Why has Shad Khan invested so much in Fulham? The answer is Tony Khan.

Tony didn't just get his job because his Dad owns the club. He is the reason his Dad owns the club.

According to Fulham’s most recent public financial reports, in 2024/25 Shad Khan, through the various entities he uses to control the club, converted £145m of loans owed to him into equity for a club that he already owns outright.

This brings his total investment in Fulham to £1.158bn, a club he bought for £150m in 2013 and that is, according to Forbes, now worth £681m (or 70% less than his total investment).

And, that total investment figure does not include the reported £62m that Khan loaned to the club in 2024/25, nor the additional tens of millions he’s likely invested in 2025/26.

Why is Mr. Khan spending so much money on Fulham? Does he just love football and the team that much? The answer seems to be no.

While Khan does seem truly committed to Fulham, what he really seems to love is working with family - and his son, Tony.

In an interview with TalkSport last October, Shad was asked why he started buying sports teams, including Fulham. He said:

“Well, I liked sports, but I played cricket (laughs).

And first of all cricket doesn’t exist in the US. I played a little bit of tennis in high school and what have you, but I really discovered sports with Tony.”

Maybe he was, like us, watching the Premier League as a young man? Nope:

“I would have our customers, our suppliers, and banks invite (me) to (sporting) events. And I was like, no, I work 12 hours. I just want to pick up our hamburger on the way [home] for my wife and myself or maybe for my son and I want to go have it and go to bed - that was the life for us. And then Tony had an interest in sports. And [if] he wants to go, so I’ll take someone up on an invitation.”

Shad Khan’s life story is incredible. He worked his way through college by washing dishes, became an engineer and then somehow was able to buy the company he first worked for and turn it into a multibillion dollar, cash-generating auto parts behemoth.

But he was not interested in sports or football until Tony came along. Family and Tony are the key. The TalkSport interviewer asked him how special it was to work with his son, and Shad replied:

“Being born in Pakistan, pretty much everything is like a family business - you survive as a family. I worked with my dad ever since I could walk. Just the personal satisfaction you get… most people, unless they’re working as a family to survive, don’t get that. So I have really enjoyed that and want to be able to support him (Tony) to have the success he’s enjoying. It’s such a fulfilling thing, frankly it’s really hard to describe.”

I think the passion in this answer is notable in contrast to how Shad usually talks about Fulham where he tends to say nice, but not very passionate, things.

Shad got into sports to be able to work with his son - like he did with his Dad - and it paid off for him emotionally and, outside of Fulham, financially. The Khans have more than doubled their money on the Jaguars - now worth $5.6bn according to Forbes - and reportedly spent $100m to start a new wrestling federation that is now valued at $2bn.

Tony is the key. Getting to work with him is the main reason why Shad owns sport teams, including Fulham. What does Tony say about getting to work with his Dad? In another TalkSport interview from February this year, TK said:

“I’m very blessed to be able to spend this much time with him and to work in businesses that I really love and I’ve learned so much from him before I was working when I was in school when I was growing up and now as an adult and working professionally with him.”

The Khans often like to refer to Fulham as a “family club.” And, they mean it - it is the Khan Family Football club. Tony is not a nepo baby employee who got his job because his Dad owns the club. He is the reason why his Dad owns the club.

So, did Tony love football? Is that the reason why his Dad bought Fulham? I don’t think so. And while I believe Tony has, over time, come to love Fulham. But back then, what Tony loved was sports.

I think the reason Shad became our owner was because Tony was (and still is) passionate about sports management and analytics and that the Premier League was an exciting new area for both.

Look at the Jacksonville Jaguars site where Tony is described as a “a thought-leader in the world of sports analytics and insights.” The (not very recently updated) team bio, which presumably Tony approved, describes his role at Fulham:

“Khan has played an integral role in the identification, recruitment and signing of the players while continuing to oversee the club’s statistical research department, which he created in 2015 to analyze football player performance and develop proprietary football performance.”

Data and recruitment are Tony’s main interests. He wants to make his name by building successful sports teams using analytics. Tony is not (according to this reasoning) ever going to stop being involved with transfers as long as the Khans own Fulham.

Here’s how Tony described his role at the club to the Athletic in a 2023 interview:

Recruitment at Fulham, (Tony) explains, is a collaborative process involving himself, Silva and Mackintosh, as well as a team of data, analytics and scouting experts to look at every target in almost forensic detail. It is an exhaustive, time-consuming process and life can be hectic when Khan is also the co-owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars, as well as running his All Elite Wrestling empire and having various other work commitments.

“I lean heavily on data and analysing information,” says Khan, whose Boston-based company, TruMedia Networks, is one of the big hitters in the world of sports data. “Marco is also very analytical, but not looking so much at the databases. We’re looking (at players) in different ways and coming together on a lot of shared philosophies. We agree on almost everything and the players who have come in over the last two years have, overall, been very successful.”

This quote is telling about who the Khans will seek to hire as Fulham’s next manager - someone that Tony will like to work with on transfers and that will allow him to continue playing his role as chief of analytics (and Director of Football).

I know this might be frustrating to hear, but while Alistair Mackintosh could be set aside for the right new Fulham manager - as recently happened with top Jaguar executives when the Khans hired a new head coach for their NFL team - Tony will not be moved and, in fact, will mostly likely be the key decision maker in what manager we hire next.

I say this because, as far as I can tell, the Khans divide their work at Fulham thusly: Shad focuses on the Riverside Development and Tony focuses on the team.

As Tony said in his interview with TalkSport in February:

“Dad’s project has (borne) incredible fruit with the Riverside stand and the development there.That was a dream and he’s built something that will truly stand the test of time. He’s taken a timeless property and a timeless place and something that has so much beautiful magic with Craven Cottage and he’s added something incredible that I really believe in with Fulham Pier and the Riverside stand and I care so much about the football and the results of the football and I’ve never been the person who has the most sight on building out the stadium. and the ticketing revenue and things like that.”

I do think that Shad will be involved in selecting a new manager, because it is ultimately his money. He is a smart guy and incredibly successful businessman who understands that his billion-dollar investment might go up in smoke if we pick the wrong manager and get relegated, but Tony is likely going to be the main voice in room because, again, Shad is doing all of this mainly to be able to work with Tony. And what Tony wants to do is to be able to do what he thinks is the fun stuff at the properties they own.

God help us.

But, the good news, fellow Fulham fans, is that Shad Khan’s modus operandi is to not give up and to keep on investing until he wins and is successful (even more so because this is about his family and son).

Here’s what he said after the Jaguars finally - after many years of mediocrity (and a lot of criticism) - made it to the play-offs in 2017 (the equivalent, I guess, of getting to Europe):

“Well, I had been through life when I was a laughing stock in whatever business I was in, auto parts or what have you,” he said. “You have to stay in it and success comes. It’s a story of perseverance.”

And, as his continued investment of hundreds upon hundreds of millions of dollars shows, Khan is putting his money where his mouth is, which he can continue to do given that he is worth a reported $15.3bn and owns a company that generates hundreds of millions in cash every single year.