"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
Lewes have played at the Dripping Pan for 120 years. Like all non-league clubs, balancing the books is a challenge and the chairman of the community-owned club has given an interesting interview on how they try to meet it.
Advocates of a salary cap should note that it doesn’t appear to have achieved its objective of creating a more level playing field in Australia. Success continues to go to the bigger clubs in bigger cities.
Australia has had more than its fair share of club failures, but there does seem to be greater stability in the game these days. It does, of course, have to compete with Australian rules, rugby and cricket.
There has been substantial progress in restoring the finances of Juventus reports the authoritative Swiss Rambler blog in a detailed analysis.
After a pre-tax loss of €10.9m last year, there was a small pre-tax profit of €0.1m. Admittedly, this then became a large post-tax loss because of a perverse Italian tax which penalises companies with high personnel costs which seems to be a disenctive to employment.
The percentage of English players in starting line-ups fell below one-third on the opening weekend of the Premier League. Of the 220 players who started at the weekend, only 73 were eligible to play for England. This makes a percentage of 33.2 per cent, a decrease from last season’s figure of 35 per cent. The figure was 69 per cent in 1992-3 when the Premier League was launched.
Fans have been vociferous on social media criticising the new Channel 5 football highlights show. Some fans had initially welcomed the change as the programme goes out at 9 p,m. rather than late at night after Match of the Day as was the case when it was on BBC.
The show has a studio audience who seem to add little to the show and indeed disrupt the flow. One of them couldn’t be heard last night because they didn’t have a mike on him.
Queens Park Rangers are likely to settle their dispute with the Football League over their breach of financial fair play regulations for around £8m. At one time it was feared they might be liable for £58m.
Such a compromise was always likely because the rules have a dubious legal basis and the last thing the Football League wants is for them to be tested in court.
Bournemouth are a welcome addition to the Premiership and most pundits think they have a good chance of staying up. But where does their money come from?
Russian owner Maxim Demim has loaned at least £25m to the club, plus injecting another £14m in preference shares by the end of 2014. Most of this came from a Demim company in the Britsh Virgin Islands which also owns the club. Further millions are expected to be injected in 2015.
The club lost £10m in 2014, taking accumulated losses to £30m. That figure is expected to have increased for 2015.
Scottish football is starting to get its finances in order according to the latest survey by a firm of accountants. However, despite greater prudence, only one Premier League club expects to make a profit after player trading and depreciation.
The dire financial position at Kidderminster Harriers is improving, but the club is far from being out of the woods. The playing budget has been slashed by 50 per cent.
The difficulty for a club in this sort of situation is that it can get into a spiral of decline from which it is difficult to recover. Results suffer, the club gets relegated and attendances fall, making recovery difficult. Cup runs, which can provide valuable revenue and publicity, become less likely.
Sisu are to get a replay in February 2016 their ongoing legal battle with Coventry City Council. Their original claim that the council’s loan to Arena Coventry Limited was illegal state aid was rejected. Two judges refused to allow an appeal, but it was a case of third time lucky.