Soccer: Premiership playthings

SINCE Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea in July hardly a day has gone by without speculation that some other premier league club will soon become the prey of another tycoon.

Where once the ownership of a football club was the wont of local businessmen keen to boost their profile in the town, now it seems English-top flight clubs have become the must-have plaything of super-rich foreigners.

Premier league champions Manchester United are the constant subject of takeover speculation as a raft of high-profile shareholders up their stakes in the glamorous club.