Yahoo Sport 
EXCLUSIVE: Ramon Vega: Is it a good time to buy a Premier League club?
Yahoo Sport Business Correspondent Ramon Vega looks at his failed take over of Portsmouth and how investors should jump at the chance to buy into one of England's greatest success stories.
Well, if you’ve got a spare few hundred million lying behind the couch you should consider it. The new TV deal has made investing in the Premier League more lucrative than ever and it’s no wonder that it has attracted successful businessmen from all over the world.
Many people question the fact that so many of the owners of Premier League clubs are foreign and I understand their concerns. Obviously it would be great if the connection between clubs and local businessmen was maintained but the landscape has changed radically.
I remember 30 years ago, no one wanted to touch English football with a barge pole. There were all sorts of problems with hooligans on the rampage, racism on the terraces, dilapidated stadiums and a deep-rooted malaise. It’s amazing how things have turned around and I believe it has been one of the country’s greatest success stories over the past few decades.
The Premier League is now one of the UK’s most recognized and iconic global exports. You are just as likely to see a Liverpool shirt in Tokyo or Tanzania as you are in Toxteth. As long as this worldwide appeal endures, foreign investors will be looking to bring their money to the table to capitalise on rare business opportunities.
Of course, the financial outlook only tells one side of the story. If you look at Spurs, for example, they are a great example of how to run a football club successfully. But attractive balance sheets in the boardroom are no good if you can’t keep clean sheets on the pitch. You still have to be successful when it really matters on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon and entertain the real shareholders- the fans.
Arsenal have got closer to striking that balance, but they still have a fair bit of work to do internationally to catch up with the popularity of the likes of Manchester United and Liverpool.
I actually think if you are looking for examples of how to run a club, you should peer into the Bundesliga. In the UK the picture is massively distorted by the influx of TV rights. If that money was taken away, clubs would be in severe financial meltdown. The German clubs seem to have a much healthier approach to debt levels and ensuring their core local support does not become too disenfranchised by spiralling ticket prices.
I have to say that trying to buy an English football club can be a hugely frustrating experience. When I attempted to engineer a takeover of Portsmouth I was surprised by how many obstacles were in our way. Of course, any complex business transaction demands negotiations, yet in the football world these often lack the required sophistication to get the job done properly. But in business, like in football, you can never look back and think ‘What if?’ - you have to move forward and take advantage of future opportunities.
Many times people have asked me how the buzz of making a big-money deal ranks alongside the thrill of scoring a goal in front of a packed stadium. The truth is that nothing can really compare to that excitement of putting the ball into the net in front of 70,000 people. The euphoria you experience is simply on a different level, it transcends everyday emotion.
Another thing I have noticed during my time in the game is how football can make normally rational and serious business people lose their heads. Football straddles the worlds of sport, business and entertainment yet there are only so many factors that you can control. The pressure to perform and deliver results is intense and if there is one thing business people don’t like it is being made to look like fools in public. When emotion intrudes excessively into business decisions, that’s when things go wrong.
But that’s also why football is the ultimate sporting soap opera and keeps people glued to their screens, following the action from all over the world.
Ramon Vega is a versatile high-flying executive with a comprehensive track record of driving commercial success in finance, property and football with national, international and World Cup experience as captain of the Swiss National Team in 1994. Proven experience in managing $billion funds in the asset management industry as well as a turnaround specialist who combines financial and business acumen, Ramon has a flair for inspiring others to exceed their own expectations. Follow him on Twitter here @Ramon_Vega71 (http://frompitchtoboardroom.com)
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