"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
FC United are working to overcome any opposition from ‘Nimbys’ opposed to their proposed new stadium in Moston. Residents in a neighbourhood are always uncertain about a new football stadium because of concern about the possible effect on house prices and parking problems. Certainly the local impact of the proposed 5,000 seater stadium would not be trivial.
Greece is effectively insolvent and many commentators think that despite the efforts of the European Union and the IMF to prop up the economy it will have to default on its debts sooner or later, the first advanced country to do so for sixty years. Now a major crisis has developed in Greek football and it is inextricably linked to the economic crisis and the country’s problems of corruption.
Leyton Orient and Tottenham Hotspur have been refused permission by the High Court for a judicial review of the decision to award use of the Olympic Stadium to West Ham after next year’s Olympic Games. The clubs are unhappy about Newham Council’s £40m loan to help finance the move. Needless to say, West Ham are delighted with the court’s decision.
Ecuador is punching above its weight in world football. The national team has qualified for two of the last three World Cup finals. In 2008 leading club Quito’s Liga Deportiva Universita (LDU) won the Copa Liberadores, the top South American club tournament LDU came close to beating Manchester United in that year’s Fifa Club World Cup.
This article is contributed by Tarik Ajanovic:
Although Bosnian football is not renowned for its financial potential, recent developments have shown that there is some interest from potential investors, mainly in the area of real estate. For the past few weeks, there have been several meetings between the board of FK Željezničar Sarajevo, the current winner of the Bosnian Cup and one of the biggest Bosnian clubs, and the Slovenian company “Energoplan“ which already has some experience with these kinds of investments.
Andre Villas-Boas is about to be named the new Chelsea manager. I think this is a very smart move by Chelsea. It has cost them £13.3m in compensation to Porto, but the Portuguese aristocrat is well worth the money (one of his ancestors was created a Viscount by the then King of Portugal in 1890).
Top flight Spanish football clubs are plagued with debt problems. Barcelona and Real Madrid account for €1.2bn of the €3.5bn debt, although they also ttake in half of the €600m annual television revenue. After the top two, Valencia and Atletico Madrid are the the clubs with the most debt.
Uzbek billionaire Alisher Usmanov has increased his stake in Arsenal to over 29 per cent through his Red and White vehicle. The shares were purchased from Arsenal Holdings at £14,000 each, £2,250 more than Stan Kroenke was prepared to offer. Kroenke’s holding in Arsenal stands at 66.1 per cent.
Usmanov has tried to position himself as a fans’ friend in recent weeks, criticising the board for the club’s lack of silverware. The Arsenal Supporters’ Trust has consistently said that it does not want one person to control the club.
Bath is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Britain. I organised a conference there a few years ago and the foreign visitors were enchanted. The town exudes an air of prosperity, although no doubt there are pockets of poverty as there are everywhere.
It looks increasingly unlikely that Rushden and Diamonds can be saved. Even if a phoenix club can be formed, it will not be in time for next season.