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Articles and reports on financial issues within football – soccer – from The Political Economy of Football.
Premiership clubs have lost £1.2bn over the past decade from buying and selling players, a new study claims. Behind The Balance Sheet, a consultancy set up by financial analyst Stephen Clapham, has set out a critique of the finances of elite football. However, it is open to question whether the findings are that surprising, although that does not mean they should not be a concern.
It is being reported that once Wayne Rooney returns from his warm weather break in Dubai (which I am sure we could all do with) he will sign a new five-and-a-half year £86m deal which will be worth about £300,000 a week.
Is he worth that much? That splits into two questions: is any footballer worth that much and is he worth that much to United? On the first question, one can already envisage Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells drafting a letter to the press.
Cash flow pressures are mounting at Leeds as a decision is awaited from the football authorities on whether the takeover by controversial Italian Massimo Cellino can go ahead.
Current owners GFH Capital borrowed money to pay the wage bill for January and another payroll is due in a couple of weeks. Moreover, Leeds don’t have a home game, which could generate some cash flow, until March 8th.
An all-party group of MPs has called on the Government to take urgent action to improve the way that football club owners behave towards supporter groups.
In a report that is critical of the attitudes the Football Association, Premier League and Football League exhibit towards the ownership of clubs, MPs have called for them to be directed to protect the interests of supporters.
The Group found that:
The League Managers Association has issued a statement on behalf of Malky Mackay after Cardiff City Chief Executive Simon Lim issued a strongly-worded statement about the club’s summer transfer business.
Lim said the Bluebirds incurred significant losses through the sale of players and says the deals to buy and then sell Andreas Cornelius left the club more than £8m worse off.
But the League Managers Association has now issued its own statement, saying that no manager went out and “signed” players themselves.
Often reliable Belgian newspaper Le Soir is reporting that the owner of Standard Liège Roland Duchâtelet may sell the current leaders of the Belgian Juliper Pro League, ten points clear of their nearest rival. The offer is believed to be around €50m with the money already paid into the Rothschild Bank. However, Roland is understood to be holding out for €60m.
The owner has a family of six European football clubs in ownership either directly or indirectly. However, the Walloon club is regarded as the mother ship with other clubs performing a player development role.
Manchester United may have been struggling by their standards on the pitch recently, but they continue to be a considerable financial success. The results issued today relate to the club’s second fiscal quarter, i.e., the last three months of 2013. Pre-tax profits were £30.3m compared with £28.4m this time last year.
It is well established that Uefa’s financial fair play (FFP) rules are both very complex and open to the interpretation that the football governing body wants to put on them. Hence, there is plenty of scope for any punished club to challenge them in court, particularly if the punishment was as onerous as exclusion from the Champions League.
Dundee United have completed a major restructuring of its financial position. Following negotiations, the club has reached a settlement with its bankers, Bank of Scotland, to close off its debt position. At peak the sum owed was £6m.
It represents a major coup for chairman Stephen Thompson and his family. Now, after complex and lengthy negotiations the chairman and his family have been able to wipe out the remaining three million, plus an overdraft that stood at around the £1 million mark.
Relegation clauses in players’ contracts are widely used these days, but they are more unusual when it comes to purchases of clubs. However, Charlton fanzine Voice of the Valley suggests that Belgian multi-millionaire Roland Duchâtelet got one when he recently took over the Addicks.