Borussia Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke has critisiced foreign ownership in the Premier League ahead of Manchester City's trip to Germany.
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The German businessman believes that English football has lost its culture and romance because of the influx in foreign ownership in the top flight.
"I am a little bit romantic, and that is not romantic," Watzke told the Guardian. "In England people seem not to be interested in this - at Liverpool they are fine for the club to belong to an American.
"But the German is romantic: when there is a club, he wants to have the feeling it is my club, not the club of Qatar or Abu Dhabi.
"Germans want to have that sense of belonging. When you give [the supporters] the feeling that they are your customers, you have lost. In Germany, we want everybody to feel it is their club, and that is really important.
"In former times in England I think the relationship between the club and supporters was very strong. Our people come to the stadium like they are going to their family. Here, the supporters say: it's ours, it's my club."
A recent BBC report revealed the astronomical matchday costs for football fans in Britain, in stark contrast to the cheap, safe standing tickets in Germany.
Watzke believes this is a huge contributing factor to their regular attendance figures of 80,000 at Signal-Iduna-Park.
"Here, it is our way to have cheap tickets, so young people can come," he said.
"We would make 5 million euros more a season if we had seats, but there was no question to do it, because it is our culture. In England it is a lot more expensive. Football is more than a business."
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