49ers master plan for Leeds United and Rangers revealed in ‘hugely positive’ Elland Road development — Leeds United News 20/2/25
Dan Owen
News of potential investment at Rangers from Paraag Marathe
and the San Francisco 49ers has captured the imagination in Scotland, but what
does it mean for Leeds United?
The Championship table-toppers were taken over by the 49ers
back in 2023, Marathe replacing Andrea Radrizzani as the club’s chairman.
According to reports north of the border, Paraag Marathe is
now expected to expand his football operations into Rangers; another of British
football’s somewhat sleeping giants and another club with formidable potential
not to mention a colossal fanbase.
Any fears amongst the Leeds United support that the 49ers
investment in Rangers would prove a distraction from their involvement at
Elland Road, however, need not concern themselves.
Leeds United News have been informed, via football
correspondent Graeme Bailey, that the San Francisco 49ers see Rangers and Leeds
working hand-in-hand and pulling in the same direction. Marathe, interestingly,
is understood to not be taking over as the chairman at Ibrox.
“I think this is hugely positive for Leeds,” Bailey
explains. “It shows the 49ers are committed to their ‘soccer’ investments.
Leeds and Rangers are a good fit together. Together with Red Bull, Leeds are
building towards the top off-the-field and this will be part of that process.
Energy drink giants Red Bull became a minority shareholder
at Leeds back in 2024.
Bailey adds that, while Red Bull are not involved in the
discussions at present with Rangers, there could be interest in an involvement
later down the line.
Now, the group which put RB Leipzig and Red Bull Salzburg on
the map – turning the duo into European regulars – are intelligent enough to
realise when not to stick their branding all over a club. There was never
really any suggestion of a ‘Red Bull Leeds’, or Elland Road being turned into
another ‘Red Bull Arena’.
One imagines this would be similar to any approach they
pursue at Rangers. Another club far too historic and far too proud to be
re-branded into a cog in a bigger machine.
Yet, the connections and the financial benefits Red Bull
would bring could potentially open Rangers up to new possibilities, especially
in the transfer market.
Some of the finest young talent in European football passed
through Salzburg. See Sadio Mane, Dominik Szoboszlai and Erling Haaland to name
but three. Any Red Bull involvement at Rangers, alongside Marathe and the San
Francisco 49ers, could potentially see Ibrox become home to some of the game’s
up-and-coming superstars.
This would align perfectly with the policy pursued by the
club’s technical director, Nils Koppen, in recent times. Rangers are signing
low with the intention of selling high later down the line. A policy which
hasn’t done Salzburg or Leipzig any harm.
Paraag Marathe explained Red Bull role at Leeds
“If there’s an opportunity somewhere, or we identify a
talent that might benefit us, we’ll go do that,” Marathe said last year, while
insisting that Leeds and Red Bull remain ‘separate entitities’.
“The other benefit of this is that, as minority investors in
the club, they’re another set of eyes and ears — pretty darn keen and expert
eyes and ears – in seeing other players in other leagues.
“Forget even about Red Bull players. They have extra
eyeballs on a lot of players. As we evaluate and do the work for this window
and future windows, we can say, ‘What do you think of this player?’.
“There’s things we can learn which we otherwise wouldn’t
have been able to learn. In terms of an official interplay between the clubs,
there’s not one.”
Reports say that Rangers’ sizeable fanbase appeals to the
49ers, as it did regarding Leeds United. The clear gap between the top two in
Scottish football ensures that Rangers are almost guaranteed European football
every season as well.