Piet van der Pol says new Adelaide United owners’ identities will be kept secret to protect privacy

PIET van der Pol, the head of the new consortium that has bought Adelaide United, says the identities of the other three owners will remain shrouded in secrecy. But why — and do fans have a right to know who really owns their club?

New Adelaide United owner Piet van der Pol at Hindmarsh. Picture: DYLAN COKER

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PIET van der Pol — the head of the new consortium that has bought Adelaide United — says the identities of the other three owners will remain shrouded in secrecy to protect their privacy.

Three Dutchmen, including van der Pol and a Chinese investor, are part of a concerted push to ensure Adelaide remains a leading club in the A-League after they bought all shares from locals Greg Griffin, Robert Gerard, Bruno Marveggio and Dr Richard Noble last week.

One of the new investors was recently listed as being one of the wealthiest men from the Netherlands.

Van der Pol added the three other owners will enjoy their new club but always in the background.

“It’s an investor group that will be coming here perhaps twice a year, they’ll be going to the Barossa Valley and they won’t be shouting at the coach who to put on the bench for example,’’ van der Pol said.

“I’ll be looking after the club on behalf of the investors.”

Van der Pol said the new consortium’s purchase of Adelaide was based on many factors.

“Our investment group had the idea to set up a portfolio of clubs in several regions and several countries,’’ van der Pol said.

“First of all we are football fanatics and we are passionate about football.

“Secondly because some of the other investors are involved in wholesale, retail and manufacturing, they see possibilities and advantages through sponsorship, through synergies, through co-operation between clubs to do things better, more efficient.

“That’s for football and away from football.

“We started an interesting thing in China.

“China is one of the biggest growing football markets in the world, the country’s president Xi Jinping has made football a policy and actively wants China to seriously be at the top.

“That was a starting point and when we thought about how we can make this bigger, Australia was an obvious choice.

New Adelaide United owner Piet van der Pol at Hindmarsh. Picture: DYLAN COKER

“It is in the same time zone as China, Australian football gets broadcast on TV in China to a huge audience and an Australian club can be interesting for sponsorship from China.

“Australia is popular with Chinese people, Qingdao and Adelaide are sister cities and Shandong the province is a sister state to South Australia.

“There is a lot of activity already going on between these two spots.”

Van der Pol added he had been coming to Adelaide for the past 10 years as he was former Red striker Serginho van Dijk’s agent.

The 46-year-old and his group had been scouting the prospect of buying Adelaide seriously for the past 12 months before the agreement was signed last week.

The new United group also owns Chinese club Qingdao Red Lions which was started in 2016.

The club at the time had Marveggio listed as a shareholder.

Van der Pol says Marveggio is no longer involved in the Chinese third division club or Adelaide United as the Dutchman is content to regularly commute between Adelaide and Qingdao.

“I’ll be dividing my time between Adelaide and Qingdao,’’ van der Pol said.

“Our plans also include expansion with a club in Europe within 12 months.”

Van der Pol has also called in a Dutch coaching consultant but is adamant coach Marco Kurz will be encouraged to keep on doing his good work at a club which in the past has had a limited budget compared to Sydney FC, Melbourne City and Melbourne Victory.

Van der Pol will be at Adelaide’s clash against City at Hindmarsh on Friday after conducting meetings with Kurz and his staff and the playing group.

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