Just when you thought Oguchi Onyewu was the only American plying his trade in Serie A, now comes word that an American has purchased newly-promoted Serie A club Bari.
Texas-based and Connecticut-born business man Tim Barton revealed his plans to not only buy Bari, but also to bring in some American players to help boost the prospects of the club that handed Inter Milan an season-opening draw last weekend.
“We want to bring in talented players and take some from the American market, Barton said. "We hope to take Bari to a competitive level in Europe."
Have no idea who Tim Barton is? Here is Barton's bio on the website of his company, JMJ Holdings, and here is an Italian news segment on Barton and his bid to buy Bari:
(Any Italian-speaking SBI readers are welcome to translate the portions in Italian)
The sale, valued at about 25 million euros ($35.6 million), has been agreed to by Bari's long-time owners, the Matarrese family, but still needs to be approvd.
What do you think of this development? Excited to see an American buying into Serie A? Do you see more inroads being made into European soccer for American players? Will Bari become your new favorite Serie A team if Barton succeeds in bringing over some Americans?
Share your thoughts below.
did the fact that he wasn’t getting any playing time have anythnig to do with it? Or not so much?
well Blokhin, just to give you a bit of the inside, Szetela came back mostly due to reasons that all young teenagers eventually come back form their time abroad. Homesickness. In my site’s conversation with him he clearly mentions that the lifestyle wasn’t working for him and he missed being around those close to him.
ummmmm, 1 word: totally awesome.
outside of the tunnel vision that some Americna fans have about our players, there is an enormous tlaent pool that teams in Europe get to choose from, besides their own homegrown talent… for every decent MLS player there are dozens of players from Italy, Eastern Europe and Africa that a team like Bari would look at…
the proof is in the pudding… there is one, ONE, American on a Serie A roster this year. If MLS was stocked full of guys who could play in Serie A today, then why aren’t they playing over there? Why did Szetela come back?
The fact is that only our top guys are getting a look from Serie A: Onyewu, Donovan, Clark, not the B team guys from the Gold Cup…
Lunch money is what MLS currently pays its players, therefore, it is logical that if a Serie A team came calling, an MLS player would head there in a heartbeat… they definitely jump to Scandinavian leagues every winter…
There are Americans capable of playing in Serie A- but they already play in Europe+Clark and Donovan- but not the guys you mentioned
Danny, of course guys like Rogers, Adu, Marshall, and Holden could earn playing time for a newly promoted Serie A club… just not if the club wants to stay in Serie A.
After last nights debacle, I am convinced that right now MLS teams and its players are about at the level of middle-of-the-pack England League 1 teams/players. (yes, division 3)
if JMJ is a private company they don’t really have to report much to the gov’t so it could be hard to find details on it.. i don’t know i i haven’t looked into it
I hope Barton knows their are restrictions on foreigners in Italy.
Well said, Danny. I’m Italian and a Serie A fan (Forza Juve!) but this inferiority complex toward all European soccer is incredibly annoying. If lower-level Serie A players are so superior to top MLS players, why don’t they come to the US to play late in their career, rather than ending up in Serie C being paid lunch money? All (or close to all) former Italian Serie A players that have ever played in MLS have been in the national team or on the prephery of it, even in the Donadoni, Zenga and Caricola days when MLS admittedly sucked a lot more than it does now (Caricola was an Italian U-21 player).
This is separate from the whole “how would an MLS Team do in the Premier/Liga/Serie A” discussion (which is also overstated and overnegative). Individual players that would get playing time in Serie A probably number in the 2-3 dozen at least.
JMJ Holdings doesn’t seem to be a massively big company either. They have a handfull of $25 Million projects in the works, but that probably puts their total estimated worth below a billion. I can’t find ANYTHING about earnings or net worth or even total holdings for the company.
Didn’t Maestroeni talk about finishing his career in Serie A?
If theres any team there he could make it on, this sounds like it.
Maestroeni to Bari anyone?
Okay, so Szetella has spent time in Italy, right? Zizzo maybe too? What about other guys that are/have been in Europe playing, aren’t they easier to get into Italy to play. I’m not sure, but isn’t there some sort of Euro laws about the whole thing?
