8. Mike Ashley – Newcastle United
Net worth: $5.5 billion (£3.3 billion)
Famously shy and reclusive billionaire Mike Ashley bought a controlling stake in Newcastle United in 2007.
Despite pouring millions of his personal fortune into the club, the 49-year-old has frequently enraged the Toon Army for his spending policy and questionable management structure, including the comically bad appointments of his friends in the “Cockney mafia” Dennis Wise and Joe Kinnear.
Ashley opened his first sports shop in the early 1980s and soon became the tycoon owner of Sports Direct International plc.
7. Stan Kroenke – Arsenal FC
Net worth: $5.6 billion (£3.4 billion)
American businessman Stan Kroenke made his fortune in the 1980s and 1990s through a real estate company and an inheritance of a stake in Wal-Mart.
He has since become a sports mogul, who now counts the St Louis Rams NFL team, the Denver Nuggets NBA franchise, the Colorado Avalanche NHL side, the Colorado Rapids MLS team and Arsenal among his assets.
The media-shy 66-year-old first bought into the Gunners in 2007 and became majority shareholder in April 2011.
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