubs that were in the Primera in the last 30 years that were saddled with incompetent management, what of their club? What of their memories?

It's not just a club like Real Betis, who have struggled in Segunda over the last few years, or yo-yo clubs Numancia and Recreativo de Huelva, but clubs like Logrones, Burgos, Merida, Extremadura and Compostela who were once Primera clubs themselves but through financial mismanagement fell into a pit that they have never come back from. Some are struggling in the lower leagues, others have folded and have been replaced by other local clubs with similar names, and others still have disappeared into memory. Think of their supporters who followed them down the Spanish football pyramid.

Are Racing too big to follow suit? Maybe, but all it takes is a bad chairman or unresponsive fans to see them tumble.