Doug King, a commodities trader who runs Singapore-based RCMA Group, bought Coventry City FC in January 2023 after assuming more than £36mn of net liabilities. On a sunny March morning, he watched training at the Coventry Building Society Arena, nine points clear at the top of the Championship and chasing promotion that would unlock Premier League broadcast revenue.

King wakes through the night when geopolitics moves markets. A Truth Social post cost him $15 on oil prices overnight. He trades risk and reward for a living, but football club ownership demands a different kind of management when wage bills exceed revenues for most second-tier clubs and operating losses are routine.

The Premier League's current broadcast deal is roughly £6.7bn, ten times the £670mn Sky paid in 2001. That money drew foreign owners, from Roman Abramovich to Sheikh Mansour, into English football. King brings a mathematical engineering background and a commodities mindset to contracts and transfer deals, but football ownership is less about spreadsheets and more about navigating fan expectations and political heat.