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How many Spurs fans want change at the club?

The most striking events of yesterday’s game at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium came long before kick-off, with an organised protest march to the stadium. It was the biggest organised display of discontent Tottenham have seen for years. There have been moments of frustration and disappointment over the years, just as you would endure at any football club. There was a real outburst of anger in April 2021 when Spurs signed up to join the Super League and fans congregated outside the stadium with anti-ENIC and anti-Levy banners not too different from those seen on Sunday. But that was still the era of Covid restrictions and those protests were just a few dozen fans outside the ground, many of them wearing masks. This was something bigger. It all started two hours before kick-off at the junction of Lordship Lane and the High Road, just down the road from the stadium. At first, a few dozen fans were gathered on the pavement in front of The Trampery, the grand red brick building on the cor...
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City's laywers run rings round Premier League again

The Premier League has once again been made to look foolish by Manchester City’s smart lawyers and run up yet another big legal bill.   The top flight competitionhas been dealt a devastating blow in its legal battle with Manchester City after its sponsorship rules enforced between 2021 and 2024 were declared void. An independent tribunal ruled in October last year that three elements of the rules regarding Associated Party Transactions (APT) were unlawful, in particular around loans from owners and shareholders to clubs. City’s interpretation of the initial decision was that the APT rules in their entirety were void and that the unlawful elements could not simply be struck off. The Premier League dismissed these concerns and pushed ahead with amendments which were approved by 16 of the 20 top-flight clubs in November. The rules, introduced in December 2021 in the wake of the Saudi-led takeover of Newcastle United, were designed to maintain the competitiveness of the...

El Salvador crypto company takes stake in Juventus

Crypto coin company Tether has acquired a minority stake in Juventus:  https://www.tradingview.com/news/cointelegraph:8a31b6487094b:0-tether-invests-in-juventus-football-club/ Tether, which issues the $142 billion stablecoin USDT, didn’t disclose the size or value of its holding in Turin-based Juventus in an announcement on Friday. Juventus didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The El Salvador-headquartered company has ramped up its dealmaking significantly in recent years as its profits swelled, powered by rising interest rates on the US government bonds it manages. Tether said it has more than $7 billion in excess capital last month, up from about $1 billion from three months earlier. Tether has been investing in everything from digital payments to farming infrastructure, rapidly expanding its reach across the global business sphere. It plowed $775 million into the social media company Rumble Inc. in December, while holding a stake worth more than €1.32 billion...

Shrewsbury still facing financial challenges

 'Strong action' has improved Shrewsbury Town's finances, but they are still making a loss and seeking outside investment:  https://www.shropshirestar.com/sport/2025/02/14/roland-wycherley-strong-actions-have-help-improve-shrewsbury-towns-finances/ The club serves a large rural area and has to face clubs with very wealthy owners such as Birmingham City, Wrexham and Wycombe Wanderers.   League One is becoming more like the Championship as outside investors crowd in.

Response to Brentford boss on football regulator

 Greg Campbell has hit back at a recent article in the Financial Times by Brentford’s Cliff Crown on the subject of the proposed football regulator.  Campbell is a partner in Campbell Tickell, a management consultancy.   He has written a code of governance for football clubs. ‘I was interested to read the opinion piece from Cliff Crown, chair of Brentford Football Club (“Regulation must not stop football clubs that dare to dream”, Pink ‘Un, February 4). However I believe there is more to the story. While Brentford’s recent track record is impressive, parachute payments (to clubs relegated from the Premiership to the Championship) create a yo-yo effect instead of promoting competition. Clubs like Southampton, Leicester, Burnley, Sheffield United, Norwich, Ipswich, West Brom and not many others continually bounce up and down between the Premiership and the Championship. The parachute payments system distorts competition and makes it very hard for others to break thr...

Hibernian learn that you need to spend wisely

Hibernian’s 2023/24 accounts covered a season when the club finished in “a very disappointing eighth position”. However, they did somewhat better in the cup competitions, reaching the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup and the semi-finals of the League Cup. This was the second time that Hibernian had finished 8th in the last three seasons, which is clearly below expectations. These are their worst finishes since 2013/14, when they ended up being relegated, spending three seasons in the Championship before returning to the top flight in 2017. The club has not been helped by frequent changes in the manager with four men being handed the reins after the sacking of Jack Ross in December 2021. Shaun Maloney only lasted four months, while Lee Johnson survived for more than a year before also exiting stage left. In terms of ownership, there was a lengthy period of stability after Sir Tom Farmer, the former Kwik-Fit CEO, bought the club and the stadium from the receivers in 1991.  ...

Choppy waters for Ineos and United

As it complains about ‘the deindustrialisation of Europe’, INEOS is undertaking a slowing down or outright cutting of investment in what had been flagship businesses.  On Wednesday, the INEOS Group received a further blow when leading agencies Fitch Ratings and Moody’s downgraded their credit rating to “negative”, citing mounting debts of almost €12bn (£10bn), over five times larger than INEOS’ annual earnings.  INEOS’ recent business decisions have the appearance of stripping back to protect the motherlode, but even United have not escaped the cost-cutting.   On Tuesday,  The Athletic  reported that Ratcliffe was following up 250 job losses last summer by making another 100 staff roles redundant over the upcoming months. This is just the latest in a string of what Ratcliffe has termed “right-sizing” measures — such as removing club credit cards and cutting Sir Alex Ferguson’s ambassadorial deal, as well as raising ticket prices and eliminatin...