WAD BLESS AMERICA

Yank invaders win over fans

- ALAN SMITH

IT IS 20 years on from the Glazers’ controversial arrival in Manchester and 15 since the ‘Thanks but no Yanks’ campaign at Liverpool.

But now, US-backed clubs are coming off the back of an unprecedented season. For American owners, success was always going to shrink the stigma.

The top two in the Premier League, Championship and League One were all at least part backed by Americans.

So too FA Cup winners Crystal Palace, while Chelsea last week secured a first bit of silverware for their investors from across the Atlantic.

But with 65 per cent of next season's Premier League clubs owned by them and the domino effect extending to more than a quarter of clubs in the EFL, is it the law of averages or have several cracked the code?

"I don’t know if it’s causation or correlation," said New York-based David Gandler (inset), the latest arrival having completed a majority takeover of Leyton Orient, who then lost the League One play-off final to another US-financed team in Charlton.