It used to be Russians: Roman Abramovich, of course, and then, to a lesser degree, the Gaydamaks. Now the instant solution for fans of clubs wishing to make the big time is to pine for their own Middle Eastern sheikh. A Qatari will do nicely, maybe a man who is third cousin once removed of the emir. A man such as, say, Abdullah bin Nasser al-Thani, the Qatari billionaire who bought Málaga, the perennial La Liga yo-yo club, last summer.
When he acquired Málaga, the kneejerk reaction was “ah, rich man’s plaything”. After all, while it may be nearly 800 years older than London, today this city of some 600,000 people is known mainly for tourism and as an access point to the package resorts