Roy Keane is the second-richest manager in British football
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Lakshmi Mittal is the richest man in British football
QPR shareholder Lakshmi Mittal is the richest man in British football, according to new research.
The London-based Indian steel magnate, who owns a 20% stake in the Loftus Road club, is worth an estimated £18.4billion, according to the 2009 FourFourTwo.com Rich List.
The annual list ranks Mittal above last year's leader, Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan, who has a fortune of £17billion.
Mittal has largely taken a back seat to owners Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone since investing in QPR in December 2007 but he would appear the real financial power at the club.
Formula One supremo Ecclestone is ranked eighth in the list with £1.466billion.
Third is Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich with £7.8billion — an increase of £800million on his position last year.
That rise is more than the Russian's total outlay at Stamford Bridge since his takeover in 2003.
Arsenal shareholders Stan Kroenke (£2.709billion) and Alisher Usmanov (£1.3billion) are fifth and ninth respectively. The Glazer family, owners of Manchester United, are seventh with £1.75billion.
David Beckham is in a league of his own in terms of player value, with a fortune of £125million.
The England and Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder is well clear of Manchester United pair Michael Owen (£38million) and Wayne Rooney (£37million).
Two more United players, Rio Ferdinand (£30million) and Ryan Giggs (£24million), make up the top five.
England boss Fabio Capello is the richest manager with £30million ahead of Roy Keane (Ipswich) and Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United) with £27million and £22million respectively.
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Rich List 2009/10: Top 20 Players
20. Robinho £10m
Manchester City Age 25
Brazilian star Robinho was personally picked by Pelé as his heir apparent aged just 15. He went on to lead Brazilian club Santos to the title in 2002, its first since Pelé himself played for the same club. In July 2005, Spanish giants Real Madrid signed Robinho for around £20m. He was whisked from under the noses of Chelsea by Manchester City on 1 September 2008, the final day of the Premier League summer transfer window.
The fee was £32.5m, with wages in the region of £160,000 per week, trebling his Real salary. It took place on the same day the club was bought out by the Arab investment company Abu Dhabi United Group. He has sporadically struggled since to justify his wages, but with a Nike sponsorship deal and share of transfers, Robinho should be worth £10m right now.
18. Dimitar Berbatov £11m
Manchester United Age 27
His acrimonious £30.75m transfer to Manchester United in August 2008 saw Bertabov increase his pay from £45,000 to £80,000 a week, following two highly successful seasons with Tottenham Hotspur. He had joined Spurs for £10.9m from the German club Bayer Leverkusen in 2006.
The Bulgarian’s languid style has not endeared him to the Stretford End but he is gaining confidence and should justify his fee. But with property prices down and as Berbatov is a strong supporter of charity in Bulgaria, we cut him back to £11m this year.
18. Joe Cole £11m
Chelsea Age 27
Joe Cole has put new contract talks and thoughts of an England recall on hold while he returns to full fitness for Chelsea. Since suffering cruciate ligament damage, Cole was sidelined for eight months and watched Fabio Capello's England continue their 100% qualifying record on their way to the World Cup while Chelsea start the Premier League in domineering fashion. He has now returned from injury and taken his place in the Chelsea squad.
His 2003 move from West Ham to Chelsea meant his weekly salary rose from £25,000 to £30,000. He moved for a £6.6m fee which will have meant a hefty cut for him. He signed an improved £80,000-a-week contract in June 2006 and has endorsement deals with Samsung and Adidas. He enjoys the usual footballer trappings of property in Dubai and fast cars. There is little in his company, Joe Cole Promotions, with just £10,000 net assets in 2007-08. With property prices down we value him at £11m.
15. Damien Duff £12m
Fulham Age 30
Top-flight football means a lot to Damien Duff. After all, he was only three years into a five-year, £70,000-a-week contract with Newcastle United – who, infamously, hadn't thought to include relegation clauses in their players' contracts. Oops.