Yeah, you’re right Blohkin. Chad Marshall having one poor performance probably just ruined his ENTIRE career. Good call on that one. It should be obvious that if a player has one bad performance that he’s going to shoot his entire career down. I mean, that’s the obvious answer.
There is no reason believe that guys like Rogers, Adu, Marshall, and Holden couldn’t earn playing time for a newly promoted Serie A club. It’s Bari, not Juventus. This isn’t Milan or Inter. We’re talking about Bari here. Enough of the Euro-snobbery. There are plenty of players in many leagues in the world that are good enough to play for Bari. Get off yourself.
“I adopted this team as my second fav italian team because it is my grandmas city. Now with an american owner, it only gets better.” EDB, I was about to say the same thing. I always have kept one eye on Bari since it’s where my Grandma’s family hailed from, now with an American owner, even doubly better! It’s great to see investment in a southern Italian team. Let’s hope Bari can challenge for Europe soon!
Bari’s stadium is from the 1990 WC (someone said 2010, but we know what you meant). It was designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano and is a beautiful stadium. I spent a semester in Florence back when Batistuta, Toldo and Rui Costa were there and wanted to go to the away game in Bari just to see a game at the stadium, but couldn’t get the travel plans to work around classes.
Marco,
My understanding is that it’s JMJ holdings buying the team, not Barton. He’s the owner of JMJ, but his personal worth is irrelevant – JMJ’s is, and I suspect it’s way more (in the Billions).
Paolo
The Gazzetta transcript:
“Bari – the Barton Era Begins”
“First we save ourselves [from relegation], and then…”
“After 32 years of steering Bari, Vincenzo Matarrese has handed it over to the Texan magnate of Irish origins, the head of JMJ Holdings. The value of the sale is around 25 million [Euros]. The furture administrator Mora says: “This year we aim to avoid relegation, but then we’ll make more important purchases”.
Bari, 18 August 2009 [buy it took us a while to notice this] – The Barton Era begins. After 32 years sttering Bari, today Vincenzo Matarrese handed over its reins to the 46-year-old Texan magnate of Irish origins, owner of JMJ holdings. The cost of the tansfer is 25 million euros, of which the first 4 will be handed over within the next two months. this morning, at the end of as arduous bargaining session that lasted 4 hours [is 4 hours really that arduous when buying a soccer team?… sounds quick to me…], an agreement was signed by both parties for the transfer of 90% of A.S. Bari stock. The ofther 10% is owned by the De Bartolomeo group and will be bought up separately by Barton next week.
The intermediary, Alessio Mora, will take on the post of administrator. The parties have agreed to finish the transaction by October 31st, while the “due diligence” will be completed by the end of September [so it’s not totally done, as you can pull out if you find some skeleton in the closet…] for the next 2 months, Matarrese and Barton will guide Bari as a two-man team – thereby easing the transition.
SAFETY [from relegation] – After a quick visit to san Nicola stadium (“there’s much work ahead”, says Barton, the Texas magnate met Bari Mayor Michele Emiliano this afternoon (who gave Barton a gift a medal and a book on the patron saint of Bari, St. Nicholas). “We hope that this will be the first of many projects – declared Barton – withe the City of Bari. We’ll put all our efforts into it. [… this sort of confirms what I said in the other comment that he’s probably doing this to get on the good graces of local government for his future investments – and that he has a real stake in being a popular owner of an overachieving team 🙂 … )
In Septemeber, the Texan’s business group will unveil its megaproject, scaled for all of southern Italy, related to Green Energy. “Bari can become the symbol of a new energy.” says Mayor Emiliano. “For us it’s a cause of great pride” [so he’s on board as long as the team doesn’t stink…]
As far as technical considerations are concerned, Mora says “Mr. Barton obviously can’t just wave a magic wand. All his actions will strive to improve Bari’s image. This year he’ll do everything he needs to do, starting immediately, to reach the primary objective: avoiding relegation. After that we’ll aim higher. One this is certain: we’ll be able to do a lot more, in terms of reinforcements, starting in January, not before. We’re confirming current Sproting Director Perinetti and coach Ventura to their posts, as well as the rest of the team management. If we’re forced to make radical changes, they’ll come later.”
Tim Barton left that night for business engagements in Israel and Dubai.
– END OF ARTICLE –
– Comments on the article by fans sound a bit worried that by January Bari might be toast, so they really want him to buy something sooner.
