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Articles and reports on financial issues within football – soccer – from The Political Economy of Football.
The impressive Swiss Ramble blog has taken an in depth look at the finances of Crystal Palace and finds that they are more dependent on broadcasting revenue than any Premier League club which accounts for 82 per cent of their total revenue. Admittedly, it accounts for 70 per cent or more of the revenue of half of the Premier League clubs.
Manchester United Supporters’ Trust (MUST) have launched a new attack on the Glazers, accusing them of draining £1 billion from the club and wrecking their chances of dominating Europe. Even without the Glazers, some other clubs might have a view on that issue, although apparently it is performance in relation to Liverpool that particularly gives offence.
Gateshead owner Brian Wood has put the club up for sale. He has bankrolled his home town club for the past nine years but has not been able to achieve his ambition of returning them to the Football League after an absence of 55 years. At the age of 71, he feels it is time to call it a day.
To compound their misery at relegation from the Premier League, Queens Park Rangers face the prospect of a fine in excess of £50m for breach of financial fair play regulations. They could even be expelled from professional football.
Aston Villa are the subject of a takeover bid by a group of ‘blue chip’ investors led by former Chelsea business director Paul Smith. Smith held a number of executive roles at Chelsea before his acrimonious departure in 2007, when he was sacked on his return from a pre-season tour of the United States.
Spanish league football is to be suspended from May 16th as a result of a dispute with the government. The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) is affronted at the small share it would get of pools money and there are also difficulties over legislation on television rights. However, one interpretation is that it is a move to head off a threatened players’ strike.
Police have visited the headquarters of Sports Direct in Derbyshire as part of an ongoing investigation into takeovers at Rangers. Sports Direct owner Mike Ashley has a nine per cent stake in Rangers.
It’s said that one of the easiest ways to make a small fortune is to start with a large one and buy an English football club. It looks as if the latest person to learn that lesson is American auto parts millionaire and NFL team owner Shahid Khan.
Fulham might have looked like a good buy when he purchased them and if they had stayed in the Premier League they might well have been. Former owner Mohammed Fayed pumped £218m into the club to enable it to punch beyond its weight.
Among the celebrations of Bournemouth’s winning the Championship title and securing promotion to the Premiership, it is easy to forget the difficulties that the club faced before the takeover by Russian owner Maxim Demin.
In 1997 the club was on the brink financially. Lloyds Bank had extended the debt, which amounted to £2.5m. The total debt was £4.4m, the club struggled to attract more than a few thousand fans to games, and could not pay the players. In December 1996, the chairman quit and five other directors followed.
The Guardian has produced a very useful and detailed summary of the finances of Premier League clubs with sources of income broken down by category. The figures are accompanied by a pithy and pertinent commentary on each club.