ANOTHER year, another foreign takeover of an English football
club. Stan Kroenke, an American property magnate who married
into the Wal-Mart retail dynasty, now owns 63% of Arsenal
Football Club and is to make an offer for the rest. The club,
which is valued at £731 million, becomes the last of England's
"big four" to come under overseas control, following Chelsea,
Manchester United and Liverpool. Other major clubs, such as
Manchester City and Aston Villa, have also passed into foreign
hands in recent years.  Some foreign owners are attracted by the
prestige and glamour of what is the most popular league in the
most popular sport on the planet. Roman Abramovich, the Russian
who bought Chelsea in 2003, and Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al
Nahyan, an Abu Dhabi royal who took over Manchester City in
2008, are often put in this category. Both have sunk enormous
sums of their own money into buying players and modernising
their clubs' infrastructure. Both appear to want the return on
their investment to take the form of