I've covered Paraag Marathe's entire Leeds United ownership - here's what Rangers fans can expect from 49ers

A high-profile takeover of Rangers involving the San Francisco 49ers’ franchise is reportedly expected to be completed by June, according to sources close to negotiations.

BBC Sport claim a “broad agreement” between all parties with current shareholders expected to sell up, or part, of their stake in the club in the coming months is in place. That would see the prospective owners - 49ers Enterprise - acquire more than 50% of the shares in Rangers while tackling the outstanding debt, the majority of which is owed to former chairman John Bennett.

NFL chief and current Leeds United chairman Paraag Marathe is a key figurehead in the Rangers takeover proposal and has been described as the man at the “front and centre” of discussions that have taken place. In addition, there is an unnamed American investor who is also said to be playing an influential role in the deal.

49ers Enterprises currently have full control of English Championship leaders Leeds after completing a £170 million takeover in September 2023. It’s understood that any potential investment in Rangers would require approval from the Scottish FA’s board.

GlasgowWorld spoke to Yorkshire Evening Post correspondent Joe Donnohue to find out more about high-level player Marathe after documenting his stunning takeover of the Elland Road club. Here’s an insight into what Rangers fans can expect from the 49ers supremo...

How did Marathe’s involvement with Leeds United start?

“Paraag Marathe was part of and led the minority acquisition of Leeds United at around the 10% mark initially back in 2018 when previous chairman Andrea Radrizzani still had majority control. Over the years, the 49ers gradually increased their shareholding in Leeds. There was always an agreement with Radrizzani and his company that the 49ers would have the opportunity to become majority owners, which was then exercised in September 2023.

“So they increased their 44% stake in the club to then absorb the rest of Radrizzani’s shareholding to make them sole owners. They’ve since portioned off a little bit to Red Bull, who are now minority shareholders in Leeds. But Marathe has been at the forefront of that acquisition of Leeds throughout the last six-and-a-half to seven years. We’ve spoken to him a couple of times at the YEP and he’s a very level-headed character and a very shrewd businessman. On the whole, in the eyes of supporters at Leeds, he’s done a steady, steady job after taking charge of what was not a great financial situation 18 months ago.”

How could Marathe’s influence impact Rangers?

“I suppose it would depend on what sort of level of investment the 49ers or Paraag and whoever else is part of this US consortium are willing to come in with because I understand that there are a number of individuals on the Rangers board who have a decent sized shareholding, but they’re all minority shareholders. So that obviously complicates things because you ultimately have to persuade each of those to part with their share to then accumulate enough to be in majority control.

“That wasn’t the case at Leeds. All they had to do was buy shares from Andrea Radrizzani’s pool. So I wouldn’t say the circumstances are identical. They could be comparable because if it is the 49ers that are backing Marathe with this proposed takeover then they certainly have the financial backing. It’s just a case of then how that is structured. If, for example, Marathe is pledging this financial backing off his own back but alongside a consortium that isn’t directly linked with the 49ers, then that could be something completely different to the Leeds set up.

“Speaking from experience with the 49ers at Leeds, they’re very much serious business people. They’re shrewd operators, they very rarely do or say anything unless they deem it worthy of being said. They’re more than happy to be seen, but not heard which I know isn’t always the case with football clubs. You might get an overzealous owner who likes to speak off his own accord rather than go through the official communication channels. I know there’s clubs in the English Championship where that happens quite occasionally.

“But with the 49ers, everything is planned out, streamlined. It’s seen as if they have a good handle on things. They’re not going to put clubs that they have jurisdiction over into financial difficulty by spending beyond their means. Paraag Marathe is a big part of that. They’re very well versed and experienced, they’ve got deep pockets but have also got a really extensive network as we’ve seen with the Leeds ownership. There are a lot of minority investors within the 49ers Enterprises investment arm, a lot of high-profile individuals from American sports, from Hollywood etc. So they definitely have good connections as well.”

Can Rangers benefit from access to cutting-edge player recruitment data?

“I wouldn’t imagine Paraag is involved in the daily scouting/recruitment meetings that I’m sure Daniel Farke and the staff within the recruitment department have, but while the 49ers were minority shareholders I think there role was very much as investors to provide funds to carry out these ambitious transfers. They signed Georginio Rutter who is now at Brighton for around £35 million and obviously sold him on after his excellent season last year.

“In terms of the deals that they’ve been able to do, the 49ers have been willing to do business for Leeds to improve the squad, but, for example, in January last month there were no signings made because they didn’t meet the criteria that was set out by Daniel Farke, which was that you have to be affordable, you have to be of the right character and you also have to add quality to what is an already accomplished group at Championship level.

“So there seems to be a good understanding between the day-to-day staff and the bigger picture stuff - the individuals at board level, investors etc. In terms of player trading, I wouldn’t say there’s much that has the 49ers imprint on it because I think they’re separate to that. But ultimately decisions on transfers do go through them. They are the majority shareholders of the club, they’re the ones who provide and release the funds.

“I think that would be, given at any other club how consistently they’ve operated, a similar role they would take. What they would do is employ trusted individuals to run that for them rather than having a say on it themselves because, as I say, they’re the first ones to acknowledge that while they have expertise in sport, they’re maybe not the most experienced in the world of football. American football, yes. But on this side of the pond, no.

“Earlier this season, Leeds’ technical director Grétar Steinsson - ex Icelandic international - left his role to make a sideways step to basically become or to fulfil a similar function but specifically for the 49ers. He came in with them in September 2023 and he’s now taken up a role within their aspirational, global multi-club model. They definitely want to explore that as a possibility even though it hasn’t been overtly outlined because they’ve seen the success that Manchester City have with The City Football Group, like Chelsea are doing with BlueCo. Red Bull is a big example as well.

“Initially when I saw the Rangers reports, I was thinking that makes a little bit of sense because Steinsson moving over suggests that they do have plans to establish a footing in more than just English football.”

How have Leeds supporters reacted to seeing A-listers invest in the club?

“It’s a very good photo opp, is what I would say. The day-to-day running of football clubs is so far removed from these minority investors that if the 49ers or Marathe or any sort of US-based investor with high-profile backing were to get involved with Rangers, I don’t think Rangers fans would need to be concerned that, for example Buddy The Elf (Will Ferrell) was going to be deciding on transfers!

“The cynic in me says it’s nice for Hollywood types to maybe have a play thing or a dog in the fight sort of thing. But the people who are actually in charge are the serious business people who know what they’re talking about. They’ve been in sports for 20/25 years. As stated, it’s nice photo opp for them to put on the shirt once a year and for the club to put on social media channels when they get to finals or ahead of big games to publicise it. Ultimately, from a material sense, there’s not really much influence that they have.

“Leeds fans have been pretty open to it. I think it’s always nice when a celebrity supports your club. If they’ve got money in the club as well, it obviously helps matters in terms of you maybe having an affinity with that individual. There are a lot who have not disclosed their identities and I’d imagine there are many more high-profile names who have got some sort of holding in Leeds United via the 49ers investment arm.

“However, the ones that have been made public I wouldn’t say they’ve overdone it. They’ve stayed beneath the surface mainly apart from a select few who have very delicately intimidated that they are involved in some capacity.”