"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
What is the long-term management plan of Joe Lewis, the majority owner of Enic, the company that owns Tottenham Hotspur, and of his representative on Earth, Daniel Levy?
In the longer run, they may want to sell the club. Champions League football would make Spurs a more attractive proposition, but so would a redeveloped stadium.
Sports lawyer Daniel Geey looks at recent financial fair play cases, with particular reference to the case of Malaga, to try and establish what sanctions clubs might face for breaking the guidelines. As is often the case with legal matters, it seems that more case law is needed to come to any definite conclusions.
Is Cardiff City’s Vincent Tan the worst owner in football? That is the question posed in The Independent this morning. What is clear is that the anger of Bluebirds fans at the treatment of their popular manager is bubbling over.
Cardiff City manager Malky Mackay looks like being the next Premier League manager to depart. Owner Vincent Tan has told him to resign or be sacked. Apparently, the club has talked to four possible successors.
This enthusiasm for sacking managers comes at a cost. Should Mackay be sacked, he will be entitled to the full value of his contract which ends in 2016 and is worth £2.5m.
As anticipated, the Rangers board has seen off a challenge by rebel shareholders. The board defeated attempts by a group of shareholders led by former chairman Malcolm Murray to gain seats, with a comfortable majority.
About 1,800 shareholders greeted the club’s board with chants of ‘out, out, out’ at the AGM which was held on a specially constructed stage at Ibrox stadium.
About a third of shareholders voted against the reappointment of finance director Brian Stockbridge – the only remaining director of the club’s original board. His long-term future remains unclear, however.
Coventry City have unveiled images of their proposed new stadium. Of course, the most crucial piece of information is missing: where the new stadium might be.
The European Commission has opened three distinct in-depth investigations to verify whether various public support measures in favour of certain Spanish professional football clubs are in line with EU state aid rules. None of the measures was notified to the Commission, who was alerted by concerned citizens.
The Commission has concerns that these measures provided significant advantages to the beneficiary clubs to the detriment of the clubs which have to operate without such support.
Premier League football clubs are being urged to meet with Citizens UK, local fan groups and the Living Wage Foundation to begin the process of becoming accredited Living Wage Employers.
The move comes after the organisation released a hard hitting report that reveals the stark comparison between the low wages of catering, cleaning and security staff at Britain’s top football clubs and the huge net worth of club owners, remuneration packages of top CEOs and the exuberant wages of top players.
Expectation levels at Tottenham Hotspur may be out of kilter with the financial realties at the club. The fiscal firepower available at White Hart Lane does not match that of the four English clubs that have qualified for the Champions League knockout phase. Indeed, it is closer to clubs like Aston Villa, Everton, Fulham, Newcastle United and Sunderland.
Cardiff City manager Malky Mackay has Malyasian tanks on his lawn this morning after owner Vincent Tan was reported to be upset by a request for the squad to be strengthened by three players in the January transfer window.