Category

Rugby ground shares called into question

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One of the fundamental problems with running a football club is that the stadium is an expensive capital asset which is under utilised.  You can try and hire out the suites for conferences and some continental clubs have built in space for shops and businesses underneath the stand, e.g., Real Madrid, Utrecht. However, with the number of out of town stadiums growing that becomes a less feasible option. Meanwhile, the pitch stands silent and empty, being nurtured by the ground staff for the next game.

Fears for Sky Blues grow

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Fears that Coventry City may have to go into administration have grown after an investigation by the Coventry Evening Telegraph revealed that the first call on the club’s assets are now held by a company registered in the Cayman Islands called Arvo Master Fund Ltd.

Champions League money hit

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Chelsea’s Champions League victory will mean that the three other English qualifiers for next season’s competition will earn million of pounds less.   The split of Uefa television money will reflect the fact that Chelsea start in the group stages.

Manchester City will get about £9m rather than £12m, Manchester United £7.5m instead of £9 and Arsenal £4.5m not £6m.

Minstermen on the up

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York City languished in the Conference for eight years, showing what a difficult league it is to get out of. But now they have escaped in some style, winning the FA Trophy and promotion through the play offs from the Blue Square Bet Premiership.

How many will renew their season tickets?

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Any survey of whether fans will renew their season tickets undertaken at this time of the year needs to come with a health warning.   Many fans declare at this stage that they will not be renewing and then eventually do when the deadline approaches such is the emotional pull of the tie to their club.   They are then set up for another year moaning about their team which serves as a distraction from other frustrations in their lives.

City top value table

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Manchester City have topped the value league compiled by ING Direct Bank which ranks Premiership clubs based on how much fans pay for their season tickets compared to how the team performed during the 2011-12 season and how many goals they scored.

City have the second cheapest tickets in the Premier League.   The lowest cost season ticket in the Etihad is £260.   Only Blackburn had a cheaper ticket at £225.

Talking to the lawyers

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I am well aware that the number of sports lawyers is on the increase: they tend to dominate academic discussion of football.   It’s a very interesting area of the law to be in and can be lucrative.

It’s therefore interesting to get in depth reflections from four lawyers on their clubs and their relationship with them.   The four clubs are: Manchester City, Liverpool, West Bromwich Albion and Bournemouth.

Be grateful for what you have

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That is the advice to Spurs fans from the Evening Standard.   This may be just another sub-standard article from a paper that often fails to scale the heights of football journalism, but it does make some interesting points.

Holloway wants some cash

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Ian Holloway has warned Blackpool chairman Karl Oyston that Blackpool cannot expect to hope competing for Barclays Premier League status unless they started investing in the team.   He would like to see more rewards for existing players given that the average weekly wage looks likely to drop to £10,000 a man.  That is still over £400,000 a year but below the highest levels in the second tier.