Duff could have sat tight for the £7m remaining on his contract but he opted to stay in the top flight with Fulham. You get the impression football is more important to him than money; he stayed remarkably calm in 2003 when Chelsea, emboldened and empowered by the newfound wealth provided by Roman Abramovich, gradually increased their offer for the then Blackburn winger until they reached £17m and triggered a release clause in his contract. The Irishman simply shrugged his shoulders, moved clubs and set about impressing his new employers.
Duff has invested heavily in property in Ireland, with homes also in London, Newcastle and the Caribbean. He has an endorsement contract with Lucozade and his company Lightzest showed £916,621 net assets in 2007. But Irish property prices have crashed and despite his share of transfer fees we cut Duff back to £12m this year.
15. Gary Neville £12m
Manchester United Age 34
Manchester United captain and former England stalwart Gary Neville has been likened to a shop steward for his combative defence of players' rights and interests. Neville is idolised at Old Trafford as he is a United man through and through. A talented cricketer in his youth, Neville was one of the famous youth team at United called Fergie's Fledglings and signed for the club in 1991. He made his debut in 1994. A year later he made his debut for England and is now England's most capped right-back with 85 caps.
Neville has won eight Premier League titles, three FA Cups, two European Cups and one League Cup, the last of which was his first trophy as captain. He signed an £11m deal with the club in 2001. Since then his club wages have risen to around £2.6m annually. With past endorsements including a Diadora boot deal, a role in a Pepsi ad and a column for The Times, we reckon he now earns over £3m a year. He has two homes near Manchester including a £1.5m Manchester penthouse plus a £700,000 villa on Malta. Even with property prices down he should still be worth £12m after-tax. -
15. Petr Cech £12m
Chelsea Age 27
Probably the highest-paid goalkeeper in the world, Cech signed a five-year endorsement deal with Samsung and Adidas in 2008 said to be worth up to £25m. Coming on top of his club wage at Chelsea of £90,000 a week, also signed in 2008, Cech is now making at least £10m a year.
With five years in the Premier League behind him, Cech should easily be worth £12m at the very least. There's a joke in there about saving, but we'll leave it to you while we try to shoe-horn in something about Czech Cech's checked cheques.
14. Emile Heskey £13m
Aston Villa Age 31
Now enjoying a renaissance at the focal point of Fabio Capello's England attack, Heskey has earned plenty of praise for his unselfish contributions. He's also earned plenty of money.
The £3.5m that Villa spent to bring him from Wigan in January 2009 makes it £26.5m spent on him since 2000. He was Liverpool's record signing in 2000 when Gerard Houllier spent £11m for the burly Leicester centre-forward. Four years later he moved to Birmingham for £6.25m.
He had earned £8.2m at Liverpool but at St Andrews, he had a five-year contract worth £30,000 a week. After his unsuccessful battle against relegation with the Blues, Heskey moved to Wigan for £5.5m in the summer of 2006. His Wigan contract was worth £40,000 a week. In all Heskey's share of the transfer fees, his nine years at the top and a boot deal with Nike take him to £13m.
11. Ashley Cole £14m
Chelsea Age 28
Like his Chelsea and England defensive colleague John Terry, Ashley Cole signed a new contract this September. Thankfully, the offer on the table didn't cause enough outrage to make him swerve off the road.
The four-year deal, said to be worth £120,000 a week – a clear improvement on his previous annual salary of £4m (that's £80,000 per week, give or take the odd thousand). His Chelsea wage has been beefed up with a lucrative Adidas boot deal. His company, Kenzie Promotions, is also very valuable showing an £881,000 profit on £1.4m sales in 2007 and £474,000 net assets in 2008.
11. Fernando Torres £14m
Liverpool Age 25
Fernando Torres finally signed his new four-year contract with Liverpool in August. The Spain striker had agreed to the new deal in May but departed for the Confederations Cup in South Africa without having signed it.
Torres was already contracted to the club until 2013 after signing a six-year deal in 2007, but the new agreement improves his salary from £90,000 a week to £120,000 a week and includes an option to extend his stay for another year. That Torres will earn close to £6m annually confirms his position as the club's superstar.
Torres played for six years at Atletico Madrid before his £20m move to Anfield. With advertising endorsements ranging from Nike, Pepsi and Pringles to a Spanish hair salon and dog training school, Torres should now easily be worth £14m even with property prices falling.
