Can United Do $1bn Nike deal?

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New Manchester United chief executive Ed Woodward has come under some criticism for the club’s relative lack of activity in the transfer window, although they would claim their great success was holding on to Wayne Rooney who had evidently wanted to leave.

All the more important that Woodward secures a possible $1bn kit deal with Nike. There is time pressure on Woodward and his commercial staff because the big sports clothing companies, with whom United are now free to negotiate, generally need 18 months’ notice to deliver a new kit range.

New Blades Co-Owner Targets Premier League

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Sheffield United’s new co-owner, Prince Abdullah bin Mosaad bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, has said that he wants to see the Blades back in the Premier League in five years’ time.

He admitted that the timeline was a bit ambitious, but stated that ‘I prefer to have ambitious goals and fail than have easy goals and succeed.’

Profits up, debts down at Real Madrid

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How could Real Madrid afford to pay so much for Gareth Bale? Part of the answer is that they are one of the few global brands in football and purchasing Bale at what many thought was an excessive price was a way of asserting that status. Remember that Real Madrid were the first sports club to achieve annual revenues of more than €500m.

The challenge of running island teams

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The football season will be starting on the Isles of Scilly in a few weeks’ time when the summer tourist trade is over. Each Sunday two teams, Garrison Gunners and Woolpack Wanderers, will play each other in the league or various cups (starting with the equivalent of the community shield) at the Garrison Field stadium on the main island of St.Mary’s.

Big variations in payments to agents

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There are big variations in the payments that clubs in the Football League make to agents, according to a report on such payments in the 2012-13 season from the league. The overall level of payments was very similar to the previous season: £21.5m against £21.7m, although the decline looks more impressive if one factors in inflation (which reports on football never seem to do).

Roland Rat takes on the Premiership

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Whatever one thinks about Greg Dyke, he has not had a boring life. He was the man who revived the fortunes of faltering breakfast television by introducing the character Roland Rat who was an instant hit with children.

Now, as head of the Football Association, he is taking on a rather tougher target in the form of the Barclays Premier League. When I say ‘taking on’, Dyke has made it clear that he is more than happy to work with the Premiership. However, his stance may well be seen as a threat to the interests of the Premier League.

Here we go again

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The end of the transfer window is usually accompanied by a great deal of hand wringing about how much footballers get paid.   The latest example is calculations of how much Gareth Bale gets paid a minute, which is admittedly a lot, although his lifestyle seems to have been relatively modest up to now.

Never go back?

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Should one ever return to a former employer? It can end in tears because the dynamics of the organisation have changed and your knowledge of it is outdated.

The Appointments section of the Financial Times discussed this dilemma in yesterday’s issue in terms of the return of José Mourinho to Chelsea. The Pink ‘Un asks, are Mr Mourinho and Mr Abramovich right to work together again?

Sisu owners prosper

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Coventry City may now be playing in Northampton, but the owners of the SISU Capital hedge fund are doing reasonably well, according to a recent issue of Private Eye.

Recently filed accounts for SISU Capital show that chief executive and major shareholder Joy Seppala shared with Dermot Coleman £359,432 during 2013 in drawings from their limited partnership interests, compared with £139,000 in 2012 and £145,000 in 2011.

Newcastle fans unhappy at lack of transfers in

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It is evident that Newcastle fans are very unhappy about the fact that their club has finished bottom of the Premier League spending table in the transfer window,   Manager Alan Pardew has explained that there have been financial constraints but that only worries them even more.  Fans organised in United for Newcastle are threatening to stage protests when they return to action after the international break.