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Spurs ahead in stadium stakes

Spurs’ state-of-the-art stadium is the envy of the Premier League and has been widely considered one of the best venues in Europe since it opened in April 2019 — after a three-year build — at a cost of £1.2billion ($1.6bn). The Emirates, now nearly 20 years old, remains a spectacular ground in its own right, and one of the best in England, but it has aged quickly over the past six years due to the competition it faces from the blue-and-white part of north London. Whether it is hosting the biggest music artists, annual NFL matches, boxing events or housing the F1 Drive — an electric go-karting track — under the South Stand, Spurs’ stadium is light years ahead of Arsenal’s home. As part of their agreement with Islington Council, Arsenal can host six non-football events attended by more than 10,000 people per calendar year. Only three of these are allowed to be music concerts. Spurs, on the other hand, can host up to 30 non-football events. That is an increase on the 16 Haringey C...
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Norwich should be doing better given spend

Majority control at Norwich City passed to Attanasio’s Norfolk Holdings group from Delia Smith and Michael Wynn Jones after 28 years. 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 40.4% in April 2024.   In March 2025 Attanasio converted his loans into equity, giving him 85% of the football club. Smith and her husband have retained 10%, while the remaining 5% is owned by independent shareholders, including the supporters’ group, Under the former owners, the club had been promoted to the top flight on no fewer than five occasions, but they had become the classic “yo-yo” club, most notably in the four seasons between 2018/19 and 2021/22, when they were twice finished top of the Championship, only to twice come last in the Premier League. Norwich City’s pre-tax loss in 2024/25 widened from £14.4m to £20.7m, mainly due to a steep red...
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FSG pull out of Getafe takeover

Liverpool owner Fenway Sports Group (FSG) has ended its interest in buying La Liga club Getafe. The cost of the takeover — coupled with Spain’s strict limitations on spending linked to the club’s limited revenue — are understood to have ultimately made it prohibitive. Getafe president AngeloTorres, who had previously put off potential bidders with a valuation of around £160million ($211m), had lowered his price tag to closer to £100m ($132m), while publicly downplaying talk of selling the club he has owned since 2002. However, FSG were the latest in a long line of suitors to show serious interest in a club which has built a reputation for being well run and developing young talent. FSG have been committed to building a multi-club group around Liverpool since Michael Edwards was appointed as their CEO of football in March 2024. Over the past 18 months, FSG technical director Julian Ward has also been heavily involved in trying to find the right opportunity. French club Bordeaux ...
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The £200 football shirt on my back

A replica of Mbappé’s Adidas-branded shirt, with his name on the back, retails for as much as £185 — or £200 for one with long sleeves and Champions League badges.  The advent of the £200 shirt is seen by some industry executives as a byproduct of prevailing trends reshaping football finance. Merchandise is an increasingly important growth driver for clubs, as the media rights market slows significantly — and with onerous new regulations linking transfer spending limits with revenues, generating growth off the pitch is crucial to stay competitive on it. Revenues at the retail and licensing division of FC Barcelona — which charges fans £320 for a shirt with teenage star Lamine Yamal’s name in a limited edition font on the back — rose 55 per cent to €170mn last year. Manchester United’s retail sales grew 16 per cent to £145mn last year, despite flat revenue overall. Meanwhile, Liverpool FC has built a retail network across Asia and the Middle East, opening its 22nd store las...
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Barca's financial issues a blessing in disguise

Barcelona actually reported a pre-tax loss of €8m in 2024/25, though this was significantly better than the prior year’s €204m deficit, reports the Swiss Ramble.  This was largely driven by a steep reduction in exceptional items, which fell from €225m to €10m, mainly due to movement in economic levers. As a reminder, Barcelona had pulled these famous levers (“ palancas ”) to raise funds, albeit at the expense of sacrificing income in the future. As it stands, Barcelona have made around €850m from pulling these financial levers, split between TV rights €665m, Barça Vision €112m and Personal Seating Licences €70m.   Looking at the five seasons between 2019/20 and 2023/24, Barcelona’s reported loss was €298m, but if the €842m gain from economic levers is excluded, the underlying loss would have been a cool €1.1 bln.   The good news is that on this basis Barcelona have actually posted profits in each of the last two seasons, first €20m in 2023/24, then €2m in 2024/25. In ...
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Derby are clearly a big club

Last season was the third for Derby County under the ownership of David Clowes, a local businessman and lifelong supporter, who bought the club out of administration in July 2022, splashing out around £55m in the process. As Clowes said, his purchase had “ended nine months of uncertainty and fear over the future of our club.”  The authoritative Swiss Ramble analyses the 2023/24 accounts. Following promotion to the Championship, Derby’s pre-tax loss narrowed from £14.2m to £11.1m. Revenue shot up £12.5m (64%) from £19.4m to a club record £31.9m, but this was more than offset by the increased cost of competing in the higher division, as operating expenses rose £15.0m (39%) from £38.2m to £53.2m. The net improvement was thus thanks to a significant increase in profit on player sales, which more than doubled from £4.6m to £10.3m. The main driver of Derby’s revenue growth was the higher TV deal in the Championship, which led to broadcasting income more than quadrupling from £2.9m to...
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The cost of relegation for West Ham

West Ham are in a relegation battle.  No one gains financially from demotion, but it impacts some more than others. Existing cost bases play a big part, likewise a team’s ability to generate money by selling some faces that didn’t look out of place in the top tier. Beyond that, club owners come into play. Between 2015 and 2024, Championship clubs lost a collective £3.2billion, all of it (and a little more) funded by benevolent shareholders. Amounts required for recently relegated clubs can vary, but a general rule is that the longer you stay in the second tier, the more you’ll need to lean on an owner or two. One thing is for certain — if relegation comes, West Ham’s revenue will drop. That has been the case pretty much since the Premier League’s inception, but it has become more pronounced since 2016, when a new TV deal exploded onto the scene. Since then, only one club has seen post-relegation turnover fall by less than a third. That was Bournemouth in 2020-21, and even tha...
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