Desi Tycoon for Toons

As a matter of blogging principle, I try to refrain from quoting or discussing speculation, but am unable to resist this one.

If Anil Ambani does indeed end up replacing Mike Ashley as the owner of Newcastle, it will be something for us back here. Lakshmi Mittal and friends are already well underway with their QPR project and it will be interesting to see if Ambani (twice richer than Roman Abramovich) can turn the fortunes of Newcastle around.

With elder brother Mukesh having firmly established a presence in sports through his ownership of the IPL team Mumbai Indians, it is likely that Anil is looking to outdo his brother as a sports 'franchise' (what an American word) owner just like they try and outdo each other in virtually every sphere of business.

However, I doubt if Anil Ambani would adopt the Abramovich approach to football success as trophies and club balance sheets will compete equally in his frame of reference unlike the 'can't be bothered with a few hundred million here and there' Roman.

Having said that he will not be in it to just make the numbers up either. It's not the Ambani and the Reliance way and we all know that when they enter a business they intend being number one or two and they do things on a scale which competition can rarely match. So Toon fans who are desperate for silverware and understand that a generous owner is increasingly a minimum prerequisite to get there these days, will do well to hope that their benefactor is an Indian with no previous history of interest in football.

Unless like the millions of other headlines I see every day, this turns out to be baseless as well. In which case, writing this was such a waste.