"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
In the past wealthy individuals from the Middle East and Russia with money to burn bought football clubs as a prestige acquisition or a form of political insurance. By and large, the days of individuals with deep pockets are over for reasons that have been discussed before on this page such as the fall in the oil price.
The announced attendance for Arsenal’s Champions League game against Dynamo Zagreb was 58,798, but it seems that the actual attendance was around 50,000. Clubs, of course, customarily include season ticket holders in attendance figures whether they are there or not.
Quite what has been happening at Northampton Town is far from clear and may not be for some time as allegations of financial irregularities are not easy to investigate.
However, it appears that the scope of the inquiry has widened and investigative football journalist David Conn tries to get to the bottom of what has been going on.
The idea of Premiership games playing league games abroad was knocked on the head by the football authorities after an unfavourable reaction by fans. It seemed as if globalisation in football did have some limits.
Northampton Town has been sold to former Oxford United chairman Kelvin Thomas. The deal has the approval of Northampton Borough Council who are owed £10.25m for work at and around the Sixfields stadium that was never completed. HM Revenue & Customs are owed £166,000 and are bringing a winding up petition.
Argentina’s new centre-right president Maurico Marci is the former chairman of leading club Boca Juniors. This is not a coincidence: he consciously used it as a route to political power.
In the Financial Times weekend magazine Simon Kuper revealed how Marci addressed a meeting in Oxford 14 years ago to explain how he planned to parlay his success with Boca Juniors into a political career. He applied business principles, took a risk by getting rid of some popular players, and brought success.
Chelsea made a £23.1m loss in the financial year ending 30 June 2015, but remained compliant with financial fair play rules. Turnover was down slightly from £319.8m to £314.4m. Commercial and matchady revenue was broadly steady.
Leicester City’s position at the top of the Premiership table is the first time any Midlands club have led the table beyond August since Aston Villa did in the autumn of 2001. Leicester are also the first post-August leaders since 2002 who have not played in the Champions League during that period.
Aston Villa are, of course, now bottom, reflecting the sad state of West Midlands football. At least local politicians, albeit under some pressuere, have agreed at last to set up a West Midlands Combined Authority. Once again they are lagging behind Manchester.
Bolton’s situation has become more complicated after it was revealed that chairman Phil Gartside is seriously ill. The club enjoyed eleven years in the Premiership under his leadership, but have found life more difficult after their return to the Championship where they are currently bottom of the table.
The club has debts of £170m and there is no money available even for a single loan deal. The search is on for new investors, but they are currently thin on the ground and there are other clubs on the market such as Wolves.
Northampton Town staff have taken the highly unusual step of using the club’s website to criticise chairman David Cardoza. He still owns the club and they demanded that he sell it ‘within hours’.
The non-playing staff are in their fourth week without pay. The club’s bank accounts were frozen after Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs launched a winding up petition as a result of £166,000 of unpaid taxes. There is also an administration petition from Northampton Borough Council.