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Articles and reports on financial issues within football – soccer – from The Political Economy of Football.
At a rather acrimonious Arsenal general meeting, Arsene Wenger once again paraded his Uefa coefficients to justify his approach to management. He argued, ‘the first quality of a club is to be consistent. We have had 18 consecutive seasons in the Champions League. Only one club – Real Madrid – has done better.’ One might argue that doing well includes winning the competition or at least getting close to it.
Volunteer run Darlington are making good progress with turnover up 18 per cent at £341,000. All debts have been cleared and there is around £300,000 in the bank. However, more help is needed from a wider range of volunteers.
One disappointment is that the club has not moved backed to Darlington and continues to play at Bishops Auckland. Negotiations for a ground share at Darlington RFC continue.
As football clubs start to get their finances in order, winding up orders served by Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC)have become rarer. However, one has now been served on Northampton Town.
The latest BBC price of football survey finds that the cost of watching football has remained the same or fallen slightly for most fans. This is against a background of almost zero inflation and recent increases in earnings for many workers, particularly in the private sector. By going to the survey, you can find comparative data for your own club.
Manchester City have made a proft of £10.7m in their last financial year. This is the first time they made a profit since Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed took over the club in 2008. The profit was achieved despite fines of £16m for breaches of Uefa’s financial fair play rules.
Intermediaries are never popular in any market, even though they make a market function better for all participants. There is always a suspicion that they are increasing transaction costs and ripping off buyers and sellers (think estate agents).
Being a successful intermediary means spotting an opportunity, seizing it and building on it. Globalisation has created new opportunities in football. MP & Silva, the only independent agency of the big three sports media agencies, started 10 years ago by signing deals with football clubs in Italy’s Serie A.
It’s been one of the most protracted and secretive takeover negotiations in recent football history, certainly in League 2, but negotiations with a mystery Indian consortium that wanted to take over Northampton Town have now been called off.
According to a statement from the London-based consortium, they encountered ‘insurmountable’ problems and complications at the due diligence stage.
The Football Association has agreed a £300m loan facility with three leading banks enabling it to refinance Wembley Stadium. The loan will give the FA more flexibility and enable it to reduce interest payments.
Writing in the Sunday Times yesterday, Graham Souness claims that the five year plan of Fenway Sports Group (FSG) at Liverpool is ‘developing the stadium and then hoping someone in the Middle East or Far East comes along to buy the club on the back of next year’s £5bn television deal. They aren’t too bothered about trophies in the cabinet.’
The two unfortunates blog are rattling through England’s football cities and their attention has turned to Bristol where they have recruited a new writer who is well up to their high standards.
For an outsider the paradox about Bristol is that it has two football clubs. Admittedly, it is a large city, ranking eighth in England, and arguably the regional capital of the south-west. However, it is also in area where the rugby tradition is strong.