11. Nicolas Anelka £14m
Chelsea Age 31
If signing-on fees maketh the man's bank balance, Nicolas Anelka should be well set up. His £15m move from Bolton to Chelsea made him the most valuable player in football history in cumulative transfer fees.
Bolton had broken their own transfer record by paying £8m to Fenerbahce, who had paid £7m for him; before them he had been employed by Manchester City (£13m), Liverpool (loan), Paris St Germain (£20m) and Real Madrid, who had paid an eye-watering £22.3m for him from Arsenal.
His near £4m Chelsea salary, past earnings and share of his huge transfer deals, keeps him at £14m in the current climate. -
10. Didier Drogba £16m
Chelsea Age 31
By leaving Marseilles for Chelsea a £24.5m transfer in July 2004 (a year after he had moved to l'OM for £3.3m), Didier Drogba increased his wages fourfold. In November 2006 he doubled them again with a four-year deal worth £90,000 a week. Eight months later that was tidied up to a nice round £100,000 a week. Two summers further on, it was extended by a couple of years to 2012 (by which time Drogba will be 34). His £4.7m annual basic can be significantly augmented with bonuses triggered when he wins trophies or tops 15 goals in a season. And let's face it, he usually does.
9. John Terry £18m
Chelsea Age 28
Any man's loyalty would be tested by the offer of £250,000 a week. But John Terry snubbed Manchester City to remain as Chelsea's club captain.
His new contract is a mere £160,000 a week, although he also has the right to a testimonial, worth around £2.5m. Endorsements, headed by Umbro, supplement his wages. Terry's company Sports Market & Promotions is surprisingly light in net assets with just £315,000 in 2007.
Terry is among those to have invested heavily in property developments, some of them overseas, so this year we add just £1m to Terry’s valuation, taking him to £18m.
8. Steven Gerrard £20m
Liverpool Age 29
Liverpool’s talisman is paid £120,000 a week, and most Reds fans will say he earns every penny.
Endorsement deals with Adidas and Lucozade add around £750,000 a year, giving him annual earnings of at least £7m. His company, imaginatively titled Steven Gerrard Promotions, showed £2.5m net assets in 2007-08. However, he has picked a peculiar year to turn into Sarah Beeny by investing £5m in Merseyside penthouse apartments, so his net worth will have been affected by the property slump. As a result we push him up by a mere million from last year.
7. Frank Lampard £21m
Chelsea Age 31
Frank Lampard should raise a glass to Jose Mourinho.
After helping him become one of the continent's most feared midfielders, the Portuguese expessed interest in taking Lampard to Inter Milan – which persuaded Chelsea to give the Londoner a five-year deal worth £33m, one that will see his wages peak at £140,000 a week (£7.3m a year). We add another £1m a year from his boot sponsors Adidas. Lampard has three companies including Frank Lampard Promotions, with £1.4m net assets in total in 2007-08.
The recent split with his fiancée will have hit his finances, however, so we add just £1m to last year’s £20m valuation.
6. Michael Ballack £22m
Chelsea Age 33
Michael Ballack may retire after the 2010 World Cup. He won't need another job. His free-transfer move from Bayern Munich allowed Chelsea to pay him more than £130,000 a week, making Ballack one of the best paid footballers in the UK. He has big sponsorship deals, including Adidas, Coke, McDonald’s and T-Mobile, adding about £2m to his annual earnings. But we peg his wealth back to £22m this year as property values are down. Chin up, Micky. -
5. Ryan Giggs £24m
Manchester United Age 35
Knocking on 36 but still as productive as ever, Ryan Giggs is that rarity: a Manchester United player who is widely respected.
His 20 years of top-flight salary have been bolstered by a clutch of lucrative sponsorship deals. Reebok paid him £6.5m over six years, and over the years he has appeared in adverts for Sovil Titus, Citizen Watches, Givenchy, Fuji, Patek Phillipe, Quorn Burgers and Celcom.
