"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
It has been a relatively quiet summer transfer window so far as there is always a late spurt as clubs accept more realistic valuations for their players or decide there is a gap in their squad they must fill. However, in 2007 165 players moved to top flight clubs, a figure that fell to about 130 last year. There have been fewer than 60 arrivals so far this year so the total is likely to fall well short of that for last year.
The website Growth Business UK has published an interview with the commercial director of five-a-side football promotion company Powerleague.
Nigel Hargreaves joined Powerleague in March 2011 from the Small Sided Football Federation, which he founded in September 2009. Prior to that, he spent eight years at the Football Association as head of strategic development.
How long will it be this season before the first manager is sacked? Not that long if prior experience is anything to go by. As the season progresses, we can expect more managers to be sacked. Managerial tenure is become shorter.
But does sacking the manager actually make a difference? Sue Bridgewater of Warwick Business School in her book Football Management suggests that it does not: ‘managerial changes in football do little to improve performance.’
Wayne Rooney has topped the Premiership’s replica shirts league published in the Premier League Season Review. Figures are based on the number of official club shirts sold domestically and internationally. In the case of someone like Rooney, the figure would run into millions.
It is the first time that Rooney has topped the league and the first time a United player has taken the top slot since the Cristiano Ronaldo in 2007-8. Another United player, Ryan Giggs, enters the top ten for the first time at the age of 37.
The Premier League seems likely to face renewed pressure on governance issues from the Government once a report from the House of Commons Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport is published. This could happen as early as Friday.
The possible return of Manchester City’s Carlos Tevez to Corinthians in Sao Paulo, although influenced by a wish to be closer to his children in Argentina, is symptomatic of a wider trend driven by the strength of the Brazilian real.
Phoenix clubs which have been re-formed after clubs have run into financial trouble have been an increasingly prominent feature of non-league football. Recent examples include Nuneaton Town (replacing Nuneaton Borough), Farnborough Town (replacing Farnborough) and AFC Telford (replacing Telford).
Wrexham fans have been second to none in their long drawn out battle to save their club and put it on a sound footing. Today some of them are climbing Snowdon in a bid to raise another £20,000 and, assuming that the weather is as unseasonable as it is in the Midlands (rain and strong winds) that will be no stroll up the mountainside.
Manchester City FC are expected to reveal their plans for a state-of-the-art training facility which forms part of their deal with the Abu Dhabi airline Etihad tomorrow. City sent a team of specialists around the world for 18 months for a feasibility study from a variety of sports before drawing up their plans. It is anticipated that the plans will in part be influenced by Nike’s world headquarters.
Supporters Direct has had its grant of £268,292 from the Football Stadia Improvement Fund restored. The grant was frozen in May after the chief executive of Supporters Direct, Dave Boyle, made disparaging remarks on Twitter about the MK Dons. Boyle is a keen AFC Wimbledon fan. He subsequently resigned. The Stadia Improvement Fund receives £6m of funding from the Premier League.