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Southampton: Has a wealthy businessman invested funds in Saints?

By Marc Walker

NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 21: Economic Club of New York's fireside chat with Michael Dell at the Hyatt Hotel on November 21, 2019 in New York City. Dell was made a private company in 2013 by Michael Dell, Dell's founder and CEO, and Silver Lake Partners. Dell is staging a comeback to the public market after taking refuge as a privately-held business. Dells redeveloped strategy is on delivering private enterprise customers cloud, big data, mobile and security. (Photo by David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 21: Economic Club of New York's fireside chat with Michael Dell at the Hyatt Hotel on November 21, 2019 in New York City. Dell was made a private company in 2013 by Michael Dell, Dell's founder and CEO, and Silver Lake Partners. Dell is staging a comeback to the public market after taking refuge as a privately-held business. Dells redeveloped strategy is on delivering private enterprise customers cloud, big data, mobile and security. (Photo by David Dee Delgado/Getty Images) /
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Southampton appear to have secured investment from the holding company of Dell Technologies founder Michael Dell.

A number of Saints fans noticed that a new entry in the filing history for Southampton Football Club limited on Companies House details a “Registration of charge”, with the attached document revealing an agreement with MSD UK Holdings Limited.

Additional information from the Sunderland Echo helps to shed further light on the situation.

They reveal that Dell’s holding company was partly involved in a rumoured takeover of Sunderland as a “passive, minority investor”, and that MSD had then been looking to invest in Championship side Derby County before settling on Saints.

It remains unclear how this investment has been made, but journalist Duncan Castles has mentioned recently (via Transfer Window podcast) that Saints were looking to take out a loan to ensure their short-term future financially.

A General view of the St Mary’s Stadium (Photo by Naomi Baker/Getty Images)
A General view of the St Mary’s Stadium (Photo by Naomi Baker/Getty Images) /

The Coronavirus pandemic caused the 2019/20 season to be suspended and cut off income that clubs otherwise rely on through matchdays and commercial sales.

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Saints also made a £34m loss during last season and this year’s circumstances will only put a further strain on the club’s financial situation.

It will be important for funds to be released in the near future through player sales and a reduced wage bill to then allow reinvestment in the playing squad and club as a whole.

Saints owner Gao Jisheng owns an 80% share of the club and has been criticised for not investing since becoming majority shareholder. He also mentioned how the club was “a pig not to be fattened” in an interview with the Financial Times.

He bought his 80% from Katharina Liebherr, who continues to have a good relationship with the fans after he late father Markus saved the club from liquidation. However, using Gao’s funds directly may lead to financial fair play breaches and cause even more issues in the longer term.

With investment now coming from MSD holdings though, it appears that the club have found a way to release money through other means.

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