"If you want some accessible but informative insight into football then I suggest you couldn't do better than the Political Economy of Football website, which is not only intelligible but comes with the added bonus of being written by Addicks fan Wyn Grant." Ben Hayes - Charlton Athletic programme
Organising competitive football on an island can be a big challenge. The ultimate example of this is the Isles of Scilly where just two teams play each other week after week whether it is the league or the cup. Even on Guernsey in the Channel Islands where there is a population of 60,000 there are only seven teams in the league.
I was talking to a neighbour who has a season ticket at the Emirates the other day and he said that the volume of complaining was on the increase. My first thought was that if my team was secure in the Premier League and regularly in the Champions League, I would be very happy. But expectations are understandably higher at the Emirates.
West Ham United are taking legal action against Tottenham Hotspur and the Sunday Times over allegations surrounding the validity of the Olympic Stadium bidding process.
This article is contributed by Tarik Ajanović:
GNK Dinamo Zagreb has definitely managed to become one of the most stable clubs in South-Eastern Europe shown by their financial development in the past few years. The majority of their income was generated by player transfers to other clubs with Eduardo to Arsenal, Luka Modrić and Vedran Ćorluka to Tottenham, Dejan Lovren to Lyon and Niko Kranjčar to Hajduk Split being the biggest ones (estimated at around £41 million in total).
At the end of last week I attended the 6th annual conference of the Association for the Study of Sport and the European Union at Nottingham Trent University. I was presenting on the Premier League, but there were a number of other fascinating papers that gave me new insights into the interface between sport and law, the governance of football and future business trends. I will be reporting on these papers over the next week or so.
This article is contributed by Tarik Ajanović:
After Ivica Osim became the president of the FIFA and UEFA-backed Normalization committee for the Bosnian FA in April, the famous manager has managed to introduce several new things into the system.
Carson Yeung has assured Birmingham City fans that he will continue to bankroll the club despite his arrest in Hong Kong. He also says that he wants to continue attending games, although whether his bail conditons will allow that remains to be seen.
Carson Yeung, Birmingham City’s president and largest single shareholder, has been arrested in Hong Kong on money laundering charges. He will appear in court later today. A statement issued by Birmingham City has emphasised that the charges have nothing to do with the club’s holding company. Nevertheless, they clearly have implications for the orderly running of the club if the matter is not cleared up soon.
After two years as the Zamaretto League, the Southern League has recruited Evo-Stik as its new sponsors. They already sponsor the Northern Premier League where their deal is reportedly worth £150,000 a year. The Southern League will receive an estimated £100,000, a great improvement on the £35,000 a year provided by Zamaretto.
Rushden and Diamonds have appealed against their expulsion from the Blue Square Bet Premiership. Their potential Japanese investors are only interested if they retain their Conference status. However, it is difficult to see their appeal succeeding in which case Kettering will move into the Nene Park stadium at Irthlingborough, some eight miles from their current base at Rockingham Road.