The Political Economy of Football V2

When I first became aware of football in the early 1950s Hearts appeared to be one of the top Scottish sides and I liked the idea that they were known as ‘jam tarts’. A famed fund manager and one of the UK’s best-known sports gamblers are backing a data-driven bid to break Glasgow’s hold over Scottish football and deliver the first league title for a team outside the city in four decades. Heart of Midlothian sit top of the Scottish Premiership with just a third of the season left, as they seek to achieve what no club has done since Sir Alex Ferguson’s Aberdeen side in 1985 and end the dominance of Celtic and Rangers. The fortunes of Edinburgh-based Hearts, whose last title was in 1960, have been transformed under a new approach, with fresh investment and expertise, that has also outsourced key elements of player recruitment to computer algorithms. Central to Hearts’ rejuvenation has been the arrival of Tony Bloom, a high-stakes poker player and chair of Premier League Brighton ...

The New York Times has taken a look at the financial implications of relegation from the top flight, although it hasn’t bothered to look at the bottom two clubs.   I don’t think that Spurs are really in danger and Crystal Palacewill surely finish lower mid-table. More likely than not, either West Ham or Nottingham Forest will occupy the third relegation spot. West Ham United A return to the second division would bring huge ramifications.   Broadcast revenues — money awarded from the Premier League — amounted to 57 per cent of their income last season. There was £131million ($178.5m) of TV money banked courtesy of finishing 14th in May, but parachute payments for a first year back in the Championship would be in the region of £49m, with EFL TV money then bumping that up to roughly £55m. That drop-off is, obviously, enormous and would likely ensure West Ham’s revenues were almost halved as a second-tier club again, once you allow for the inevitable reductions in com...

A ston Villa are set to be hit with a heavy fine for breaching Uefa’s financial rules for a second year running. The club are expected to have breached Uefa’s squad cost rule, which imposes financial penalties if a club’s spending on player wages, transfers and agents is more than 70 per cent of its revenue.  The rule is effectively a luxury tax and   Villa   were fined €6million (about £5.2million) in July for breaching the 80 per cent level during 2024, and that limit was reduced by Uefa to 70 per cent for 2025, which the club have struggled to comply with. However, it is thought Villa are not in danger of violating their settlement deal agreed with Uefa last year for breaching its separate football  earnings rule that covers financial losses. That deal included a €5million fine, targets around future losses and some transfer restrictions. Breaches of the settlement can lead to more serious sanctions such as exclusion from European competition. Villa are understood...

C eltic PLC on Friday reported a decline in profit for a first half that saw a "great deal of change and disruption", with the football club on its third manager of the season.   Celtic won a fourth Scottish league title in succession in May, but results on the pitch since have not been as emphatic this term. It believes there is "all to play for", however. In the six months to December 31, Celtic's pretax profit slumped 70% to £13.2 million from £43.9 million a year prior, with revenue sliding 29% to GBP59.4 million from GBP83.5 million.   Profit from player trading fell to £14.1 million from £21.5 million a year prior. The revenue decline, Celtic said, was due to it participating in the UEFA Europa League, the secondary European competition, instead of the Champions League like a year prior. In the current 2025/2026 season, Celtic exited the Champions League before the league phase began. In the prior season, it made it out of the league phase and into the Feb...

The Financial Times has the last word on the challenges facing Spurs: 'Spurs rank ninth in Deloitte’s list of the world’s richest clubs, with revenues of €673mn, short of Manchester United but ahead of Chelsea. The club’s net transfer spend over five years is about €666mn, according to Transfermarkt, below Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea but higher than Liverpool. The futuristic Tottenham Hotspur Stadium — which could be mistaken for a space ship that has inexplicably landed in N17 — is the second largest club ground in England. But the cavernous bowl served only to amplify the boos that rang out on Tuesday, as defeat to Newcastle United brought Frank’s tenure to an end. Croatian Igor Tudor has reportedly agreed to take over as interim boss until the end of the season. There is one key metric where Tottenham lag behind: wages. Staff costs of £222mn in the 2023-24 season, the latest figures available, were by far the lowest of England’s “Big Six” clubs, and lower than Aston V...

  A few extracts from an article in The Times today by James Gheerbant follow.   As at most football clubs, if things go wrong, its agency not structure and agency means the manager.   However, arguably Spurs face deeper problems than the person in charge.   The new stadium is splendid, but Arsenal took years to recover from the Emirates move and West Ham have never been happy at the London Stadium.   Wenger reckoned that Arsenal lost their soul when they moved. T he new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was supposed to be the final piece of the project to take Spurs from middling London outfit to global super-club, and in financial terms, it has certainly pulled its weight. Tottenham now have the ninth-highest revenue of any club in the world, ahead of Borussia Dortmund, Atletico Madrid and every Italian team. By a system of trays and motors, rails and pulleys, the football pitch can be retracted, enabling the stadium’s lucrative conversion into an ...