Football Daily | Back to the playground of the disgustingly rich: it’s club football!

4 hours ago 1

PRIME TARGET

Hmmm, should I order in a pizza tonight? How does this basic question translate to the monstrously rich, to those operating in the hundreds of billions? Maybe it’s as simple as this: hmmm, should I join a consortium looking to buy a stake in Liverpool Football Club? Welcome to the world of Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and once the wealthiest person on the planet (he’s dropped to fourth – get the violins out). Bezos, with a net worth north of $250bn, could be on the way to Our League, potentially dropping some of his pocket change into the Anfield coffers.

It all seems a lot more serious than that time Elon Musk’s old man blurted out that his son would be interested in buying the club, partly because their family has connections to the city and “we were fortunate to know quite a lot of the Beatles”. There were only four of them, Errol. Bezos, however, is reportedly still mulling over whether he fancies it. Hmmm, should I go for margherita or pepperoni? Thin crust or thick? Leading the pack of potential investors is Amit Bhatia, who is presumably hoping to emulate Raheem Sterling in making a successful switch from Loftus Road to Anfield after announcing his departure from the QPR board this week. It’s time for some top-flight action again, and it sure helps when your father-in-law is a steel magnate worth $31bn.

This developing episode is a reminder of what we’re returning to after the Geopolitics World Cup: back to the playground of the disgustingly rich, a field that includes state-backed investment. Now comes the prospect of someone who thinks the Melania movie was good business taking over a grand institution. How’s that gone for you in the past, Jeff?

As ever, if we want to find purity in this game we have to cling to what happens on the field, bringing us to Mateus Fernandes’ clean hit in a training-ground friendly for Spurs against MK Dons. Collecting the remains of a corner, Fernandes smashed in a volley from outside the area a la Paul Scholes against Villa 20 years ago. “It was my favourite goal of my career,” cooed Fernandes, and while Football Daily is a little uncomfortable with a pre-season effort being included in career highlights, it was undoubtedly a cracker. Four days on from the end of the GWC, we’re clearly hankering for some action. It certainly beats boardroom machinations.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“We speak to each other, talk about sights and buildings in our cities, and expect that some day we will be able to return. The club understands how hard things are for young players from these areas, and it’s very happy to give them opportunities” – the LNZ Cherkasy youth coach Alexei Bulgakov talks to Nick Ames about their heady rise from the fourth tier in Ukraine, despite war with Russia, before contesting European qualifiers for the first time.

LNZ Cherkasy players photographed during training

Jeff Bezos in talks to buy a stake in Liverpool? How soon before Andoni Iraola gets a card saying that one of his new signings is in a box behind the Anfield bins?” – Simon Mazier.

Re: yesterday’s last line (full email edition). The mention of Riga FC reminds me of my visit there in October 2025. After a frankly awful 0-0 draw that clinched the title, they brought out celebratory hoardings declaring ‘Champions 2026’. Before too many cameras caught it, they put the trophy plinth in front of the offending digit. That said, with a third of this season’s Virsliga to go, they’re in a decent place to reuse the hoarding in all its glory” – Jim Hearson.

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