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Leeds United are pushing for a decision in the next 24 hours on whether Massimo Cellino’s takeover of the club will be approved. They wrote to the Football League’s in-house lawyer, Nick Craig, on Thursday morning.
Everton has today confirmed an extension to its shirt sponsorship with Chang in a deal that could be worth in excess of £16 million – the most lucrative in the Club’s 136-year history.
The deal, which gets underway at the start of next season, runs for three years until the end of the 2016/17 campaign and remains the longest-running shirt sponsorship in the Barclays Premier League.
Critics of the Premier League get a boost when clubs from the English top flight fail to progress. With the success of Manchester United yesteday evening, two of the eight clubs in the quarter finals are English. David Conn must have been choking over his cornflakes.
There have been a number of calls recently for greater transparency and accountability in the governance of football and this report reviews the issues and makes some sensible suggestions.
Not surprisingly, the Football Association comes in for some criticism. It is suggested that it has failed to discharge its responsibilities as a regulator by delegating too much authority to the leaves.
The takeover of Leeds United by Massimo Cellino is now in jeopardy after an Italian court found him guilty of tax evasion. It will now be very difficult for the Football League to approve the takeover. Cellino is going to appeal against the decision.
A £23m loss at Sunderland in the year to 31 July is better than it looks. It doesn’t include transfer dealings after then, nor does it take account of the new television deal that kicked in this season. Last year expenditure was reduced by £9m to £95m, largely through reducing wage costs.
Hereford United are on the brink of administration after they were served a £36,500 winding up order by HM Revenue and Customs. Hereford’s MP has asked for a degree of forbearance, but football clubs can’t be exempted from meeting their tax obligations.
With Hull destined to retain the ‘common’ name of City rather than take a distinctive name that makes them sound like a rugby league or hockey club, owner Asseem Allam has reiterated that he will ‘walk away’ from the club.
It looks as if the Football Association are ready to reject the change of the name of Hull City to Hull Tigers, a move strongly opposed by Hull fans. The campaign against the name change was led by the highly professional City Till We Die fans group. City fans insisted that they were a club not a brand.
Manchester United’s season may be going from bad to worse, but at least they head the ‘likes’ league for English clubs on Facebook. This may seem scant consolation, but the way in which they have brand recognition and a big followership across the globe helps to explain the success of United’s commercial operation.