Article Taxonomy: Football Finance

Articles and reports on financial issues within football – soccer – from The Political Economy of Football.

Boost for Argyle

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Plymouth Argyle have raised more than £700,000 in extra funding.  A firm run by owner James Brent, director Richard Holliday and lawyer Anthony Vaughan has bought land at Home Park for £425,000 with Brent taking a 82.5 per cent stake in the firm.   Holliday and Vaughan have also bought shares worth £275,000.

The Akkeron Group has also agreed that it will build a new grandstand at Home Park to replace the Mayflower Stand at no charge to the club or give Argyle 50 per cent of the profit it receives from the development if it fails to build the structure.

Crisis? What crisis?

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SFA chief executive Stewart Regan insists that Scottish football is not in crisis but is being affected by the money problems that are hitting other countries across the world.   Clubs in administration in Scotland were no different from clubs in administration elsewhere.

The fight for a Champions League place

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Securing a place in the Champions League, even a fourth place play off spot, has become even more important for top clubs.  Getting to the group stage alone is worth £30m.  Getting further could yield £50m as against £6m for a successful run in the Europa League.

Challenges for Inter Milan

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After a disappointing campaign, Inter Milan are facing a number of challenges as they seek to re-build, many of them financial in character.   Perhaps the most basic one is that they have too many players in the squad who are over 30, past their peak and difficult to ship out.    Many of them are on multi-million euro contracts.

Wolves pay price off the pitch

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Currently bottom of the Premiership, Wolves are paying a financial price for their lack of success on the pitch.  Season ticket renewals under their Early Bird campaign are 18 per cent down on this time last year, falling from 14,780 to 12,150.

What we don’t know is how much the effects of poor performance are exacerbated by the economic downturn and squeezed incomes which could reinforce a reluctance to renew.

Lot riding on Etihad clash

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There is a lot riding on tonight’s match between Manchester City and Chelsea for both clubs.  With their good home record, Manchester City are the favourites to win the game.  Betfair are offering odds of 1.94 for Manchester City, 4.5 for Chelsea and 3.7 for the draw.   Football betting tips are available for other matches.

Four bidders for Rangers

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Duff & Phelps, the administrators running Rangers, have confirmed that a fourth bid has been received for the club.   Some mystery surrounds this fourth bid.   Some reports suggest that it comes from a Middle East consortium, but others think it is a UK based bid.

Boro post big financial loss

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The costs of making a push for the Premier League before parachute payments end are shown in Middlesbrough’s latest accounts.   A loss of £13.81m was recorded over the 18 months to 30 June 2011 despite player sales.  The wage bill amounted to over £36m.

Chairman and benefactor Steve Gibson continues to bankroll the club.    At the end of the year the club owed banks £27m but this has been refinanced and covered by the Gibson O’Neill company meanning that Boro has no external borrowings.

Spanish clubs run up big tax debts

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Spanish football clubs have run up tax debts totalling £625m.   £353m is owed by 14 of the 20 clubs in the top division.   Athletico Madrid are the worst offenders with debts of £128m but Athletic Bilbao owe nothing.

The situation has caused indignation in Germany with tabloids complaining that the country’s taxpayers are subsidising the wages of top Spanish players.