Owning a football club is a terrible investment.
It's high risk, low yield and it's audited weekly by 12-year-olds on Youtube.
Revenue's patchy, wages are bloated and the product?
11 employees trying to execute one coherent idea in 90 minutes...
While 40,000... 60,000... 90,000 'shareholders' scream contradictory instructions in unison.
There's no clear ROI. No five-year plan.
Just five-year contracts for left-backs you regret buying after five games.
And yet… Billionaires still buy football clubs.
Not for profit.
But rather for “Proof of Life”
Because let's be honest;
Yachts get boring.
NFTs were just a phase.
But a scrappy 1-0 win on a wet, cold Wednesday night?
That hits different.
Because football clubs aren’t just assets.
They're anchors of identity.
Symbols of hope that can still pack tens of thousands into a stadium
...for even a team sitting 15th in the table.
So you don't really buy a football club just for the ROI.
You buy it for ROL - Return on Legacy
Why, you may ask?
To give a city a soundtrack.
To give it's people a common heartbeat
Football clubs aren’t businesses.
They're beasts of culture.
You don’t lead them with spreadsheets,
But instead you lead them with spirit.
Anyone can chase margins.
But the real ones chase meaning.
Because the real equity?
It isn't held by shareholders
It's carried in matchday rituals...
Passed down in grandad stories...
And shouted through generations of blind loyalty.
And as for me?
I'm not local.
Not from the same postcode.
Not even from the right timezone.
But somehow, a badge stitched halfway across the world...
Still manages to stitch itself into my weekends.
I've woken up for 3AM kickoffs,
Sat through 90 minutes of overhit passes, missing midfield and misplaced hope...
Then rolled straight into an 8AM workday
With zero sleep,
A mug of regret
And a result best described as "philosophically disappointing".
Was it smart? No.
Would I do it again? Every. Single. Time.
Because some returns aren’t measured in numbers.
They're felt; in limbs, lungs and group chats titled "Therapy United"
Football's not logical.
It's local.
It's global.
It's loud, stupid, tribal, tender
It's beautifully, chaotically, irrationally...
Us.
And if that's a bad investment?
Well, my portfolio's built on emotion then.
This piece is brought to you by blind loyalty and caffeine.
And if loyalty points were trophies, I'd be in a display cabinet by now.
Tag someone who's 3AM loyal and 8AM functioning. Barely.
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