Landon to Bari?
Aaron– The only American currently certified to coach in Europe is John Murphy (former assistant at the Colorado Rapids). He was coaching a failed Scottish team that went into administration and I’m not sure what he’s doing now.
Also, how much is Tim Barton worth? He’s not on the Forbes Richest 400 Americans which means he’s below the 1.3 Billion level (by comparison, Malcolm Glazer is worth 2.3 Billion).
Someone said on the internet that Barton is only worth 40 Million, but surely that is a number someone made up. Anyone got ANY info?
resistance? sure. but keeping the team in Serie A for two seasons has a magical way of overcoming resistance.
Wow, Inter and Barca in the same Champs league group stage with dynamo Kiev and a russian team too… fun group.
Aristotle,
At least from the interview there doesn’t seem to be resistance. Bari are minnows soccerwise (just made it back to Serie A), so the money infusion seems to have everyone pretty excited. At least from the Interview Barton is being presented as a rich Texas Oil Baron who lights his cigars with $100 bills, and that’s exciting for a team used to fighting for relegation. (He’s actually mainly a Real Estate baron, btw, whatthediff).
OK… I speak Italian and listened to the interview and read the Gazzetta articles. They’re way too long to do a transcript, but here’s what I found interesting:
The video interview:
– Tim Barton is gracious, says very nice things about Bari, its fan enthusiasm and the Matarrese family (prior owners)
– Doesn’t mention anything about bringing in Americans (but isn’t asked, either)
– Explains that he approached the Matarrese family to cooperate on a clean energy investment deal (I’m guessing solar, as Bari is in a dry part of Italy), and as part of the discussion they decided to buy the soccer deal. So no reason to believe he’s a soccer fan or anything. He’ll probably be the silent-owner moneybags and let the second guy in the video (Alessio Mora) run the club as he sees fit.
– In a city like Bari, running the soccer team well and making it succeed can probably open up a lot of doors with city/regional government, so I can see that he might be doing it for the PR advantage for his investment in the area. So he’d have a clear incentive to make Bari a solid Serie A team.
– Alessio Mora (who I think I understood was interim administrator under the Matarrese reign) is now confirmed as the administrator (I assume that’s a Stover role, not an Agoos but not sure).
– He makes it clear that real money will flow now (though that may be just for midling Serie A standards – i.e. not the second coming of Ibramovich).
– He says there won’t be major player movement in the next week (I assume that’s the end of the current window), as it’s too late for that, but that lots of signings will happen in December (Hello, Landon! 🙂 . Donovan aside, that’s a convenient time to land Gringos, so let me be the first to say it: we’ll see 2-3 more Yanks in Serie A come the next year.
– He also doesn’t specifically say anything about bringing in Americas (but isn’t asked).
– When asked by the interviewer a cute question about what he’ll be able to tell his one-year-old daughter (who apparently is already a big Bari fan) in a few years, Mora says that it’ll be that Tim Barton took her favorite team into the Champions League.
– So they’ve got some serious ambitions. they also apparently have huge expectations now, with Bari fans in the streets demanding big signings.
The Gazzetta Article: I’ll transcribe it next.
But we have all seen what Adu did to Juventus last year in that friendly…. he needs to be in Serie A
Toche, Blokin
the comments here about which American players that this guy should bring in are hilarious…
1) some of American owners haven’t exactly endeared themselves to local fans in Europe… he needs to tread carefully
2) American players that are currently getting steady playing time in the top 4-5 leagues can be counted on both hands… not exactly a robust crop to choose from
3) this guy isn’t running the team for USMNT’s benefit, his priority is to keep the team in Serie A by all means possible- I doubt that bringing in a Chad Marshall off this two (own) goal performance last night is the best way to achieve this objective…
4) didn’t the half-American owner of Monaco say the same thing last year when he bought the club and then brought Adu to rot on the bench?
ADU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
nice – I’ve always been a fan of this team (their mascot looks like a ‘crazy chicken’)
Not sure why he wants to compete in europe and also bring in american talent. Seems like an unproven recipe – but sure, bring in the gringos!
This sounds great for Americans but what do the locals have to say about it? It seems like there is usually resistance to Americans buying soccer teams in most places outside of America. Then to say he’s bringing in Americans doesn’t seem like it would endear him to the fans. Then again, if they’re anxious to become successful maybe they will overlook it.
