With Vincent Tan causing chaos at Cardiff City, we take a look at some other club owners who have wreaked havoc at their respective clubs.
5. Maurizio Zamparini, Palermo
Zamparini is arguably the most difficult-to-please owner in football as the fiery Italian has gone through a mind-blowing 30 managers since mid-2000, with six different men having been in charge this year alone!
Always up for a gem of a sound byte, Zamparini has over the years 1) threatened to castrate his players and eat their testicles in his salad, 2) claimed that all referees in Italy should be behind bars, 3) referred to England as a 'land of pirates', and 4) called Adrian Mutu a 'crafty gypsy'.
4. Ratko Butorovic, FK Vojvodina
By all accounts, Butorovic had a positive influence on the Serbian club, but he had to be included for his incredibly garish dress sense.

3. Luciano Gaucci, Perugia
Gaucci will forever be known for his unbelievable decision to terminate the contract of South Korea international Ahn Jung-Hwan in 2002 after he scored the golden-goal that eliminated Italy from the World Cup that year.
The 74-year old provided this pearler when asked why he had sacked the striker: "I have no intention of paying a salary to someone who has ruined Italian football."
Some of his other indiscretions include signing former Libyan dictator Colonel Gaddafi's son Saadi, who made one substitute appearance before failing a drug test and being slapped with a three-year ban; attempting to sign the captain of the Sweden women's national team; and offering a referee a racehorse as a bribe.
2. Gigi Becali, Steaua Bucharest
From vetoing transfers from inside his jail cell to commissioning artworks depicting him as Jesus Christ in The Last Supper, sending loanee Rafal Grzelak back to his parent club in 2010 for being follically challenged after declaring, "there aren't any great bald football players," and a slew of racist, homophobic and xenophobic outbursts, Becali has done it all.
1. Ken Richardson, Doncaster Rovers
When a club is in financial trouble the first plan is usually to seek an injection of funds from legal avenues, but Richardson had other ideas as he plotted to burn down the club's Belle Vue ground and sell the land to developers.
He hired three men to carry out the deed - including a former SAS operative - and the trio succeeded in razing the stadium to the ground. Justice was served, however, as the SAS-man-turned-arsonist left his mobile phone at the scene and Richardson was sentenced to four years in prison.
A man described by detectives as "the type that would trample a two-year old child to pick up a 2p bit", Richardson also made a madcap appointment of a former club shop owner as manager of Rovers - who unsurprisingly led the team to relegation with a negative 83 goal difference.
Wanting more exciting features? Head on over to our friends at ...
No comments:
Post a Comment