Leeds deal close

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Leeds United have confirmed the identity of the men behind the consortium buying the Championship football club and pledging to provide transfer funds. Sport Capital, which is close to acquiring a minimum 75 per cent stake, includes Andrew Flowers, managing director of club sponsor Enterprise Insurance.

Current United managing director David Haigh is also part of the group. Sport Capital has invested £6m in the club in the past three months and hopes to complete the takeover soon.

Haigh said funds had been made available to manager Brian McDermott to strengthen his squad.

Scunthorpe’s new stadium plan

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Scunthorpe United’s new stadium plans have been unveiled. The striking 12,000 capacity all-seater “Iron Arena” is part of the vision for a £40 million out-of-town football and leisure development created by FWP for the Lincolnshire club on a site near its present Glanford Park ground.

The plan also includes a 120-bed hotel, a multi-use indoor arena, community sports pitches, indoor and outdoor crown green bowling facilities and a potential transport interchange hub with a new rail station.

The multi-club model

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New Charlton Athletic owner Roland Duchatelet owns or has interests in five other football clubs: Standard Liege, FC Brussels and AFC Tubize in Belgium; (through his son) Upjest FC in Hungary; and Carl Zeiss Jena in Germany. He is also said to be eyeing Ad Alcorin in the Spanish second division.

What is the motivation for such a multi-club model? Charlton blogger New York Addick has considered its possible commercial merits:

Cup can be a distraction or a lifeline

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For football clubs the FA Cup can be an unwelcome distraction or a lifeline. Wigan’s FA Cup success last year was worth £4m to the club in prize money and gate receipts – before bonus payments are taken into account. The subsequent Europa League run brought in a further £2 million.

Avoiding relegation last season would have been worth at least £63m if Wigan had finished bottom of the Barclays Premier League. But then they might have got relegated anyway if they had not won the cup and they have something to remember.

Cup is a distraction says Villa boss

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Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert believes the majority of top-flight clubs would rather not have the distraction of the FA Cup.

Lambert was asked whether the FA Cup was something Premier League clubs could do without. ‘I think if you asked the majority of them, if they were being honest, they probably would do,’ he told BBC WM. ‘Not just because of the money but survival in the league is vital.’

Charlton become first Belgian owned club

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Charlton Athletic have become the first Belgian owned club in English football with reports that that the takeover by Walloon millionaire Roland Duchatelet has been completed. With no news for some days, Addicks fans had been concerned that the deal had fallen through, but reports of another bidder may have concentrated minds.

However, the price is understood to be £20m not the £14m originally reported. Duchatelet, who made his money in microelectronics, already owns Standard Liege as well as clubs in Germany and Hungary.

EU probe into Swansea City

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The EU has been stepping up its interest in illegal state aid in football, having recently launched an investigation into a number of leading Spanish clubs. A deal allowing Swansea City FC and the Ospreys rugby region to play at the Liberty Stadium is being investigated by the European Commission.

Swansea council has been asked to give details over funding arrangements at the council-owned stadium. State aid rules, policed by the commission, limit how much public money can be given to private companies.

Wigan record small profit

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Some of the other financial results released on New Year’s Eve contained bad news, so Wigan Athletic can congratulate themselves on recording a small profit which is an achievement for any football club, even if it was down on last year.

Financial results for the year ending 31 May 2013 show the Championship side made a net profit of £822,000 compared with £4.3m net profit in 2012. The figures cover the season 2012-13 when Latics won the FA Cup for the first time in its history but were relegated from the Premier League in the same week.

Chelsea lose just under £50m

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Quite why Chelsea have chosen to release their financial results on New Year’s Eve is an interesting question, particularly as they feel they tell a good story.

The club made a loss of just under £50m, compared with a small profit of £1.4m last year. Last year’s small profit was influenced by special factors including player sales and the ending of a joint digital venture with Sky with led to a one off payment.