You'd have to be pretty nuts to buy a football club, and if you aren't already, the stress would get you there. A lot of people think that because they've been successful in one business, they're bound to be successful in another, but football is a harsh mistress.
From trying to change a club's entire identity to running onto the pitch with a gun, Football FanCast counts down the top ten craziest owner moments.
Vincent Tan changes Cardiff City colours to 'lucky' red
Cardiff City, 2012
The man with the moustache, Vincent Tan himself. Cardiff City fans won't soon forget the owner who tried to change almost everything about the club they had loved and supported for generations. The Malaysian businessman was meant to be the person to lead them to a brave new era as an established Premier League club. Instead, he didn't have a clue.
Tan became Cardiff City owner in 2010 after a consortium bought 30% of the club's shares, and right off the bat, he wanted change. The consortium said they would invest £100m into expanding the stadium and improving the training facilities, so long as fans agreed to change the colour of the home shirt from Cardiff's traditional blue to red, his "lucky colour". The proposal was rejected out of hand.
He didn't care, though. Two months later, the club went ahead with the rebrand regardless of continuous fan backlash. Not only did the shirt colour change, but the badge did, too. Tan decided it was a good idea to get rid of the bluebird and replace it with a red dragon in an attempt to make the club more intimidating. It didn't work and the club were relegated after one season in the Premier League in 2013/14.
Cardiff City have since changed the colour of their home shirt and the badge back to what they were always meant to be.
Ken Bates installs anti-hooligan electric fences at Stamford Bridge
Chelsea, 1985
Ken Bates is the man who saved Chelsea. Before Roman Abramovich and Todd Boehly were sinking billions of pounds into the club, Bates bought it for £1, rescuing them from bankruptcy and potential insolvency. Having said that, it's fair to say Bates had his quirks.
In 1982, the year he purchased the club, football hooliganism was rampant and Chelsea were one of the country's worst offenders. Opposing fans would meet up before a game to kick each other's heads in before heading to the ground to 'support' their team. It got so bad, that Bates thought it would be a good idea to install electric fences around the stands to stop fans invading the pitch.
"It works on my farm," Bates insisted, but local councillors weren't too impressed by the idea. While the fences were erected, they were never switched on. Bates would later sell the club for a cool £140m and use his profits to buy Leeds United, who were at the time in a similar financial struggle. He wasn't as well received and is universally hated by Leeds fans.
Delia Smith delivers infamous 'Let's be 'avin' you!' half-time teamtalk
Norwich City, 2005
It's a staple of 'Football's Most Shocking Moments' DVDs across the country, you can almost hear a D-list comedian talking about it every time it's brought up. Celebrity chef and television presenter Delia Smith rose to prominence in the 70s, and did what any fan would want to do if they were rich – buy the football club they love.
When Smith bought Norwich City in 1996, the club was struggling. Smart investment helped the club back to the Premier League, and while they may have seen their fair share of relegations, they're now a stable club with a recent history of bringing through exciting young talents.
2005 was one of those years Norwich were relegated from the Premier League, and Smith said the words that will eternally be used to mock her and the club.
"A message for the best football supporters in the world: we need a 12th man here. Where are you? Where are you? Let's be 'avin' you! Come on!," she said at half-time during their game against Manchester City. Unfortunately, her rallying call didn't work and Norwich lost 3-2.
Smith and her husband, Michael Wynn-Jones, are still majority shareholders of the club and have reportedly rejected numerous takeover offers. With no sign of letting up, they are by far the most competent owners on this list.
PAOK chief confronts referee with gun in pocket
PAOK, 2018
PAOK owner and rumoured friend of Vladimir Putin, Ivan Savvidis, has a bit of a temper. We've all been annoyed with officials, but Savvidis took it a little bit too far in 2018 when he stormed onto the pitch with a gun on his hip.
Unhappy with the officiating, he had finally had enough when a late PAOK goal against title rivals AEK Athens was disallowed. He went on to the pitch to confront the referee, with the game still being played, to vent his frustrations. This would have been unacceptable even if he didn't have a loaded revolver on him.
An arrest warrant was issued for Savvidis and the game was obviously abandoned. It was so serious that the Greek Deputy Minister for Sports, Giorgos Vassiliadis, decided to suspend the Greek Super League indefinitely. After talks with UEFA, Savvidis received a three-year ban. A light punishment for such an incident.
PAOK were also awarded a 0-3 defeat and deducted three points, which essentially swung the title in favour of their opponents.
