The Political Economy of Football V2

The tireless Swiss Ramble analyses the 2018/19 accounts of Huddersfield Town. He comments, they 'deserve praise for reaching the top flight (and surviving two seasons) on a very low budget compared to others. They concluded, “Whilst relegation was clearly disappointing, the club is generally in a much better position than it was prior to promotion to the Premier League."'Profit before tax fell £26m from £30m to £4m, as revenue decreased £6m (5%) from £125m to £119m, profit on player sales halved from £6m to £3m and expenses rose £17m. After tax, prior season’s £26m profit was down to £3m, as the tax charge dropped from £4.1m to £0.5m.The £6m revenue fall was almost entirely driven by broadcasting’s £6m (5%) decrease from £110m to £104m, due to lower finishing position in the Premier League, while commercial also dropped £0.5m (5%) to £10.0m. However, match day slightly rose by £0.2m (2%) to £5.0m.The £119m revenue is still £103m higher than £16m generated in season befor…

West Ham are planning a £30m rights issue to help them overcome the financial challenges posed by the corona virus pandemic: Right issue plan Whether shareholders will take it up remains to be seen, but at least they are not going to the taxpayer for support.

Burnley calculate they could lose £50m if the season is not finished while other Premier League clubs could lose £100m: Clarets shortfall Hopes of a May restart now look forlorn, but Uefa reckons that any postponed season would have to be finished by the end of August.

Reading had an operating loss of £40.6m in 2018/19, which is after taking into account £1.7m of management charge income to another group company and £3m loan fee for Sone Aluko to a club controlled by Reading owners. Without these losses would have been over £45m, reports Kieran Maguire of the PriceofFootball.Reading reduced losses to ‘just’ £30m through player disposals and selling training ground to club owners for £13m at a profit of over £8m. The previous season Reading undertook a similar exercise with the Majedski Stadium.Reading did not receive any cash for the sale of the training ground, it was offset against the sum due to owners, who put in £28m of shares and increased loans by £6.5m. Reading are paying rent of £1.5m a year for the Majedski Stad after selling the stadium for £26.5m.Reading’s wage bill increased by £5.4 million in 2018/19. Excluding the unusual loan fee Reading therefore paid £225 in wages for every £100 of income which is a Championship record, beating Bir…

Clubs may not be accepted into the Champions League if they have not qualified in the normal way, providing an additional incentive to complete the season: Clubs risk exclusion if season ends prematurely

The Bundesliga is seeking €300m to weather the financial effects of the coronavirus pandemic and is considering investments from two private equity firms: Seeking capital injection