Villa boss figures in rich list top ten for UK football managers

Oct 8 2009 by Paul Bradley, Birmingham Mail

VILLA boss Martin O’Neill is among the top ten wealthiest managers in British football, according to a new rich list published today.

The 57-year-old Irishman, who replaced David O’Leary as the Villa boss in August 2006, is valued at £9 million in football magazine Four Four Two’s latest survey of British football.

He lies joint eighth with Liverpool’s Rafa Benitez and ahead of Manchester City’s Mark Hughes, who is worth £8 million despite managing Europe’s richest club.

When O’Neill joined the club he signed a 12-month rolling contract worth up to £2.5 million a year.

A spokesman for new Villa owner Randy Lerner told Four Four Two that O’Neill would be offered a six-year deal, worth up to £15 million.

The richest manager in British and world football is England boss Fabio Capello, who reportedly earns £6.5 million per year on his current contract with the FA and is worth £30 million.

Ipswich boss Roy Keane is in second place on £27 million and Sir Alex Ferguson third with £22 million.

Villa striker Emile Heskey, who was on a £30,000-a-week five-year deal while he was at Blues, is the 14th richest player in British football, reportedly being worth £13 million.

David Beckham tops the list at £125 million.

In the overall rich list for British football, claret and blue chairman Randy Lerner comes in 14th, reportedly being worth £800 million – £50 million more than last year.

Blues’ former co-owner David Sullivan has half as much money as Lerner, with his 25 per cent stake in the club worth £18 million, pushing him up to a total value of £400 million.

David Gold is valued at £300 million and is 27th on the rich list but, worryingly for Blues fans, Carson Yeung is valued at a paltry £30 million.

Wolves’s chairman Steve Morgan is 25th on the list at £350 million, while Walsall FC director Peter Gilman is the 82nd richest man in British football at £25 million.