English League One sides Birmingham City and Wrexham have been credited as part of the reason why a Rangers takeover is on the go. 49ers Enterprises from the USA are closing in on seizing control at Ibrox. A deal could be in place before the start of next season and it would be the second UK club under their wing after taking charge at Leeds United. Wrexham have shot up the English football ladder after a takeover by Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney. Birmingham City meanwhile have an American superstar investor in Tom Brady, and finance expert Kieran Maguire says the League One pair’s booming interest is part of the reason why investing in UK football clubs is proving so attractive. Maguire told the Scottish Football Podcast: “It's not like an individual buying a football club or a nation state, as we have seen in recent years. 49ers enterprises is effectively looking after the pocket money of some seriously wealthy individuals, many of whom have no interest in soccer, as they would refer to it, but they will have seen the success of Welcome to Wrexham. “They will have seen the investment by Tom Brady in Birmingham City and the impact that that has had, and all of a sudden it's made football very, very alluring. So they have significant funds, but they are not frivolous. The way that Paraag has got involved with Leeds United, it was a dance for around about a decade before 49ers formally became involved and started to build up their investments in Leeds United. “And now that he's in charge, he's delivering on the pitch. He's not necessarily spending as much money as Leeds United fans would like to spend, but I think that's because he's sensible. There's too many people that think just flashing the cash is a way to achieve success. And football is littered with cases when that's not actually arisen.” Upon the initial reporting of Rangers being taken over by the 49ers, Maguire told the Daily Mail: “What UEFA have said is that, for every £100 that Rangers or Celtic generate from ticket sales, TV money and commercial deals plus the average of their player sales from the last three years they can then spend in this calendar year £80 of that on player costs. “Player costs are wages, agents fees and transfer fees amortised. If Rangers sign a player for £10m on a four-year contract, they have £2.5m costs going into the accounts every year on that player. When Rangers won the Premiership (in 2021) and qualified for the Champions League, with television money on the back of that, they narrowed the gap. 'But they had to keep moving forward and they didn't. “I have no partisan position in this and it's clear that Celtic have moved ahead. How Rangers catch up is now the question. I think it needs Celtic to do a lot of things wrong and Rangers to do an awful lot right at the same time before the gap can be eliminated.”