Skip to main content

Posts

The two wholly owned English clubs left

When the top 22 teams broke away from the Football League to form the Premier League, 21 were English-owned (Wimbledon was the exception).  Now, just over three decades later, there are only three Premier League clubs that are entirely English-owned, with one more that is majority English-owned, two run by Englishmen with minority stakes and one still owned, for a few weeks at least, by a Monaco-based, Anglo-Iranian whose eight-year spell as custodian was generously supported by his Russian-Uzbek patron. That last one — Everton — should become the 10th American majority-owned club in the league by Christmas, while three of those other clubs are on the market, to one extent or another. It is entirely possible that by next November, the 1992 equation will have flipped, with just one English flagship in very international waters. Brentford Brentford’s no-longer secret benefactor Matthew Benham is, in some ways, a throwback to an earlier era. But in others — his profession, in particul
Recent posts

Norwich now look more like combine harvesters than tractors

An extraordinary general meeting agreed this month that majority control  of Norwich City will pass to Michael Attanasio’s Norfolk Holdings group from Delia Smith and Michael Wynn Jones after their 28 years at the helm. Attanasio, the owner of American baseball team Milwaukee Brewers, first purchased a minority 22% stake from former director Michael Foulger in September 2022, before increasing his shareholder to 40% in April 2024. From March 2025 Attanasio will convert his loans into equity, giving him 85% of the football club. Smith and her husband will retain 10%, while the remaining 5% will be owned by independent shareholders, including the supporters’ group, The Canaries Trust. The board emphasised that this transaction “involved no payment to Delia and Michael”, thus “securing the long-term financial security of the club and an effective and positive transition”. Clearly, Norwich City owe a huge debt of gratitude to the former owners, so it feels only right that they have b

Former Burnley owner runs the Spanish Accrington

 Mike Garlick, the former chairman of Burnley, in February embarked on a fresh footballing challenge — to help lead Antequera up the Spanish league ladder, just as he had previously supported Sean Dyche in achieving the Lancashire club’s longest spell of top-flight tenancy since the 1960s. “I didn’t want to buy a big club,” Garlick says, sitting in the reception of the hotel across the road from the stadium. “The most enjoyable thing about Burnley wasn’t the day you won something or got promotion but the actual journey — and I wanted a journey. I looked at Antequera and thought, ‘We could go on a journey here.’ ” Garlick, who stepped down as Burnley chairman after the club’s purchase by ALK Capital in December 2020 and left the board altogether last year, adds: “I knew I’d miss the buzz of football and I got offered a lot of different clubs in England but I’m a Burnley fan so I wasn’t that keen. “We already had a house in Spain, near Marbella, and my wife speaks Spanish so why no

US investment in the top flight on the up

With the Trump administration in the US threatening punitive tariffs against UK exports (the US is the UK’s biggest single country market at 22 per cent of exports), geopolitics become even more important in top flight football. The UK government is attempting to facilitate investment into one of the British economy’s most successful exports: the Premier League, which broadcasts to 189 of the 193 United Nations member states. In May, the Premier League said 1.87billion people follow the division worldwide and 900million homes globally are able to watch Premier League football. Little wonder, therefore, that North American investors have taken a liking to a product that attracts $450m (£355m) per season for the U.S. media rights alone from NBC. Only 20 years ago, there were no majority American owners in the Premier League. Now nine of the top flight’s 20 teams are majority-owned by U.S. investors: Manchester United, Arsenal, Aston Villa, Liverpool, Chelsea, Fulham, Bournemouth, Cry

The rising price of a Premier League survival ticket

The Athletic has taken a look at the biggest investments in Premier League clubs, including subsequent payments.   They have used data from the Swiss Ramble and Kieran Maguire among others. It doesn’t cost much to this excellent online publication to get the full sp, but here are the top five: 1.        Chelsea (£2.65 bn) 2.        Manchester City (£1.5bn) 3.        Arsenal (£1.26bn) 4.        Fulham (£938m) 5.        Everton (£878m) And last but not least, Ipswich £123m.   Will it be enough for them to survive?    The price of an entry and survival ticket keeps going up.    But then Brentford in 19 th place have done well on £124m.

Real Madrid are top of the world

In 2023/24 that Real Madrid became the first football club to exceed one billion Euros in revenue, as this grew by an amazing €230m (27%) from €843m to €1,073m. However, profit from player sales dropped from €71m to €21m, while operating expenses also broke through the billion Euros barrier, rising €162m (18%) from €911m to €1,072m. In addition, there was an unfavourable €8m swing from €6m net interest receivable to €2m payable. As a result, pre-tax profit was “only” €20m, though this was more than twice as much as the previous year’s €9m. Profit after tax was up from €12m to €16m, as tax payable went from a €3m credit to a €4m charge. This result means that Real Madrid have reported profits in each of the last ten years, adding up to more than a quarter of a billion Euros in that time - €274m to be precise (before tax).   In fact, they have generated profits every season since 2002/03 and there is no sign of this stopping any time soon, as they have budgeted another €28m surplus