He signed a one-year contract extension at Old Trafford for 2008-09 and extended that by a year to June 2010. His weekly earnings are around £75,000. His company, Ryan Giggs Ltd, has around £2.9m net assets as at the end of 2007.
4. Rio Ferdinand £30m
Manchester United Age 30
Rio may be hampered my niggling injuries, but he's comfortably rich. In April 2008, his salary was upped to around £120,000 a week.
A lucrative boot deal with Nike provides extra funds to channel into his extensive property portfolio that takes in London, Morocco and the Caribbean. He owns 60% of the White Chalk recording company which he hopes will help him realise his ambition to become a music mogul. It made a £100,000 loss in 2007-08, while his personal company, RGF Enterprises, only publishes abbreviated accounts.
But with property values down we only raise Ferdinand slightly this year.
3. Wayne Rooney £37m
Manchester United Age 23
He's come a long way from Croxteth – and not just down the East Lancs Road. Rooney left his Liverpool roots to sign for Manchester United in 2004 for a £31m fee and is paid £100,000 a week by the club; he has also had lucrative endorsement deals with Nike, Coca-Cola, Mercedes and EA Sports, which bring in around £6m a year.
His five-book Harper Collins deal netted him a £5m advance. OK! magazine paid £3.2m for the photographic rights to his wedding to Coleen, and the happy couple bagged more than £1m to front a major ad campaign by Asda, the shop where she once worked. The Rooneys live in a £4.25m home in Cheshire and have a Florida holiday home as well. Despite the property slump which has hit Rooney's investments, we raise him slightly this year to around £37m.
2. Michael Owen £38m
Manchester United Age 29
Michael Owen may be on a pay-as-you-play deal drastically reduced from his £110,000 weekly salary at Newcastle United, but money can't buy what he wants: a squad place at a fourth World Cup finals. He'd lost his England place during an ill-fated spell at St James' Park after a club-record £16m move in 2005.
Back in 2001, while scoring a hat-trick in Germany, he was the advertising face of breakfast cereal Nestlé Sporties; he also advertised washing powder Persil, in a contract worth £1m. He has been an ambassador for the Swiss watchmaker Tissot since 1998, has a contract with car manufacturer Jaguar, was a cover star for Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 and his Umbro deal nets him £2m a year, lifting his earnings to north of £7.5m a year.
His Owen Promotions company showed £7m net assets in 2007-08. He also has extensive racing and bloodstock interests and is said to be increasingly moving into this sphere – but with that market in the doldrums, falling property prices and a lower income this year, we cut Owen back to £38m.
1. David Beckham £125m
England Age 34
Amid the hoo-ha about David Beckham's mega-lucrative five-year contract to play in the US Major League Soccer, few bothered to make clear that the quoted £128m figure was utterly dependent on maximising sponsorship and attendance at games. Beckham has manfully tried to juggle those balls while making plain his desire to have a fourth World Cup finals appearance with England - which means regular football far closer to the watchful eye of Fabio Capello, hence the loan spell at AC Milan.
Beckham is clearly doing what he loves most – playing football – while he still can. It's been a handsome living: he was on £116,000 a week in Spain, where high-earning foreign nationals are given generous tax breaks. A quarter of his earnings come from Asia, and his company Footwork Productions made £10.5m profit in 2007. But in time, the widely-derided "missus" might come to be the main breadwinner: Victoria Beckham's dvb label is carving out a niche in the high-end fashion market. -
Rich List 2009/10: Top 10 Managers
10. Mark Hughes £8m
Manchester City Age 45
It's not just the players who are benefiting from the money Manchester City have been spending under Sheikh Mansour and, before him, Thaksin Shinawatra. By moving from Blackburn to take over at City in June 2008, Mark Hughes doubled his contract to £3m a year – £60,000 a week, in footballers' terms.
It's better than his first managerial contract: in 1999, while still playing, he agreed a four-and-a-half-year deal as Wales manager, the first 18 months of which was served on a part-time basis. That was said to be worth £300,000 but in 2004 he replaced Graeme Souness at Ewood Park, signing that £1.5m-per-year contract on a three-year deal in May 2006.
