Landon Smith's Hartlepool United takeover cited as South Shields confirm international investment deal
Another North East club has secured international investment six months after Landon Smith's takeover at Hartlepool United.
Landon Smith’s takeover at Hartlepool United has been cited as a reason why there was no surprise when an international investment group showed an interest in National League North club South Shields.
Just over six months have passed since the American businessman completed a deal to bring an end to Raj Singh’s time at Victoria Park and Pools fans have high hopes his arrival will have signalled an upturn in fortunes for their beloved club as thoughts turn towards preparing for the first full season under Smith’s ownership. Pools are not the only National League club under foreign ownership with Carlisle United now owned by American-based and another US businessman has entered the fray after Abdullah Ashraf fronted the Dawn Group International in their successful bid to purchase Tamworth recently.
South Shields have also welcomed foreign investment in recent weeks after chairman Geoff Thompson agreed a deal that has allowed the ORY LLP Investment consortium take a majority share in the National League North club. Fronted by New York-based capital markets lawyer Jason Ye and containing investors from China and Singapore, the new look Mariners ownership will work alongside Thompson as he looks to lead his hometown club into the top tier of the non-league game after they have risen from Northern League Division Two throughout his 11-year ownership.
The Mariners came close to securing promotion last season when they narrowly missed out on the National League North title on the final day of the season before falling to a 2-0 home defeat in their play-off final clash with Kidderminster Harriers. The news of the investment agreement has raised hopes South Shields can go one step further during the new season and beyond - and Thompson has given an insight into how the deal came to fruition and insisted he was not shocked when he received interest from the international consortium.
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When asked if the international interest had caught him by surprise, the Mariners chairman told The Gazette: “Not really because I had conversations with other parties and if you take stock, and think about what’s going on in football generally, there is a lot of interest in English football from the Premier League down. It’s not just from the United States, it’s from around the globe and we have seen international interest locally too. You have Hartlepool United being acquired by Landon Smith, there’s Carlisle United are now owned by a family from Jacksonville.
“This is another example of that. Jason spent his life in New York, now lives in Singapore, he’s a lawyer by trade and some of the investment group are in New York, some in Shanghai, some in Hong Kong. So I think I’m not surprised by it. Their view is that English football is undervalued and if you are going to buy a sporting franchise in other areas, it’s going to be more expensive and I think there’s a lot we can all do with South Shields and the investment group can see that.”
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