The Political Economy of Football V2

Baroness Karen Brady has stepped down as the vice-chair of West Ham United.  the timing is hardly ideal, coming at such a vital stage in the season. Brady put her announcement back 24 hours to avoid disrupting Monday night’s match against Crystal Palace, although it is hard to imagine any game will feel less than crucial from here given the relegation fight. Media speculation suggests that there may be a new role for her with the Premier League, FA or elsewhere in football, although many fans would not welcome her. Brady, 57, has been in the role for 16 years and is credited with leading the negotiations to secure West Ham’s move from Upton Park to the 62,500-seat London Stadium in 2016.  She has also become a major Premier League power broker, and her departure from the club marks the end of a business relationship with the joint-chair, David Sullivan, that dates back almost 40 years. She persuaded Sullivan to buy Birmingham City and it was a groundbreaking mo...

If the dark cloud of Wolverhampton Wanderers’ horrific season has one grim silver lining, it is that they have had plenty of opportunity to prepare for the worst. In fact, for the past few months, the powers that be at Molineux have been planning for the inevitable. It should be noted, however, that the highly competitive Championship is different from the top flight and adjusting after seven years away will be a challenge. Now, with relegation finally certain, interim chairman Nathan Shi and the rest of the Wolves hierarchy have the chance to prove that the rare luxury of time has not been wasted. Their challenges are many and varied, but the key aims include: Managing a huge summer of squad changes, with sales needed to help bridge the income drop created by relegation Taking advantage of risky January sales by ensuring the bulk of Edwards’ new squad is in place for the majority of pre-season Winning around angry fans and persuading back former ...

Protests have been fairly rare at Chelsea, and demonstrations against the current ownership — particularly one held before a home game against Brentford in January — have seemingly struggled to settle on a single message. But on Saturday evening it was clear, held up on a huge white banner at the front of the march by Chelsea fans and supporters of sister club Strasbourg: ‘BlueCo Out’. “We’re very disillusioned with the direction that the club is going at the moment,” said David Cook from NotAProjectCFC, the organisers of Saturday evening’s protest. “The best way to unify (the fanbase), really, I think at this point, is to push the message of BlueCo out. I don’t have any faith in them at this point, and I think we’re left with no other option.” Protesters’ complaints on Saturday varied. Some sported signs highlighting heavy spending, and multiple fans were unhappy with player recruitment. The ownership’s focus on youth is coming under increasing scrutiny, with suggestions recently ...

The Swiss Ramble reviews West Bromwich Albion’s finances as they face the threat of a points deduction that could seem them relegated.   It remains unclear whether there will be a points deduction or if it will be applied this season given the complications that could then arise for the competition as a whole.  If they do go down, this would be only the second time in their history that West Brom had been in England’s third tier. The club has spent many seasons in the Premier League with their most recent relegation taking place in 2020/21. Since then, they have finished between 5th and 10th in the Championship, getting close to promotion in 2023/24, when they reached the play-offs.   This underlines the extent of the decline this season, so the threat of a points deduction could not have come at a worse time. Ownership change It wasn’t meant to be this way after the club was acquired in February 2024 by Bilkul Football WBA, a company ultimately owned by Florid...

At Newport County  majority owner Huw Jenkins has made no secret of his desire to find a partner or a way out. The former Swansea City chairman bought the Welsh club two years ago, but has already loaned Newport £3m without seeing any improvement on the pitch. Newport are not the easiest sell, as they do not own their stadium or training ground, and they are currently one point and one place above the drop zone with three to play. But that does not appear to have put off Nicholas Beddis, a former soldier from nearby Pontypool, who went on to build a successful career in real estate in Dubai before more recently setting up AGS Capital Global, a financial advisory business aimed at professional athletes. There is, however, another chapter in his story: a stretch in prison for an assault that took place at a Halloween party in 2012 when he was 19. Neither Beddis nor Jenkins wanted to comment on the status of their talks, but  The Athletic  understands that Beddis knows...

Former FA chief executive Mark Palios and his wife, Nicola, have been trying to sell Tranmere Rovers for more than two years. They initially thought they had a buyer in the shape of an eclectic group led by Donald Trump’s former lawyer and pop star Rihanna’s partner A$AP Rocky, only for that to fall through last year. More recently, they have been in advanced talks with an American investment firm called Ascent Capital Partners. That deal has stalled due to a combination of the EFL wanting more information on Ascent’s investors and Ascent worrying about the club’s slide towards the National League. Ascent and Palio are still talking, but the latter is looking for alternative options, too, one of whom is understood to be Morley Sports Management, the London-based firm that owns Scottish League One side Hamilton Academical and Welsh semi-pro side Haverfordwest County. The challenge for Tranmere is always the accessibility of two Premier League clubs across the Mersey. T...