Hong Kong-owned Birmingham City show similarities to Wigan Athletic
- Managerless Blues, on second Hong Kong owner after disgraced hairdresser Carson Yeung, face relegation to third tier
- ‘Massive debt to owners is Sword of Damocles,’ says co-author of ‘Haircuts and League Cups’
“The downfall of Wigan Athletic is proof positive that the ‘sugar daddy’ style of ownership does not work,” Daniel Ivery, co-author of Haircuts and League Cups: The Rise and Fall of Carson Yeung, told the Post.
“When any club is in massive debt to its parent company, then there is always that Sword of Damocles hanging above their head that it may be recalled.”
As anger and confusion continues over Hong Kong-owned Wigan Athletic going into administration mere weeks after being sold, comparisons have been made to Birmingham City, another English football club with a history of Hong Kong ownership.
Carson Yeung Ka-sing’s time at Birmingham City began with a protracted two-year takeover and ended with the disgraced former hairdresser standing down from the club as he awaited a jail sentence for money laundering in 2014. The club was then transferred to Trillion Trophy Asia, another Hong Kong-listed company, in 2016.
