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Articles and reports on financial issues within football – soccer – from The Political Economy of Football.
The profits of Leeds United were down in the year ending 30 June 2012. This was, of course, before the new owners took over.
Operating profits of £939,000 in 2011 turned into a loss of £3.346m. However, there was an overall profit of £317,000 compared with a figure of £3.5m the previous year.
Turnover decreased by just under 5 per cent in the period. Gate receipts fell by a worrying 10.6 per cent, emphasising the need for the new owners to work to boost attendances.
Short-termism is rife when it comes to the tenure of football managers, but the sacking of Sean O’Driscoll at Nottingham Forest yesterday was greeted with disbelief. Forest are one point off the play off places and beat a resurgent Leeds United 4-2 yesterday. O’Driscoll was popular in the dressing rooms and the stands.
It’s been a tough few months for Hearts on the financial front with the club being threatened with liquidation at one stage, Although challenges remain, the picture is brighter as the year draws to a close.
On 18th February 1933 the writer and broadcaster J B Priestley went to the derby game between Nottingham Forest and Notts County. Apparently, there was a ‘huge crowd’ in attendance, although Priestley was puzzled by how one decided to be a Forest or County supporter.
Manchester City are planning to restructure their player recruitment policy with a summer clearout of players. Their wage bill has risen above £200m and threatens their ability to comply with Uefa’s financial fair play rules.
GFH Capital, the new owners of Leeds United, will not spend ‘crazy money’ in the Januray transfer window. ‘January is not a great time to do business and we already have quite a good squad with others coming back from injury,’ said GFH executive Salem Patel. ‘What we want to do is to make the investment sustainable and make the club successful.’
Manager Neil Warnock has said that he does not want to spend ‘stupid money’, although Southampton’s Ricky Lambert is said to be among his targets.
Rangers Football Club won a favourable reaction from investors on its Aim debut, trading above its 70p flotation price. The club exceeded its £20m fundraising target, raising £22.2m and gaining a market capitalisation of £45.6m. Shares reached a high of 77p during first day trading before closing at 76p.
Although there was considerable institutional interest, about 11 per cent of the shares went to some 5,000 ordinary Rangers fans from whom about £5.2m was raised. Chief executive Charles Green is the biggest shareholder with 8 per cent.
Premier League clubs have voted in principle to curb spending, but they still cannot agree on what form of financial regulation to apply. There will be a further discussion on February 6th.
The decision in favour of the principle is a setback for the strongest opponents: Aston Villa, Fulham and Manchester City, all of them benefactor clubs. West Bromwich Albion have also aligned themselves with this group.
Will Dubai-based investment group GFH, who are scheduled to take control of Leeds United on Friday, be the saviours of the club? Will they enable Leeds to return to the Premier League from which they have been absent for so long? It appears to be a qualified maybe, at least from the perspective of the Leeds United Supporters’ Trust.
Premier League clubs meet today to discuss a paper on how various forms of financial regulation might work. The approval of 14 clubs is needed to approve any change and although there is broad agreement that something needs to be done to bring spending under control, there is disagreement on how it might be done. Some schemes would be more beneficial to particular clubs than others.