"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
Charlton Athletic’s owner Roland Duchatelet has been voted the worst club owner in England in a poll of football fans. However, he is only just ahead of the owners of Coventry City, Blackburn Rovers and Blackpool.
A proposed compulsory purchase order on land around Millwall’s stadium has been dropped after an intervention by Lewisham mayor, Sir Steve Bullock. Lewisham Council were under increasing pressure after a campaign against what was in effect a gentrification project gained momentum. It reduces the likelihood of similar threats to other clubs.
The Chinese wave in English football has broken on the shores of the Solent, but Southampton FC consider that the offer they have been made is not big enough. They are also annoyed that news of the bid was broken on the Shenzhen stock exchange that agreement had been reached in principle, breaching the confidentiality of talks.
Sutton United are mid-table in the Vanarama National League, although not so long ago they were in the third tier of the non-league pyramid in the Ryman League. On Sunday they face Leeds United in a televised FA Cup tie that will bring them £144,000 in addition to the £300,000 they have already earned from their cup run. They have already been able to repair a leak in the home dressing room roof.
Middlesbrough FC owner Steve Gibson has rejected a £50m bid from a Chinese consortium to buy half of the club. Gibson has no interest in selling the club he has owned since 1993 and to which he has devoted considerable sums of money.
An amazing £75m price tag has been put on Charlton by its eccentric Belgian owner, according to fanzine Voice of the Valley. An article by fanzine editor Rick Everitt claims that the figure was given by chief executive Katrien Meire in a new year phone conversation with Austrian-based energy drinks Red Bull who have been looking for an English club to add to their portfolio of New York Red Bulls, Red Bull Salzburg and RB Leipzig.
David and Victoria Beckham received more than £15m in dividends last year after profits at their business empire rose by 400 per cent. The couple have cashed in £28.1m in dividends in the last three years.
Beckham Brand Holdings recorded a pre-tax profit of £39.5m on revenue of £47.1m in the year to 31 December. This was up from a profit of £9.9m on £51.5m of revenue in 2014. The company could be worth £316m with the Beckhams’ share worth about £208m.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan is to set up a high-powered team to investigate what happened with the finances of the London Stadium, the new home of West Ham United. Several independent companies have been approached to undertake the work.
The controversial owner of Leyton Orient, Frsncesco Becchetti, has said that he will consider offers for the club. One has already been made and rejected.
Orient are in real danger of relegation from the Football League. The move of West Ham to the London Stadium has casr a shadow across Orient.
A rather exreaordinary statement from the club’s chief executive can be found here.
The US-based consortium interested in buying Nottingham Forest have said that they are going to persist with their efforts to acquire the club despite another setback.
They made a renewed effort to buy the club this week after they revealed they had lent the club funds to cover wages in November and December. John Jay Moores and Charles Noell made an improved offer to buy 100 per cent of Forest from owner Fawaz-al-Hasawi. However, the offer was rejected by the Kuwaiti businessman who took over in 2012.