I thought it was kind of funny that he said he would boost the team’s prospects by bringing in American players. Really? Do we have enough Serie A level players that would make Bari successful in Europe? As it is some of our top player can’t seem to get off the bench in lesser leagues.
italy have some restrictive rules for non EU players. Just because he wants to bring in some US players won’t mean he can… but clark to livorno if he does well could help open italian eyes.
(SBI-There are plenty of quality Americans with Italian ancestry who could do the trick. Just a thought.)
Foccacia? No, he needs the orecchiette. That’s the regional pasta specialty.
Bari is an interesting city. Not exactly a booming metropolis, but they’ve got a really quality stadium from WC2010.
Nice old area, but apart from that…
With Serie A splitting off, I wonder what this means if they are relegated.
Bari play in a 50k+ stadium and they have an cool old school KFC crest:
http://www.brandsoftheworld.com/brands/0015/2979/brand.gif
If he gets some USMNT players in he could probably recoup a good bit of his investment with jersey sales in the US. I would totally get an Italian Serie A Bari funky chicken club jersey.
Very interesting.
i watched Bari played Inter (only for a little while) but they held their own (during that stint).
i would like to see what Bari fans feel about him saying he wishes to set it up as an American feeder system into europe. i forgot what Italy’s foreign policies are, i suspect they’d like to see their foreign spots used up by top talents rather then risks.
Maybe this could be a place for Sal Zizzo to land and get a shot? Germany hasn’t been great for him. A smaller Serie A outfit sounds natural
Also – isn’t it insane to see an entire franchise can be had for $25 mil., but players such as Kaka and Ronaldo have just been sold at prices that dwarf an entire clubs price tag. Amazing.
I don’t know what Bari is like as a city or team, but I think it is in a historically poor area. There probably are a lot of Barese here in the States and around the world. I knew some when I was a kid, they loved soccer of course and they were Juventus fans who used to go to bars where they had those enormous satellite dishes to watch the games. Long before every Italian in the world affixed a little dish to their house and got Rai.
Great news for Bari. They look like a “rubber band” club potentially a la Birmingham. Let’s get some Americans over there and see what can happen.
Guys I think he should look at:
Robbie Rogers (not sure about visa issues in Italy)
Stuart Holden
Freddy Adu
Chad Marshall
Just to name a few
Players – sure it’d be nice to see a few more get a legit shot (especially with pressure from the top to play them).
I’d be more excited at the prospect of an American coach maybe taking the helm there some time. Correct me if I’m wrong but there hasn’t been any American-born coaches playing their trade in the top levels of Europe.
Im not gay, but I love Tim Barton…
I will be following this closely….I guess it’s as good of a reason as possible to support an Italian side.
I refuse to be an AC Milan supporter (even with Gooch) in fear of being called a front runner. 🙂
I adopted this team as my second fav italian team because it is my grandmas city. Now with an american owner, it only gets better.
Lando seems like a natural fit. Not sure if anyone else is free/ has the talent for Serie A. Maybe Adu, maybe Holden, maybe Chad Marshall, Maybe Feilhaber? Not sure
The new stadium alone probably makes the Red Bulls more valuable than any MLS club. Yeah, the onfield product isn’t there but the New York market plus a new stadium will always make their valuation way higher then other franchises.
He shouldn’t stop there, he should also buy a Foccacia while he is in Bari
Posted by: Mike M | August 27, 2009 at 11:51 AM
Ha! Mike, classic, my friend. Absolutely classic. Thanks for making my day
Wow, for $36M he could barely buy an MLS team.
This is the reason there will never be promotion/relegation in the MLS.
Means the Red Bulls would be worth less than the Austin Aztecs.
He shouldn’t stop there, he should also buy a Foccacia while he is in Bari
funny. i met a kid this summer playing soccer. he is from Bari, he is back in Italy right now, but should be coming back soon.
I wonder what his take on this is.
too bad rico already signed…
i would grab gaven (couldn’t hurt), adu, u-17 martinez…
I’ve always wondered why an American owner doesn’t try to bring in a coupel americans and try to establish the team brand here in America.
crazy, maybe he will pick up Freddy, but I’m glad he wants to bring in americans.