St Johnstone are about to get a new owner.
Adam Webb will be the first foreign custodian of the Perth club in its 140-year history.
Webb is no stranger to British football.
Along with Utah entrepreneur, Mark Green, the Atlanta resident took up a minority stake in English League One club, Cambridge United in September 2020.
Who is Adam Webb?
What can be gleaned from his involvement with Cambridge?
And how was the notoriously difficult to impress Brown persuaded that he was the right man to take the club forward into a new era?
Courier Sport explores the background to the most significant off-field development at St Johnstone in 40 years.
The high stakes lawyer
E (Edward) Adam Webb is the managing partner at legal firm, Webb, Klase & Lemond and works in the state and federal courts of Georgia and numerous other states.
He has earned a reputation as one of America’s leading First Amendment litigators, developing an expertise in litigating against major corporations on behalf of consumers.
He has helped secure hundreds of millions of dollars for people who have been victimised by abuses of power.
Before moving on to Harvard University, a young Webb was named Georgia’s STAR Student for 1989, an honour given to the state’s most outstanding high school student.
A state wrestling champion, he played on Georgia’s American football team (runner-up in their region), blocking for future college and Seattle Seahawks running back, Mack Strong.
Soccer was also a passion of Webb’s from a young age.
He was captain of his high school team when they won the regional championship in 1989.
Falling for St Johnstone
Webb cast his net across Europe, England and Scotland to find a club to buy.
There have been more than 10 interested parties since Brown announced he was putting his club on the market over a year ago.
But Webb emerged as the most serious suitor towards the end of last year.
On their fact-finding mission to Scotland, the two men stayed at Gleneagles Hotel.
They were guests of St Johnstone for a trip to the Highlands to watch Saints play Ross County.
Webb is hopefully a lucky charm, as the victory was the Perth side’s first on the road in the Premiership this season.
He was also in the directors’ box at McDiarmid Park a few days later for the midweek defeat to Hearts.
No formal bid was made at that stage but that followed days after, with Webb sold on the St Johnstone project.
Convincing Brown that he was the right man to run the football club, was arguably his biggest task.
The local house-builder isn’t an easy man to impress but the American did just that.
Webb’s commitment to come across to Scotland – which involved early morning and connecting flights in both directions – was important.
And, within a couple of days of getting back to America, Webb had set up a new company to buy the club.
As with all Saints fans unable to get to matches in person, he has been kicking every ball as he watches the Premiership survival battle from afar.
This is already a contract of head and heart.
There is no relegation clause in the deal, Courier Sport understands.
The EFL and SFA have been kept in the loop over the last couple of months, while the dotting of Is and crossing of Ts between lawyers has delayed the official announcement.
But plans have already being put together for the first year of St Johnstone under new ownership and everything is on schedule to be completed in plenty of time to prepare for next season.
The Cambridge United story
In September, 2020 it was announced that Webb and Green would each be taking a 10% stake in Cambridge, with owner Paul Barry having approved the issue of new shares in the US company through which he holds his shares in the club.
Green would later put in another £1 million to take his stake to 20%, while Webb’s stayed as it was.
Both committed to ongoing financial contributions and are credited with playing an important part in United, from whom Saints goalkeeper Dimitar Mitov was signed, buying back the freehold for their Abbey Stadium and financing a new £3.5m training ground.
Supporters have been impressed by their financial and emotional commitment.
Paul Barry
7️⃣0️⃣%Mark Green
2️⃣0️⃣%Adam Webb
1️⃣0️⃣%Co-owner Mark Green has increased his stake in Cambridge United with a £1m investment 👉 https://t.co/XGg2ja8Un7
Mark Bonner explains how the money is being spent 👇 pic.twitter.com/jO5rbrj83V
— BBC Cambs Sport (@BBCCambsSport) July 15, 2021
In a podcast interview, multi-millionaire businessman Green, said: “I bought a share of Cambridge United during the pandemic.
“It’s been so ridiculously fun to be a part of that on so many different levels.”
Green described the duo’s contribution as largely “passive”.
For Webb, that is about to change.
Whether Green, or anybody else from America, gets involved in this project over the coming months and years remains to be seen.
It’s certainly a possibility.
A fresh era at St Johnstone is about to begin.
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