Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family with a reported fortune of £15 billion, toppled Roman Abramovich in British football's rich list.
It is the first time that the Chelsea owner has been knocked of the top spot of the UK's Football Rich List, researched and published by FourFourTwo magazine, since buying Chelsea in the summer of 2003. Abramovich has slipped to third in the list behind second-placed Lakshmi Mittal, the 58-year-old Indian industrialist worth £12.5 billion who joined Formula One's Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore after investing in fellow West London club Queen's Park Rangers in December 2007.
It is believed the Russian oil tycoon lost an estimated £3billion in the economic downturn, reducing his wealth to around an estimated £7 billion.
Celtic shareholder and Irish entrepreneur Dermot Desmond is the richest person in Scottish football, eighth on the list overall, said to be worth £1.2billion.
The Rich List says David Beckham is the richest player associated with British football with a reputed personal fortune of £125 million, ahead of second-placed Michael Owen (£40 million) and third placed Wayne Rooney (£35 million). Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson is at number 78 in the list (£22 million) and Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger at number 92 (£14 million).
