I’m a Premier League owner who made £155m thanks to toilet paper then bought my club for a pound
PRINCE ABDULLAH BIN MOSA’AD BIN ABDULAZIZ AL SAUD is hardly a household name in the UK.
But anyone who has visited the Middle East on holiday has likely benefited from his business.
Prince Abdullah, 58, runs the Saudi Paper Manufacturing Company, which produces toilet rolls, tissues and kitchen rolls, distributing them across neighbouring countries and into North Africa.
The firm is valued at around £225million… but it took just a single coin for Prince Abdullah to buy his 50 per cent stake in Sheffield United.
His £1 payment to Kevin McCabe in September 2013 saw the prince become a co-owner of the then-League One side.
However, the token gesture came with the promise of a further £10m in investment into the Bramall Lane club.
A tense and lengthy legal battle started in 2017 when McCabe tried to convince his business partner Prince Abdullah to sell his 50 per cent stake for £5m while the Saudi man wanted to buy McCabe’s half out for the same price.
Nearly two years later, the High Court ruled in Prince Abdullah’s favour and when rival McCabe’s appeals were rejected, the toilet paper tycoon became the sole owner.
United were relegated in 2021 but their second-placed finish in the Championship last season sees them return to the Premier League this term with an estimated value of £75m.
It means there are now two Saudi-backed clubs in England’s top flight – but the connections to the royal family are far looser at Sheffield United than at Newcastle.
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Prince Abdullah does have a link to the state’s ruling family – but simply as one of an estimated 1,000 grandchildren of Saudi’s founder and first king, Ibn Saud.
It is understood he is keen to sell Sheffield United, despite the Blades’ return to the Premier League and his United World portfolio of football clubs that also features Belgian side Beerschot, Kerala United in India, the UAE’s Al-Hilal United and most recently Chateauroux of France.
One day he dreams of owning an NFL side.
But it is his paper business that remains the prince’s priority after so much hard work went into getting the company on its feet.
He told Campden FB in 2015: “[As a prince] you have to fight strong perceptions. Everybody assumes that you have got it easy and everything was handed to you. You have a lot of money. That was not the case for me.
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“Growing up we had decent money, we never felt that we needed the money, we always travelled to good places, ate good food. I had a good car. I didn’t think money was an issue.
“I went to a decent college, I was an honours student. But then when I wanted to get married and start the business, I did not have the money to do it. I knew then that I had to do everything myself.
“We went to the 13 banks in Saudi Arabia and I was turned down by 12 of them. They would not give a loan to a prince because they thought ‘If he doesn’t pay back then we cannot go after him.’
“Hard work was key. There would be 16-18 hour working days for me. It didn’t matter if I was sick or if it was Friday or Saturday. I would work every day. I had no life.”
“I think being a prince can be a curse if you don’t quickly grasp that being a prince is not enough to have a good life.
“You have to work as hard. You have to do something. Nothing big will be handed to you.”