The Political Economy of Football V2

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...

It is the prospect of Spurs, one of English football’s so-called Big Six clubs, exiting the league that is capturing media attention as the Premier League season approaches its end. “There’s not much hope. There is anger, just disbelief really that we’re in this situation,” Flav Bateman, host of The Fighting Cock, a Spurs fan podcast told the Financial Times . “I think a lot of Spurs fans feel the same. We’re not even talking about it anymore.” The club’s place in the Big Six has not chimed with performances on the pitch. Spurs have not won the league since 1961, while their last FA Cup trophy was 35 years ago.   Fans complain that the emphasis on the business side has led to years of under-investment in players. Spurs have spent about £1.3bn on transfer fees for players in the past decade, the sixth highest in English football and similar to Liverpool and Arsenal, according to estimates from Transfermarkt. However, Spurs spent just 43 per cent of revenue on player wages...

The Financial Times gives its verdict on the challenges facing Spurs: 'The next three days will be crucial for Tottenham Hotspur, one of English football’s “Big Six” clubs. Having won only once in the past eight games, the London team are in the drop zone, and the expectations among bookmakers and data wonks have now shifted: Spurs are increasingly expected to be relegated. Demotion would be calamitous and unprecedented for such a wealthy club. Some roots of the current crisis run shallow. A newly appointed manager failed to improve results after last year’s dismal league finish, the worst in decades. New players, bought at considerable cost, did not deliver what was hoped for on the pitch. And injuries to key squad members piled up. In an increasingly competitive league, such things can snowball quickly. Without the experienced hand of Daniel Levy — Spurs executive chair for almost 25 years until his ousting in September — perhaps the club reacted to those problems too slo...