Rumours: Uri Geller admits he wants to buy football club

2nd October 1997

Reading Evening POST

Psychic shopping in second division

A PREDICTION that psychic Uri Geller would soon be buying a football club was confined week when the Sonning spoonbender revealed he has had talks with the chairman of a Second Division side.

Oldham Athletic chairman Ian Stott telephoned Mr Geller on Tuesday to discover if rumours that he wanted to buy the club were true.

Speculation was rife after one of Mr Geller’s scouts was spotted at the team’s Boundary Park ground.

Mr Geller told the Reading Evening Post that he does want to buy a Second or Third Division side but had not yet decided which one.

He said: “It is true I sent one of my scouts to Boundary Park. But Oldham Athletic is just one of six sides I am interested in.”

“Mr Stott sounded very enthusiastic and, like any club chairman, would welcome an injection of cash.”

The Post revealed earlier this year that the internationally renowned psychic was interested in buying Exeter City Football Club, after Mr Geller admitted visiting the club on several occasions with his 16-year-old son, Daniel, who is an Exeter fan.

Mr Geller said: “Exeter and Oldham are two of the sides I am interested in but there are four others, which I am not prepared to reveal at this time.”

Nor is Mr Geller ready to reveal how much money he would be willing to inject into a club.

Mr Geller’s passion for football began when he was a youngster living in Cyprus. While he was still a teenager, he says, he helped a club at the bottom of the country’s league to win the championship using his psychic powers.

Since moving to Britain, he has been an ardent Royals fan.

Mr Geller said: “I still love Reading and its fans, but if I do buy another club I will have to focus all my energies on that new side.”

It has always been Mr Geller’s dream to own a football club.

He said: “Given a limitless amount of money, I would buy Arsenal.”