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Articles and reports on financial issues within football – soccer – from The Political Economy of Football.
Academic Sue Bridgwater has taken a close look at dismissals of managers in the past season. Contrary to previous trends, the largest number of dismissals was in the Premiership, although the sacking rate was also high in the Championship.
Birmingham City have confirmed that they are in advanced talks to sell a minority stake to a British consortium with a ‘strong North American investment fund’. Whether this means that the consortium has North American backing or has substantial investments in the US is not clear from the ambiguous wording.
The relegation of Hibernian from the Scottish Premier League is a big blow for fans, but the financial consequences may not be that serious. Next year three of the five best supported teams in Scottish football will be play in the Scottish Championship: the two Edinburgh clubs, Hearts and Hibs, and Rangers.
Yesterday’s play off final win that saw Fleetwood Town go up to League 1 was their sixth promotion in nine seasons. The Cod Army can thank entrepreneur Andy Pilley who has pumped over £10 million into the club, although they argue that they got some of their best players on the cheap.
The shares of Birmingham City’s parent company, Birmingham International Holdings Limited, have been temporarily suspended while bids for the club are considered. However, a statement from the board indicates that it is considering selling an initial stake of just 24 per cent.
Five bids have been considered over the past fortnight with two British proposals not meeting with favour. The situation of the club is such that some kind of sale is urgently needed.
Premier League clubs want parachute payments for relegated clubs to be spread over two years rather than four. This would mean that clubs would get £30m in the first year of relegation rather than £15m.
Queens Park Rangers have won promotion to the Premier League, but their financial troubles are not over. The club are £177m in debt, having posted the biggest losses in the country of £65.4m last year. This was largely the result of their wage bill which at £78m is higher than that of Borussia Dortmund and Atlético Madrid, both Champions League finalists in the past two seasons.
Atlético Madrid may look like Davids compared to the Goliaths of Real Madrid, but they have a complex financial history. Uefa may well see them as far from being a model club given a record of financial recklessness and the regular use of third party signings, something Uefa would like to see stopped.
Their financial model is so complex that Singapore billionaire Peter Lim, who wanted to buy a club n Spain, took one look at Atlético and walked away. Last week he bought Valencia.
David Conn at The Guardian has produced an interesting review of Championship club finances based on accounts for the 2012-13 season. Of course, it does include clubs such as Bristol City who have now been out of the Championship for over a year.
Half of Britain’s thirty richest sports players are footballers according to the latest rich list produced by The Times. However, the top two places are taken by Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button from Formula 1.
Wayne Rooney comes in third with an estimated wealth of £60m. Rio Ferdinand comes in fifth at £44m. He has been diversifying for several years, with interests in fashion labels, the #5 online magazine, White Chalk Music and Scion Films.