The Political Economy of Football V2

The nine English clubs involved in European competition — Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Liverpool, Manchester City, Newcastle United, Nottingham Forest and Tottenham Hotspur — must each abide by a different set of financial strictures to their remaining 11 domestic peers this season. Some fans see these rules as a mechanism to protect existing top clubs from challengers.   Financial penalties can be treated as a cost of business by wealthy clubs.   Only points deductions or exclusion from a competition would really hit them. UEFA’s football earnings rule limits clubs to €60million (£51.9m at today’s rate) in losses over a three-year period, albeit that limit can be upped by €10m per year (to a maximum total of €90m across a given assessment period) if clubs meet each of four conditions UEFA deem representative of good financial health. They are: positive equity; a quick ratio — current assets, less stock, divided by current liabilities — of one or above; a...

The authoritative Swiss Ramble takes a look at the money clubs receive from Uefa competitions even before they have started playing.   There are many factors to consider and the Zurich-based Substack writer has the data to address them.   The message that emerges is once again ‘to them that hath shall be given.’   Of course, arguably the funding was tweaked as one way of discouraging the formation of a Super League. The country that is guaranteed most money from the Champions League this season is England with €326m, followed by the other four members of the “Big Five” leagues, namely Spain €243m, Germany €216m, Italy €180m and France €149m.   There is then a big gap to the Netherlands €75m and Portugal €74m, with the rest of the top ten being made up of Belgium €59m, Greece €32m and Norway €31m. Crystal Palace could earn €22m (£19m) if they manage to win the Conference League, which would be around half of the Europa League.   This is scant c...

What does one do with the site of an old stadium when a club moves to a new one?  Very often the stadium is demolished and houses or a commercial development takes its place with perhaps a commemorative plaque or a street named after the ground.  The trajectory at Everton has been different. Today Everton Women play their first game at Goodison Park since it became their permanent home, and the famous stadium symbolises their exciting yet uncertain future. Goodison has transformed since Everton’s men side departed last May. Banners dedicated to Everton Women adorn the Bullens Road stand. The tunnel has pink-tinted wallpaper featuring phrases such as “A New Era” and “A History We Own”. Around the venue, displays referencing Everton Women’s past, present and future are conspicuous. However, the stadium is unfinished. Thousands of seats are missing, with the upper tier of the Goodison Road Stand stripped to the bone. Everton are acutely aware that the 133-year-old ground ha...

Inverness Caledonian Thistle have left administration thanks to businessman Alan Savage.  He has lots of novel ideas for boosting revenues, although having a petrol station at the ground is a new on me:  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp98y1n8mkko

It’s a big weekend for FC Barcelona, as the Catalan club readies for its first home game of the new football season. The bad news is that the match won’t take place at Camp Nou. The €1.5bn renovation of one of football’s most famous venues drags on, with the city council recently rejecting Barca’s request to host Valencia and 27,000 fans in the middle of a building site. Instead, the game will take place at Estadi Johan Cruyff, a pocket-sized ground on the outskirts of town. It is normally home to the Barcelona women’s team, and has capacity for just 6,000 people. The revamped Camp Nou, when finished, will hold 105,000. The club will only allow the 16,151 people who held season tickets during the two seasons spent at Barcelona’s Olympic Stadium to buy tickets, and if demand exceeds supply there will be a lottery. For a club that so sorely needs cash, the prospect of playing more home games in front of tiny crowds is a disaster. There may be scope to move back to the Ol...

WhyA 94-word statement released by the English Football Association on Thursday has cast a cloud over Chelsea.  The news that the club had been hit with 74 charges relating to alleged breaches of rules on agent payments did not come as a surprise to club executives, given the issue has been hanging over them since 2022, but it has sparked concern among supporters. The 74 charges are related to alleged breaches of FA rules regarding regulations on working with intermediaries and third-party investment in players.   The alleged offences took place between 2009 and 2022, although the focus is on what took place from the 2010-11 to 2015-16 seasons. Chelsea say the offences are all related to the regime of the club’s previous owner, the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, although the FA declined to confirm that point when asked about it by  The Athletic . Chelsea also say that they flagged the discrepancies to all the governing bodies — the FA, the Premier...