Source: Daily_Mail
Football's rich list: Abramovich toppled by Man City's £15billion Sheik
Manchester City's hugely wealthy owner Sheik Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan has toppled Roman Abramovich to head British football's rich list.Sheik Mansour, a member of the royal family of Abu Dhabi, has a personal fortune of £15billion according to the Football Rich List, researched and published by FourFourTwo magazine.The 38-year-old bought City in the summer, while Abramovich, Chelsea's Russian owner, has slipped to third in the list - his wealth is estimated at £7bn and he has been said to have lost over £3bn in the economic downturn. Moneybags: A Manchester City fan holds a fake banknote adorned by the richest man in football, Sheik Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan Chelsea boss Scolari seeks January cash assurances from AbramovichLiverpool owners granted an extra six months to repay the club's debtEXCLUSIVE: Despite relegation threat and cup exit, City's owners think they can buy Kaka and TerryHe has also been overtaken in the list by Lakshmi Mittal, the 58-year-old Indian industrialist worth £12.5bn who joined Formula One's Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore investing in Queen's Park Rangers. On the slide: Abramovich has slumped to third in the rich listDavid Beckham remains the richest player associated with British football - his personal fortune of £125million being streets ahead of his closest rivals Michael Owen (£40m) and Wayne Rooney (£35m).Beckham is 38th in the overall list, while England head coach Fabio Capello is at No 73 worth an estimated £25m with a £6m-a-year contract and a £10m private art collection. No wonder he's smiling: Beckham has a personal fortune estimated at £125mManchester Unitedboss Sir Alex Ferguson is at No 78 in the list (£22m) and Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger at No 92 (£14m).Celtic shareholder Dermot Desmond, the Irish entrepreneur, is the richest person in Scottish football - he is eighth on the list and said to be worth £1.2bn. Rangers chairman Sir David Murray is 19th on the list, worth £600m.Despite the huge fortunes of the wealthiest owners, football finance experts fear British football's bubble may be about to burst.Professor Tom Cannon told the magazine: 'Season-ticket numbers will probably be down by about 10 per cent but renewals will be down by at least 15 or 20 per cent. That's where the problems will be as you go down the divisions.' Rich List Top 201 Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan (Man City) £15billion2 Lakshmi Mittal and family (QPR) £12.5bn3 Roman Abramovich (Chelsea) £7bn4 Joe Lewis (Tottenham) £2.5bn5 Bernie and Slavica Ecclestone (QPR) £2.4bn Loftus ambitions: QPR investor Bernie Ecclestone with (from left) his wife Slavica, and daughters Petra and Tamara6 Stanley Kroenke (Arsenal) £2.245bn7 Alisher Usmanov (Arsenal) £1.5bn8 Lord Grantchester & the Moores Family (Everton) £1.2bn=8 Dermot Desmond (Celtic) £1.2bn10 Lord Ashcroft (Watford) £1.1bn10 Malcolm Glazer and family (Man Utd) £1.1bnCraven success: Fulham supremo Mohamed Al Fayed 12 Simon Keswick (Cheltenham) £966m13 Trevor Hemmings (Preston) £900m14 Mike Ashley (Newcastle) £800m15 Randy Lerner (Aston Villa) £750m16 Tom Hicks (Liverpool) £700m17 The Walker Family (Blackburn) £660m18 Mohammed Al Fayed (Fulham) £650m19 Sir David Murray (Rangers) £600m20 Steve Morgan (Wolves) £400m Top 20 players(overall position in the main list in brackets)Michael Owen1 David Beckham (LA Galaxy, No 38 overall) £125m2 Michael Owen (Newcastle, 56) £40m 3 Wayne Rooney (Man United, 61) £35m 4 Rio Ferdinand (Man United, 69) £28m=4 Robbie Fowler (Unattached, =69) £28m =4 Sol Campbell (Portsmouth, =69) £28m7 Ryan Giggs (Man United, 77) £23m8 Michael Ballack (Chelsea, 80) £20m=8 Frank Lampard (Chelsea, =80) £20m No 16: Ashley and Cheryl Cole 10 Steven Gerrard (Liverpool, 86) £19m11 Cristiano Ronaldo (Man United, 87) £18m 12 John Terry (Chelsea, 88) £17m13 Didier Drogba (Chelsea, 89) £15m 14 Nicolas Anelka (Chelsea, 92) £14m=14 Damien Duff (Newcastle, =92) £14m 16 Dimitar Berbatov (Man United, 96) £13m=16 Ashley and Cheryl Cole (Chelsea, =96) £13m =16 Fernando Torres (Liverpool, =96) £13m19 Emile Heskey (Wigan, 100) £12m20 Gary Neville (Man United, 101) £11.75m Chelsea boss Scolari seeks January cash assurances from AbramovichLiverpool owners granted an extra six months to repay the club's debtEXCLUSIVE: Despite relegation threat and cup exit, City's owners think they can buy Kaka and Terry