The Political Economy of Football V2

Globalisation may be coming to a halt as Trump's tariffs take effect (although even here the picture is more complex than it seems on the surface).  However, in football the geopolitical forces are, if anything, gathering strength.   Their focus may have changed, but they are affecting the game. European football’s summer transfer laid bare the widening gulf between the English Premier League and everybody else. English clubs, boosted by new overseas TV deals, spent more than those in Spain, Italy, France and Germany combined. Those leagues aren’t sitting on their hands — all of them are trying to come up with ways to get international football fans interested, in the hope that one day that feeds through to more TV and sponsorship money. One idea is to ape the NFL’s international series by taking league matches overseas. Summer tours have been going on for years, and both the Italian and Spanish “super cups” are currently staged in Saudi Arabia. Bu...

Six months ago, no Tottenham Hotspur fan, unless they had a particular interest in wealth management, would be able to tell you who Peter Charrington was.  But after a dramatic week, Charrington is the name on everyone’s lips. On Thursday afternoon, he stepped into the role of non-executive chairman. It was the start of a new era at Spurs. Charrington himself has been learning the ropes of the football industry over the last six months, especially since Venkatesham arrived. Charrington’s background is not in sport but in private banking. He spent 26 years at Citibank and made his name at Citi Private Bank, which manages the money of high-net-worth individuals. He ran its operations in the UK and North America before becoming Citi Private Bank’s global head from 2014 to 2020. He won ‘Best Leader in Private Banking’ at the 2019 Global Private Banking Awards. It was not just Charrington’s professional expertise that led him to Spurs, but also his relationship with the Lewis family...

West Ham United have offered to meet groups of supporters who are planning to boycott two home fixtures and stage a protest outside the London Stadium before each game. The fans issued a vote of no confidence in the board and blamed the club for not putting in place better scouting and recruitment departments, as well as training facilities. The impact of the lack of investment, the supporters claimed, threatens the team’s chances of staying in the Premier League. The groups have called on supporters to protest against the club’s owners before the matches against Crystal Palace on September 20 and Brentford on October 20 and boycott the fixtures, which will be broadcast live on Sky Sports at 8pm. Some members of these groups of supporters also sit on the fan advisory board, which regularly meets the club to discuss off-the-pitch issues that affect supporters. An open letter to the board read: “We trust you’ll understand current circumstances threaten our existence as a top-flight...

The story of Tottenham Hotspur in the 21st century has been the story of the relationship between Daniel Levy, the long-standing chairman, and the Lewis family, the majority shareholders. Levy started working for Joe Lewis as a young man in the 1990s, was widely thought of as Lewis’ protegee, and became the managing director of ENIC, the investment firm who bought 29.9 per cent of Tottenham from Alan Sugar in December 2000 for £22million. Levy became chairman in 2001 and, for 24 years, he ran Tottenham with a firm grip, as the club grew into a huge global brand, valued at roughly £4billion ($5.4bn), playing in one of the best new stadiums in Europe. The Lewis family were content to stay in the background, as Levy became the public face of the club. Levy was not just one of the longest-serving Premier League chairmen of the modern era. He was also one of the most dominant, across everything that happened in his club with ferocious attention to detail. As much of a shock as Thursda...

Daniel Levy, one of the top power brokers in England’s Premier League for decades, has stepped down as executive chair of Tottenham Hotspur, the north London football club announced on Thursday. Levy oversaw the construction of a £1.2bn, 62,850 seat stadium that has transformed Spurs into one of the biggest revenue makers in global football. Spurs generated about €615mn in revenue 2023-24, placing them ninth in the worldwide rankings of football clubs compiled by Deloitte, the consulting firm. Levy’s departure is part of a broader leadership shake-up at Spurs, but the club said there were “no changes” to its ownership or shareholder structure. Spurs’ majority shareholder is Enic Sports, an entity that was controlled by Bahamas-based billionaire Joe Lewis. Peter Charrington, former global head of Citi Private Bank and an Enic director, has been named non-executive chair of the club following Levy’s exit. Spurs, which last season won the Europa League, the second tier trophy in Eur...

In August 2018, having been co-owners since 2007, Stan Kroenke bought Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov’s 30 per cent shareholding for over £600m, ending a long power struggle for ultimate control of the club and taking his total stake to 97 per cent.  The American billionaire also bought out the remaining independent shareholders, taking the total cost of the transaction north of £600m, of which more than £550m was borrowed from Deutsche Bank. The Kroenkes have just authorised another summer of significant spending.   Almost £250million was spent, including the marquee signings of striker Viktor Gyokeres from Sporting CP for £54.8m and midfielder Martin Zubimendi from Real Sociedad for £55.8m. There was also a deal worth up to £67.5m for Eberechi Eze from Crystal Palace, with Josh in London playing a key role in the transfer. Since KSE’s 2018 buyout there has been an evident shift in Arsenal’s approach to transfers. Between 2018-19 and 2023-24, Arsenal had a gross spend...