Ellis Short’s takeover of Sunderland makes him the latest in a long line of wealthy foreign investors who have assumed control of English football clubs.

But is it good for the game?

Nigel Burton reports.

MARK Hughes was enjoying a well-deserved day off, polishing up his golf swing, when his mobile phone rang. It was a message from his new chairman: he was now the proud manager of the country’s most expensive player, Robinho having signed to Manchester City for a British record £32.4m.

Hughes considered how things had changed at Eastlands just 24 hours after a takeover by a United Arab Emirates consortium armed with seemingly bottomless pockets.

There was talk of £135m offered to Manchester United for Cristiano Ronaldo, £60m set aside to buy the services of Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, not to mention £50m for Kaka, and a “mere” £40m for John Terry.

Clubs around the world were in shock. No player, it seemed, was safe from City’s clutches.

A fanciful story? Possibly, but that’s the way it went down according to Spurs’ boss Harry Redknapp: “Robinho is a great player, but it was the new owner who wanted and got him.

I’m sure Mark was as surprised as anyone.”

As far as Redknapp is concerned, the Manchester City saga is symptomatic of the problems posed by wealthy foreign ownership of English football clubs.

Robinho got off to a great start, scoring 12 goals before the end of last year, but the love affair cooled, and in January he flew home to Brazil without telling Hughes that he had to attend some “family business”. Few fans expect the player to see out his four-year contract, however lucrative.

And that could be bad news for Hughes.

Having failed to qualify for European competition next season and watched his team crash out of the Uefa Cup in the semi-finals, some pundits are already predicting Hughes’ job will be on the line if City make a faltering start in August.

Hughes’ job seemed to be under threat on an almost daily basis earlier this year. Jose Mourinho, Roberto Mancini and Jurgen Klinsmann were all linked to the post.

Redknapp believes the foreign influence, and the vast amount of money at stake, have made the pressures intolerable for managers.

“Managers will have to pick the big names bought by the owners and if they’re not successful they’ll suffer. There will be more and more mega-rich owners coming from abroad… and every one of them will want to win the Premier League and the Champions League.

“But only two sides can do that, so it will become even harder for managers as they pay the price. It will be like a revolving door.”

Defenders of foreign ownership argue that wealthy billionaires have made the Premier League the best in the world. Chelsea’s Roman Abramovich, Manchester United’s Malcolm Glazer, and Aston Villa’s Randy Lerner have bankrolled an unprecedented spending spree attracting the most skillful players to England.

But this has come at a price. The influx of foreign players has come at the expense of domestic talent. Only about half the regular first team players in the Premiership are English and the pool is diminishing with every passing season. No wonder Fabio Capello, the national team manager, regularly laments the paucity of home-grown players.

Just take a look at the goalkeeping position.

Of the 20 first choice Premier League goalkeepers, only a handful are English: West Ham stopper Robert Green, Newcastle’s 35-year-old Steve Harper and current national number one, David James, who plays for Portsmouth.

Although the top clubs have youth development schemes, the long-term view they require is usually anathema to a billionaire owner who wants instant success. They need to win today not in three or four years’ time, so the promising youngsters are side-lined for big names.

It’s not just Harry Redknapp who foresees problems. Arsene Wenger warned two years ago that foreign ownership would be catastrophic for the English game. He said: “What disturbs me, is that a club lives above its means.

If the goal is to draw everyone up and make sure the players own more money, fine. But if that places us in an inflationary spiral, which leads to deficits and the collapse of clubs, it is catastrophic. English football is in danger of losing its heart. We’ve passed from the ownersupporter to the owner-businessman.”

Twenty years ago, when a club was bought by a wealthy local businessman there was always an element of provincial accountability.

The chairman may not have lived in the same street as the fans, but he usually came from the same city. If things went wrong, he couldn’t escape the inevitable criticism.

Foreign ownership makes it impossible for fans to express their feelings beyond on-line forums and the odd match-day demonstration.

That’s why some leagues, most notably the German Bundesliga, have rules to prevent foreign investors owning a majority share in football clubs. Defending that position recently, Reinhard Rauball, the German Soccer League President, said domestic majority ownership has nothing to do with national pride and everything to do with preserving the sport’s local and cultural roots.

But has the influx of foreign cash to the Premier League really made such a difference?

Even before the new wave of overseas investors, clubs were increasing ticket prices and opting for “star” names from abroad over homegrown talent as a shortcut to success.

Indeed, Roman Abramovich has invested in Chelsea’s academy system. As a successful businessman he can see the financial case for nurturing the next generation of Chelsea stars from a young age, rather than buying them in at vast expense.

And if we agree that foreign ownership is bad, then by implication domestic owners have to be good. Leeds United fans – who saw their team flounder after racking up huge debts – and a sizable proportion of Newcastle supporters would probably disagree.

In the end nothing succeeds like success.

Every club is looking for a sugar daddy these days and most fans are refreshingly blind to the issue of foreign ownership.

More than ever, money matters, and who would begrudge North-East football fans a shot at success – particularly after the nightmarish season just gone.

Foreign ownership in the Premier League

● SUNDERLAND – A new era now beckons at the Stadium of Light as Short takes over from Niall Quinn’s Drumaville consortium. Short has worked quietly behind the scenes since acquiring a majority shareholding last year. Now that he is in full control fans will hope he can take the club to the next level.

● MANCHESTER CITY – The Abu Dhabi United Group are preparing for their first full summer transfer window as owners of the club. Plenty of arrivals are expected as they flash their many hundreds of millions.

● MANCHESTER UNITED – There was uproar when American billionaire Malcolm Glazer took charge at Old Trafford in 2005 and saddled the club with huge debts. Three successive titles and Champions League glory answered the critics.

● LIVERPOOL – The credit crunch has badly affected the spending ability of co-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett and the pair must refinance a £350m loan for the club.

● CHELSEA – Roman Abramovich transformed the footballing landscape after acquiring Chelsea in 2003 and bankrolling the most remarkable spending spree the game has ever seen. Six years later Chelsea are firmly entrenched in the top four of English football having won two Premier League titles, although much-coveted European success remains elusive.

● ASTON VILLA – Randy Lerner has proved the perfect owner for Villa so far. Much more low-key than previous figurehead Doug Ellis, the American has allowed manager Martin O’Neill to get on with his business while backing him in the transfer market. The result has been a resurgence which has re-established the club at the top end of the Premier League.

● FULHAM – The Cottagers aimed high after being taken over by Mohamed al Fayed as a Second Division club in 1997 and their progress since then has been impressive. They are currently basking in their highest-ever finish of seventh.

● PORTSMOUTH – There is uncertainty at Fratton Park after Alexandre Gaydamak was forced to scale back his ambitions due to the credit crunch. They have since stabilised, but they are still some way off where they were 12 months ago.

● WEST HAM – The Hammers have also hit a rocky road over the past year caused principally by the banking crisis in Icelandic owner Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson’s homeland.