Manchester City's owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan now heads British football's rich list.
Abramovich slips to third after losses in economic downturn
Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan has toppled Roman Abramovich to head British football's rich list.
Sheikh 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 £7billion and he has been said to have lost over £3billion in the economic downturn.
He has also been overtaken in the list by Lakshmi Mittal, the 58-year-old Indian industrialist worth £12.5billion who joined Formula One's Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore investing in Queen's Park Rangers.
David Beckham remains the richest player associated with British football - his personal fortune of £125million being streets ahead of his closest rivals Michael Owen (£40million) and Wayne Rooney (£35million).
Collection
Beckham is 38th in the overall list, while England head coach Fabio Capello is at number 73 worth an estimated £25million with a £6million-a-year contract and a £10million private art collection.
Sir Alex Ferguson is at number 78 in the list (£22million) and Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger at number 92 (£14million).
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 £1.2billion. Rangers chairman Sir David Murray is 19th on the list, worth £600million.
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% but renewals will be down by at least 15 or 20%. That's where the problems will be as you go down the divisions."