Sparky has outside interests including stakes in Mark Dafydd Design and Developments and Mark Dafydd Prestige Homes, two small building companies. He also owned H2 Soccer Schools, which he ran with Eric Harrison, the legendary United youth manager who discovered all the Fergie fledglings such as David Beckham and Paul Scholes. With his luxury home in the Cheshire stockbroker belt, his share of transfers and salaries as a top player plus his current business interests, Sparky should be worth £8m.
9. Martin O'Neill £9m
Aston Villa Age 57
You wouldn't think Martin O'Neill was 57, judging by his irrepressible touchline antics. But like Sir Alex Ferguson, he celebrates every goal likes it's his first – or last. And he's been around a while: O'Neill was at an underachieving Nottingham Forest when a certain Brian Clough arrived to turn the club around with two European Cup wins – one of which was watched from the bench by O'Neill, perhaps forging the Ulsterman's steely will to win.
O'Neill served his managerial apprenticeship with Wycombe (whom he took into the Football League) and made a name for himself at Leicester, with whom he won two League Cups, before leading Celtic to three league titles in five years plus a UEFA Cup final. Before leaving Celtic he was given a £700,000 a year contract as a consultant.
O'Neill has outside interests, like commentating for the BBC during the World Cup finals and in August 2006 he joined Aston Villa on a 12-month rolling contract worth up to £2.5m a year. A spokesman for new Villa owner Randy Lerner said O’Neill would be offered a six-year deal, worth up to £15m.
8. Rafa Benitez £9m
Liverpool Age 49
Contracts don't often mean an awful lot but when Rafa Benitez signed a new four-year deal at Anfield in March 2009, it sent out a few very strong signals.
Firstly, Benitez had made it very publicly clear that he wanted the major say on transfers; chief executive Rick Parry was sacrificed to keep the manager happy. In return, the contract effectively ended any hopes that Real Madrid had of luring the Spaniard back home.
Benitez was on Madrid's books as a player and junior coach before making his name at Valencia. He took the Spanish side to a league title and enjoyed extended runs in the Champions League. In June 2004 he joined Liverpool as manager on a five-year £10m contract – since, of course, updated and improved. He should be worth around £9m right now on the back of his Liverpool money and past earnings at Valencia.
7. Harry Redknapp £10m
Tottenham Hotspur Age 62
That Tottenham Hotspur were happy to pay Portsmouth £5m compensation to hire Harry Redknapp may be a sign of how desperate the London club were to be bottom of the Premier League. But it is proving to be money well spent.
Redknapp was given a three-year contract by a grateful Pompey in May 2006 after keeping them from relegation. He lives on Panorama Road, in Sandbanks, one of the most expensive areas of real estate in the world, where a dilapidated bungalow was recently sold for £3m. Redknapp's house dates from 1911 and is reckoned to be worth £8m. But allowing for any mortgage, Redknapp should easily be worth £10m with his past contracts and current one.
5. Arsene Wenger £15m
Arsenal Age 68, last year £14m (92nd)
Arsene Wenger keeps finding gold mines. One of football's canniest talent scouts, he consistently makes money for Arsenal by signing and developing promising youngsters for whom the club receive huge transfer fees.
That's good news for a club which indebted itself with a move to the Emirates Stadium. Wenger's Arsenal contract was worth around £3m annually but he signed a new £4m a year deal in September 2007 for four years. A careful and abstemious man devoted to the Gunners, Wenger should be worth £15m now.5. Sven-Göran Eriksson £15m
Notts County Age 61, re-entry
Sven-Göran Eriksson may have been no great shakes as a player, but he keeps his accountant busy. Gothenburg, Benfica, Roma, Fiorentina, Benfica, Sampdoria, Lazio, England, Manchester City and Mexico have all added him to the honour roll – and payroll.
When spooked by alleged interest from Premier League clubs, the FA raised his wage to £4m a year; offered £5m a year to manage Aston Villa by the News of the World's "fake sheikh", he seemed very amenable. By July 2007, after a year out, he was down to a £3m annual salary at Manchester City – on a three-year contract, of which he survived 10 months. After an 11-month spell as Mexico manager he's now back in English football as director of football at Notts County, on a five-year contract reportedly worth an annual £2m.
