Leeds are evolving at pace on pitch – new director with £3bn family fortune can help them off it too - The Athletic 23/5/21
By Philip Buckingham
It is a week — and season — that ends with emotional
goodbyes.
Pablo Hernandez and Gaetano Berardi have reached the end of
the line with Leeds United and the visit of West Bromwich Albion presents the
chance for 9,500 supporters to show their appreciation to two departing
promotion-winners.
Andrea Radrizzani, Leeds’ owner, is sure to be among those
applauding at Elland Road and the company he keeps in the directors’ box
promises to be another marker of the club’s evolution.
The night before announcing the exit of Hernandez and
Berardi as free agents, Leeds revealed a boardroom reshuffle they believe is
aligned to a “bright future”.
Out went Andre Tegner, a director since January 2017 and
long-standing ally of Radrizzani, and in came Peter Lowy, Massimo Marinelli and
Sandro Mencucci. A four-man board of directors, previously comprising of
chairman Radrizzani, vice-chairman Paraag Marathe, chief executive Angus
Kinnear and Tegner, grows to six.
Leeds have privately played down the significance of the
changes. Business as usual. Marinelli and Mencucci are Radrizzani men and Lowy
comes into bat with Marathe for 49ers Enterprises, the investment arm of NFL
club San Francisco 49ers and a 37 per cent stakeholder in Leeds. The make-up of
the board (Kinnear without skin in this game) is now considered proportionally
representative.
At least in the short term, it is expected to change very
little. Leeds continue to think big in the Premier League; of challenges to the
elite and plans to expand Elland Road. A top-half finish, secured by Tuesday’s
2-0 win away to Southampton, is intended to be just the beginning.
All the various stakeholders currently sing harmoniously off
the same hymn sheet but it is hard to ignore the sudden arrival of Lowy, a
businessman of immense financial means, on to the scene.
Lowy’s appointment as a director is nothing if not
intriguing.
The club statement outlined they had welcomed a “lifelong
supporter” to Elland Road, an individual boasting “over 30 years of business
experience”. They also touched upon his status within the Lowy Family Group, a
private investment business and his past as chief executive of the Westfield
Group, a hugely successful shopping centre company.
Not outlined, though, was Lowy’s enormous wealth. His
father, Frank, is among Australia’s richest men, who Forbes estimate to be
worth $5.3 billion (£3.7 billion). Lowy Sr was a founder of the Westfield Group
in 1960 and went on to build a string of shopping centres across the globe.
Westfield agreed to a takeover from European property giant Unibail-Rodamco in
2017 and a deal worth $33 billion valued the Lowy family’s stake at just over
$3 billion.
Peter Lowy, along with brothers David and Steven, have all
helped take on the business interests of their father, who is now 90. Peter and Steven were co-chief executives of
Westfield at the point of its takeover four years ago.
Leeds’ newest board member had previously worked in
investment banking in London and New York, while more recently serving as
chairman of the Homeland Security Advisory Council for Los Angeles County.
More unusually for the heir to a billionaire’s fortune,
though, is Lowy’s work as a stand-up comedian. Appearing under the pseudonym
Pete Drysdale, he is a regular at local comedy clubs, including the Laugh
Factory in his home city of Los Angeles.
Football has also been a long-running passion for the Lowy
family. Frank Lowy served as Football Federation Australia chairman between
2003 and 2015 and played a key role in the creation of the A-League.
There was even talk of buying Leeds when still a League One
club in 2010. Media outlets in Australia suggested Lowy carried out due
diligence only for then-owner Ken Bates to quickly dampen talk of a sale. “It
is no secret we would welcome further investment,” said Bates, three years
before eventually leaving Elland Road in 2013. “But we are quite blunt — name
and money. The moment you say that they all disappear.”
The Lowy family, by extension, now have a piece of Leeds. It
is said the Lowy Family Group are a “significant investor” in the 49ers
Enterprises investment vehicle, who upped their stake in Leeds from 15 per cent
to 37 per cent in January of this year. It is estimated that cost in the region
of £50 million and earned Marathe, president of 49ers Enterprises, a position
of Leeds’ vice chairman.
Radrizzani and Marathe, who will attend Sunday’s game
against West Brom, are said to be close friends that share the same vision for
Leeds moving forward. Lowy is also now coming along for the ride and is
expected to attend Leeds games when a busy business diary permits.
Marinelli, another new board member, is already a regular at
Elland Road. He is the CEO of Aser Ventures, Radrizzani’s firm, and has been
credited with attracting the recent investments made by 49ers Enterprises.
Menucci, a former CEO at Serie A side Fiorentina for 17 years, is another
confidant of Radrizzani who is familiar to staff at Elland Road.
One of Australia’s richest men has a secret second job as a stand-up comedian. #7News pic.twitter.com/0G6uHmkCz6
— 7NEWS Melbourne (@7NewsMelbourne) April 11, 2018
This new-look board will come together next week to plan
what comes next for Leeds once the last action of 2020-21 has concluded. Top of
any immediate agenda is finalising a contract extension for Marcelo Bielsa, a
deal Leeds are increasingly optimistic can be concluded, and after that comes
expansion.
The aim is increase capacity at Elland Road and Radrizzani’s
long-held vision is unanimously backed by 49ers Enterprises, who have grown
fond of their attachment to Leeds. The 37,000 limit would be transformed with a
rebuilt West Stand. Maximising match-day income and bringing hospitality in
line with other Premier League clubs is a shared ambition.
Leeds are evolving at pace, as the exit of Hernandez reminds
us. And change will not be confined to playing personnel.
