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That’s the question being asked by Blackpool fans. The club is thought to have netted £40m from its year in the Premiership, it is due the first of £14m of parachute payments (with three more come in successive years) and £8m was received from the sale of Charlie Adams and D J Campbell. From a fans’ perspective the three best players have gone and there have been no replacements of equivalent quality.
It’s now 123 days since Bishop International Limited was named as the preferred bidder for Plymougth Argyle and with no deal in sight it it is no wonder that the administrators have resumed talks with other possible bidders.
The parent company of Birmingham City has secured a £6.3m loan, but it will have to pay it back at a substantial rate of interest. Birmingham International Holdings will borrow the money from the group’s new deputy chairman, Yang Yue Zhou. But they will have to pay an interest rate of 12 per cent. The loan will be for two years and will be used to repay debts and for general working capital.
What exactly do we mean by a ‘big’ club? There are even some clubs who claim that their club is ‘massive’. Presumably it has something to do with attendances and with away followings, although the latter is a measure of fans’ passion as much as anything.
Coventry City owners SISU have in effect admitted to making mistakes in an open letter to supporters as they attempt to win them round. Some supporters recently demonstrated outside their London headquarters.
Premiership clubs splashed out in the transfer window with total spending of £485m up a third on a year ago according to figures from Deloitte, a pattern that was reproduced over four of the five top leagues in Europe, Germany being the exception where spending held steady. Qualifying for and succeeding in the Champions League appears to be a major motivation for spending. Although spending was up, it did not reach the 2008 record of £500m.<
The threatened strike by Plymouth Argyle players has apparently been called off after the administrators agreed to pay 40 per cent of their wages. The players are still not happy with the situation, but they are on the bus to Burton.
Some Plymouth fans have called for a protest outside today’s match between Truro City and Maidenhead because of the role of Truro owner Kevin Heaney in the takeover, but the move does not have universal support.
‘Red Football Limited, Manchester United’s holding company, has seen a big fall in net debt but a rise in the cost of servicing that debt. There was a 15.7 per cent rise in full year turnover to £331.4m in full-year results to 30 June boosted by new sponsorship money, and higher match day and media revenues.
Steve McClaren has threatened to quit as manager of Nottingham Forest in a funding row. He has been in the job less than three months, but thinks that owner Nigel Doughty is not committing the funds necessary to make a serious bid to get out of the Championship. Doughty is a venture capitalist estimated to be worth £130m.
Plymouth Argyle players are threatening to strike this weekend as they still have not been paid. Their personal financial situations are becoming very difficult. The club may be able to raise a team against Burton Albion but several senior players may be missing.