Sam Hammam sets bizarre contract requirement
Cardiff City, 2001
It was hard to decide which of Lebanese businessman Sam Hammam's shenanigans to add to this list. His time in English football is riddled with obscene anecdotes. It's said that he added a clause into Wimbledon manager Bobby Gould's contract that would allow the owner to change the lineup 45 minutes before kick-off. He never acted upon it.
One of the weirdest things he did, though, was insist on having players eating sheep testicles being written into their contracts. Such an example was Cardiff City's Spencer Prior, whom Hammam came to a compromise with after apparently hoping he would eat them raw.
Dons fans have less fond memories. In 2000, Hammam sold the last 20% of his shares following their relegation from the Premier League, profiting from the sale of Plough Lane – a move that would lead the club to homelessness. Hammam bought Cardiff City later that same year.
Mohamed Al-Fayed installs Michael Jackson statue at Craven Cottage
Fulham, 2011
Manchester United have statues of their famous 'Holy Trinity' outside the entrance of Old Trafford to commemorate three of the club's greatest-ever players, Sir Bobby Charlton, George Best, and Denis Law. Arsenal have numerous statues of past and present heroes dotted around the Emirates, something repeated more recently at the Etihad, among others. In 2011, Fulham unveiled a statue of popstar Michael Jackson.
Jackson was reportedly a good friend of then-owner Mohamed Al-Fayed, and had even attended a game at Craven Cottage, but those are pretty loose reasons to give him a statue outside the stadium. Fulham fans were not impressed. They believe it made the club look daft, which it did, and begged Al-Fayed to get rid of it.
The statue was eventually taken down, but only after Al-Fayed had sold the club to Shahid Khan in 2013. It now stands proudly in the National Football Museum in Manchester.
Andrea Radrizzani causes uproar with embarrassing badge proposal
Leeds United, 2018
Leeds United are a fiercely proud club. They have an immense history and a fanbase that loves the club like no other. A club's badge is a sacred thing, so what ex-owner Andrea Radrizzani did (or tried to do) has to be considered sacrilege.
Radrizzani's purchase of the club led to the end of Massimo Cellino's tumultuous tenure, and the new boss wanted fans to know it was a new era. He decided the best way to do that would be to create a new badge. Not a bad idea in theory, but what they came up with was so dreadful, that not a single fan was on board.
It kept the famous white, yellow and blue, but instead of a Yorkshire rose, the 'LUFC' and defined lines, it had a person doing the club's salute with a clenched fist over their heart. It was almost instantly dropped and the club retained their old badge.
Aurelio De Laurentiis insults 'cretin' Lionel Messi
Napoli, 2011
The current Serie A champions have a lot to thank Aurelio de Laurentiis for, but to say he's unpredictable is an understatement. Like ex-Wimbledon owner Hammam, he has had a litany of odd occasions during his time as Napoli president. Unveiling players in lion masks is one thing, but calling the GOAT a cretin is a step too far in our book.
Before he lifted the World Cup at Qatar 2022, Argentina had a history of underutilising their best player, Lionel Messi, and De Laurentiis had big opinions about it. He thought Messi should have refused to play for his country at the Copa America in 2011, and said that he was a cretin for agreeing to it.
"If I were Messi I would say I am not coming," he told Sky Sport Italia. "Messi is a cretin. He disgraced himself by going to the Copa and he made a mistake," he added.
Disgraceful Berlusconi offers players reward with sexist 'joke'
Monza, 2022
The fact that Silvio Berlusconi has had such an impact on Italian football is ridiculous. The womanising ex-president was AC Milan owner and his money ushered in an era of unprecedented success for the Rossoneri. As success demanded more money, he decided to sell the club in 2018, unable to fund the club to the extent that it needed.
His time out of football didn't last long, though, and he took over at Serie C club Monza just 18 months later. Monza have since established themselves as a Serie A side, and Berlusconi was elated – so elated that he decided to incentivise his players to help continue their meteoric rise by promising a "bus full of wh*res" should they beat top teams AC Milan and Juventus.
His sexist outburst outraged the wider footballing community, but Berlusconi was unrepentant.
Flavio Briatore slams his own club's fans
QPR, 2010
Queens Park Rangers have had some terrible luck with owners, but Flavio Briatore might just be the worst. A good boss understands that he can't do everything, Briatore wasn't a good boss. The Italian businessman even once insisted that he would sit in the dugout at Loftus Road to advise the manager. He wasn't happy with what happened next.
QPR fans booed their incumbent owner, and like a child who threw all their toys out of the pram, Briatore threatened to sell the club if those fans' names weren't given to him. Unsurprisingly, it turned out to be nothing more than an empty threat, and he would eventually leave the club in 2010 after a miserable two-and-a-half-year stay.
