The Political Economy of Football V2

The West Ham United co-owner David Sullivan has been advised not to attend the club’s home matches after a Times and BBC Panorama investigation into sexual misconduct allegations which he emphatically denies. The operator of London Stadium, where West Ham play their home games, has recommended to the club that Sullivan, 77, does not go to games, due to potential for fan unrest.    Additionally, the stadium operator has asked for advance notice of any planned visits by Sullivan in order to implement extra safety and operational measures. West Ham, however, have told London Stadium that they expect the businessman to still attend their games at the ground, before the club’s Carabao Cup tie against Portsmouth on Saturday, their first home match of the season. The Times and BBC Panorama investigation also revealed that Sullivan has had safeguarding restrictions imposed on him since 2023, banning him from contact with West Ham’s youth and women’s teams. The restrictions were ...

Reports have appeared in The Guardian and elsewhere that Charlton has been put up for sale. Richard Cawley is an authoritative local journalist who runs a South London Sport substack site.  He reached out to the club yesterday evening to ask for comment on The Guardian’s article. Early indications from the club have been that nothing has changed since the story about them seeking investment, except that it is now a different company doing it. Charlton have since managed to consolidate their place in the Championship, avoiding an instant return to League One, with their women’s side promoted to the WSL, returning to the top flight for the first time since 2007, although staying there is likely to be costly. It would be counter-intuitive for owners Global Football Partners not to progress the club when looking for investment, that the focus remains on driving it forward, that their spend this summer is in line with long-term planning and will see an increase in wages spent on players...

Listening to Radio 5 I heard a Newcastle fan seeing the departure of Eddie Howe as a positive move.  My thought was ‘be careful what you wish for.’ Howe may well have run out of steam, but as Alan Shearer pointed out, the timing was odd.   More fundamentally, the strategy of the owners may be changing. The departure of Eddie Howe is the clearest sign yet that the Newcastle United of the near future is not the one many hoped for five years ago.     Newcastle’s strategy has shifted. Even as PIF remain in situ, the goal of quickly becoming a sustained, dominant force in the Premier League is fading with each day of this transfer window. Newcastle’s net spend across 2021-22 to 2023-24 was £408m, the fifth-highest in England and ahead of Liverpool and Manchester City. On a gross basis, they were the sixth-highest spenders on players. The wage bill jumped from 12th-highest in the division to eighth. A fallow year followed before spending ramped up again last s...

Time for a bit of boosterism for the Premier League at a time when commercial influences on football are under challenge.  Many fans are concerned about its dominance of the game and whether enough money trickles down to the EFL and grassroots football, although the Premier League would argue that it makes generous provision.   An agreement has finally been reached with the EFL on funding with the independent regulator hovering in the background with a figure of £1.5 bn being reported:  https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cx2r015jjl0o The Premier League will add £33 billion to the UK economy and generate close to £15 billion in tax revenue over the next three seasons, according to analysis from EY. The economic value of England’s highest domestic football competition has grown 14-fold since the 1998-99 season, with record international viewing numbers and lucrative broadcasting rights creating one of the richest leagues in Europe. The economic contribut...

Amanda Staveley’s consortium has agreed a £150million deal to buy a 25.1 per cent share in West Ham United, which will throw the future ownership of the Championship club into doubt.  Through her firm, PCP Capital Partners, Staveley offered a higher sum than the one tabled by Daniel Kretinsky, the Czech billionaire who already owns 27 per cent of the club, to purchase the full stake from the family of the late David Gold. Last month the Gold family had agreed to sell 16 per cent of their stake to Kretinsky. He is now considering “all options” after the setback. The proposed deal would have made the Royal Mail owner the biggest shareholder and given him control of the club. Kretinsky and Vanessa Gold, David’s daughter, who are both West Ham co-chairs, said in a statement at the time that they had hoped the deal would be completed soon.  Staveley’s deal was more attractive to Gold’s family because they can dispose of the full holding and it valued the club at a higher s...

Chelsea have been fined £10 million ($13.4m) and given a suspended transfer ban following an investigation into 74 alleged breaches of the English Football Association’s regulations. The club were also initially hit with a suspended six-point deduction by an independent regulatory commission, which handed out the punishments, before this was overturned on appeal. Chelsea were instead given a two-window transfer ban, which is suspended until June 30, 2027. The FA can apply to activate that ban if any Chelsea are deemed to have potentially committed any similar breaches. The breaches relate to a period of time between 2009 and 2022 and “primarily events that occurred between the 2010-11 to 2015-16 playing seasons” — when Roman Abramovich was still owner of Chelsea — the FA said. The latest decision brings the amount of money Chelsea have been fined to more than £18m, after UEFA imposed a €10 million (£8.6m, $11m at the time) sanction in July 2023 concerning the same offences. ...