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Ajax didn’t have a great night in the Champions League yesterday, losing 1-4 at home – but then it was to Real Madrid.
However, financially things are looking up for the club, to the extent that they are thinking of delisting from the Stock Exchange. They are the only Dutch club still there.
Peter Ridsdale has been a controversial figure in English football. Indeed, the Financial Times describes him this morning as a ‘serial football club chairman’. He is in the news again because he has been barred by the Insolvency Service from serving for seven-and-a-half years as a company director.
The Welsh Premier League is a bit of a cinderella in the world of non-league football. This is reflected in the rather limited coverage it gets in The Non-League Paper and low attendances. These are compounded by the fact that two of the leading non-league teams in the principality, Wrexham and Newport County, play in the Conference.
A few weeks ago we published a story about Aston Villa which made some comparisons with West Bromwich Albion. A Villa fan took exception, pointing out that Villa still draw bigger crowds, even if they have declined.
Truro City FC have been given until 5 p.m. on Thursday to satisfy the Conference that they can see out the season or they will be removed from the Blue Square South. The club has asked that the criteria be kept confidential for reasons of commercial sensitivity. City’s players have not been paid for several weeks.
The administrator of Port Vale, Bob Young of Begbies Traynor, is hopeful that a deal that can take the club out of administration will be agreed in October. Three contenders have emerged to buy the club with others in the wings.
In March Lancashire businessman Keith Ryder was named as preferred bidder with a proposed £1.3m deal. When it collapsed last month, the administrator said that he had never known this to happen at such an advanced and late stage.
A Bahrain-based firm that operates on Islamic financial principles has confirmed that it has acquired Leeds United.
Arsenal’s latest accounts which will be made public tomorrow are expected to confirm how much the club is reliant on the transfer market to make a profit. A profit of around £45m is expected, largely generated from the sales of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri.
The players’ sales raised about £54m in the summer of last year which offset an operating football loss before transfers for the year to May 2012. This loss reflects the impact of a high wage bill and relatively modest commercial income.
The decision taken by Blackburn Rovers owners Venky’s to give controversial manager Steve Kean the vote of confidence has given added significance to developments in the structure of fans’ trusts at Ewood Park. The decision on Kean is reported to have ‘disgusted’ some Rovers supporters, but his position remains ‘under review’ and hence is far from secure.
The Premier League is holding discussions with its clubs about how excessive spending can be curbed. There is a general willingness to do something, given cumulative losses of £380m in 2010-11. The difficulty is that different clubs have conflicting interests, making it difficult to arrive at a consensus position. Any proposal requires the agreement of 14 out of 20 clubs to come into effect.