Would the last English owner please turn out the lights

An historic moment is about to 夜明け in the 首相 League. One day this season the number of foreign owners will pass the 50 per cent 示す and 支配（する）／統制する of the game's Klondike league will leave these shores.

This 抱擁する social change will probably be met with exultation at whichever club becomes Plaything No 11. Counting Sunderland, who were bought by the Irish Drumaville 国際借款団／連合, nine 首相 League outfits have already become international 大臣の地位 投資s ― おもに through mortgaged buyouts, which 伴う／関わる 説得するing banks to make the 購入（する） for you and then creaming off the 利益（をあげる）s.

A 全世界の 地図／計画する of the new proprietors would show 旗s in the 部隊d 明言する／公表するs (three), Russia, Thailand, アイスランド, the Irish 共和国, Egypt (Mohamed al-妖精／密着させるd at Fulham) and the many 明言する／公表するs that （不足などを）補う Alexandre Gaydamak's 火刑／賭ける in Portsmouth.

As hype's monster トラックで運ぶ comes 衝突，墜落ing through our 審査するs at the start of another マラソン of thrills and 論争s, 兵器庫, Birmingham City, Blackburn Rovers, Tottenham and Reading are all 候補者s to become the club that （判決などを）下す the 首相 League a 全世界の circus that just happens to be based in these 小島s.

Only three 最高の，を越す-flight teams stayed at home to 準備する for the coming 戦う／戦い. The 残り／休憩（する） were out 侵入するing markets and winking at 可能性のある new 投資家s as the league 延長するs its 追求（する），探索（する） to become the world's favourite light entertainment.

In Los Angeles, Chelsea stepped up their 運動 to 勝利，勝つ American 変えるs and in the Far East a 調査する （人命などを）奪う，主張するd 79 per cent of the Chinese 全住民 know who Manchester 部隊d are. That's a billion 消費者s.

In the new reality, broadband and wireless internet 接近 and transcontinental TV 取引，協定s are 配達するing football's most brilliantly marketed league to a receptive audience 屈服する-wrapped.

On reflection, 'plaything' is 完全に the wrong 称する，呼ぶ／期間／用語. 退位させる／宣誓証言するd Thai 首相s and Hong Kong 法人組織の／企業の 軍人s are not in the habit of splashing hundreds of millions of dollars on toys. Nor is Stan Kroenke, the American opportunist who waited until the gleaming 首長国s Stadium had raised 兵器庫's match-day 歳入s to £80million from £38m before riding in on his horse.

The 首相 League's awe-inducing 交渉するing 技術s in the TV market have turned buying a 最高の，を越す-tier club into a 危険-解放する／自由な 適切な時期, even if, like Manchester 部隊d under the Glazers, 利益／興味 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金s run as high as £60m per year.

The 広大な TV 取引，協定s underpin all these 取得／買収s. And the 首相 League's エース is that no TV company believes it can 栄える without 接近 to the new あへん of live 活動／戦闘.

Setanta, Virgin マスコミ and BT have joined the old heavyweights Sky, the BBC and ITV as human life migrates to the web.

With high ticket prices, absurd kick-off times and superstore greed, they are squeezing us until our pips squeak. Murmurings have not yet 増大するd into a 反乱. But they will, if there is ever a serious 経済的な 下降 or the public become so sick of mediocre players pulling in £60,000 a week that they turn to fishing or paper 倍のing instead.

For now, though, the sums stack up, and of the clubs not yet under overseas 支配（する）／統制する only the newlyacquired Newcastle, Middlesbrough and perhaps Wigan appear beyond the reach of foreign 投資家s. It's not hard to 想像する 企て，努力，提案s for Bolton, Everton or Derby ― on 最高の，を越す of the clubs we already know to be 的s for the 全世界の 商売／仕事 始める，決める.

国籍 is irrelevant. Plenty of old school butchers and 建設業者s were chancers in their way. It's 動機 that せねばならない 関心 us: this reinvention of football clubs as golden teats that can be bought with borrowed money by people with 無 knowledge of, or 利益／興味 in, the love that has 支えるd them.

It took Thaksin Shinawatra's 併合 of Manchester City to break the dumb （一定の）期間. Even the laissez-faire Blair 政府 finally jerked awake. Richard Caborn, the former Sports 大臣, jumped on his soapbox, 宣言するing: 'We have to make sure the grassroots, the communities from which those clubs come, are 尊敬（する）・点d.' Has the trance been broken? Will fans look beyond shallow 大君 約束s? Probably not, because for most 支持者s football is fantasy anyway. Escapism. But it's 正確に because the 首相 League is such 説得力のある theatre that it needs 保護するing. おもに from itself.

THE FOREIGN LEGION

The first, and still the richest, foreigner to own a 首相 League club was Roman Abramovich, who stunned the League with his £140m 引き継ぎ／買収 of CHELSEA in 2003.

Malcolm Glazer, the 76-year-old American owner of the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers, then spent a year building up his 火刑／賭ける in MANCHESTER UNITED before taking 十分な 支配（する）／統制する in 2005.

FULHAM were the ありそうもない 傾向-setters when they were bought by Egyptian Mohamed al-妖精／密着させるd in 1997, while the 最新の club to 落ちる under foreign 所有権 is MANCHESTER CITY, who became the £80m plaything of former Thai 首相 Thaksin Shinawatra last month.

ASTON VILLA have been in the 手渡すs of American Randy Lerner since last September. Lerner became a football fan while at Cambridge University.

PORTSMOUTH are on their second foreign owner, セルビア人 Milan Mandaric having sold the club to フランス系カナダ人-ロシアの 実業家 Alexandre Gaydamak last summer.

Closer to home are the Irish boys, led by Niall Quinn, who acquired SUNDERLAND last year.

Eggert Magnusson became the most famous Icelander since singer Bjork when he led the 国際借款団／連合 that took over WEST HAM last November.

RIPE FOR A BID

ARSENAL could be a 的 for American Stan Kroenke, who bought a 12 per cent 火刑／賭ける in April. David Dein, with 14 per cent, is thought to 支援する him.

BIRMINGHAM CITY'S biggest 株主 is Hong Kong 実業家 Carson Yeung, who bought a 29.9 per cent 火刑／賭ける last month.

BLACKBURN'S Walker family 信用 are in 会談 with two consortia, one of which 含むs Wayne Huizenga, owner of the NFL's Miami イルカs.

READING are up for 得る，とらえるs, with 単独の owner John Madejski having 表明するd a preference for a 私的な 買い手, rather than a 国際借款団／連合.

ENIC, led by Daniel 徴収する, own two thirds of TOTTENHAM after buying Sir Alan Sugar's remaining 火刑／賭ける and are trying to snap up the 残り／休憩（する） of the 株..