No wonder Martin Samuel described him as a man who "does not appear the sort of guy who has to hide in a doorway if he sees his bank manager walking down the street".
4. Carlo Ancelotti £17m
Chelsea Age 50, new entry
Sometimes it's worth a change of scenery. Carlo Ancelotti spent eight years as manager of AC Milan, collecting two more Champions League wins to add to the two he won in his five years there as a player. That pedigree prompted Chelsea to offer him a three-year deal worth £6.5m a year – with bonuses including £1m if the team wins the Champions League and another £1m for the Premier League.
In total, he could earn a tidy £10m a year – or £200,000 a week, enough to make even the most well-heeled player take note. With his past earnings at Milan and his Chelsea contract, Ancelotti should already be worth £17m. If he brings success to the Bridge, he could find himself rapidly rising up the Rich List.
3. Sir Alex Ferguson £22m
Manchester United Age 67
Sir Alex Ferguson is said to have earned £15m in wages between 1996 and 2003, and his salary is now £3.6m a year. His company, ACF Sports Promotions, shows just £342,000 net assets in 2007-08. He also made £1m from his autobiography and another £1m from a testimonial organised by his son, Jason.
But with reports that he has been hit by soured investments in the property downturn, we stick with a £22m valuation for Sir Alex – plenty enough for his retirement nest-egg... whenever that might happen.
2. Roy Keane £27m
Ipswich Town Age 38
Roy Keane turned football and politics upside down when former shop-steward Alex Ferguson demanded Manchester United's arch-capitalist chairman Martin Edwards rip up the club's wage structure to keep the Irishman.
As usual, Ferguson won, and it was worth it. Having signed for United for a British record £3.75m, Keane dragged them to the pinnacle and few fans begrudged him when his salary eventual broke the £100,000-a-week barrier.
The £1m advance on the hardback and paperback editions of his autobiography was also money well spent: both became bestsellers. He later earned £35,000 a week for a farewell six-month spell with Celtic, before moving into management with a three-year £6m package at Sunderland. After that bitter experience, Ipswich will be paying him well too.
1. Fabio Capello £30m
England Age 63
The FA can be happy with the return so far on Capello's £6.5m annual salary. But then, Capello has led every club he has managed to a league title.
Now settled in Belgravia, the art lover admires the works of Marc Chagall, Wassily Kandinsky and Piero Pizzi Cannella, who is also a close friend. His art collection is worth £17m. He also wears Zerorh+ prescription eyewear and has been the face of the range since 2001.
Taking account of his two decades at the top of management, we reckon Capello is now worth £30m. -
More like Englands Rich List
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Roy Keane is the second-richest manager in British football - ahead of Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, Rafa Benitez and Carlo Ancelotti.
Take it as red: Keane's estimated fortune of £27million has been built largely on a playing career
Roy Keane, fighting to keep his job with Ipswich Town bottom of the Championship, is still the second-richest manager in British football - ahead of Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger and Carlo Ancelotti.
The Irishman's estimated fortune of £27million has been built largely on a playing career that saw Manchester United break the £100,000-aweek barrier to keep him, although he has significantly boosted his earnings while in charge at both Sunderland and Ipswich, as well as seeing his outspoken autobiography become a bestseller.
Keane's wealth puts him £3m behind England manager Fabio Capello and £5m ahead of his old Manchester United boss Ferguson who, according to the FourFourTwo.com Rich List, is paid £3.6m a year.
That is barely half Carlo Ancelotti's £6.5m salary at Chelsea, with owner Roman Abramovich promising to pay his new coach a £1m bonus if he delivers the Barclays Premier League title and the same again for the Champions League.
Fellow Italian Capello is also paid £6.5m. Capello's modern art collection containing works by Kandinsky, Chagall, Twombly and his friend Piero Pizzi Cannella, a leading Italian artist, is believed to be worth £17m.
He was already a wealthy man before accepting the England job, having twice been in charge of AC Milan and Real Madrid, as well as Juventus and Roma.
