This article offers one of the most in depth journalistic analyses I have seen of the problem of football debt in Europe. It ranges widely across Europe, but has a particular emphasis on England and Spain and the large debts run up by clubs there.
This article offers one of the most in depth journalistic analyses I have seen of the problem of football debt in Europe. It ranges widely across Europe, but has a particular emphasis on England and Spain and the large debts run up by clubs there.
One might think there was nothing new to say on the topic, but this article makes a number of interesting points. It argues that the media interest in football acts as a form of life insurance. It puts the spotlight on a club in trouble and helps to mobilise support.
Football has a highly politicised operating environment which means that help is often forthcoming from politicians at local or national level. I think that is more true of a country like Germany where this particular observation was drawn from. In England politicians may want to use football as a means of generating favourable publicity, but whether they help it very much is another matter. Certainly, they have not been able to sort out the FA despite many declarations of an intention to do so.
What does happen, however, particularly in continental Europe is that many clubs are given money on preferential terms or debts are written up. In England, the taxpayer has often had to pick up the bill. The availability of these fixes encourages a cavalier attitude towards debt.