The Political Economy of Football V2

Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish has admitted that the club is making contingency plans for life in the Championship, although he hopes that they will not have to be implemented: Relegation Any club in Palace's position is sensible to think about the financial implications of relegation. Parish reckons that a lot of money is wasted in the Premier League on agents' fees and the like. Palace are pushing ahead with plans to modernise the ground and expand ground capacity from 26,000 to 34,000. They also intend to enlarge the pitch to enable a wider range of tournaments to be staged there. They would be interested in a naming rights deal for the redeveloped stadium.

Tottenham Hotspur have asked if they can play their first few matches away from home next season in case their new stadium is not ready in time. All big construction projects are subject to unexpected delays and the work has been affected by bad weather including high winds. The current freezing conditions are unlikely to help. They still hope to move into their new home for the start of the new season on August 11th and 12th. The stadium is expected to cost about £800m and funding is not reliant on a naming rights deal, although clearly that would be welcome. Transfer budgets will not be affected. Spurs fans crave silverware. The combination of the new stadium and holding on to key players like Harry Kane should help them to move towards that goal.

Ian Wright as a former Arsenal player has said that Arsene Wenger should not stay as manager of the club: Time to go I have had a lot of time for Wenger and I want the top layer of English football to be competitive which means that Arsenal need to pose a consistent threat. This they have failed to do recently. In the Carabao Cup final they didn't seem to be trying at times. Once Wenger was ahead of the curve in terms of innovations in football. The best of them were adopted by others and he is now behind the curve. Choosing the right time to go to preserve your reputation is an art: Sir Alex got it right. Of course, he built a succession of Manchester United teams. Wenger has very few apparent interests outside football and he might not be that comfortable moving to, say, a French club. He has achieved a great deal for Arsenal, not least the move to the Emirates, which did have an impact on the team for a while. Wenger has eighteen months left on his contract. There ar...

It looks as if agreement is near between the FA, Premier League and EFL on a winter break. However, the FA Cup could suffer a further downgrade. The idea is for a staggered break in February so that Premier League clubs would have a 13-day break between matches, but there would still be five games each weekend. It is hoped that England players would then be in better shape for international matches. Arguably the problems are more fundamental than fatigue or injury, but that is another story. The FA Cup fifth round would be moved to midweek and there would be no replays (this may lead to a more general abolition of replays beyond the third round. Some of us can remember second or even third replays). The Premier League will have to make up any shortfalls in television revenue. When I was growing up, winning the cup was often seen as more glamorous than winning the league, even though the latter was a much better test of the relative merits of teams. A team can get the FA Cup in ...

Some restraint has been shown in prices for away fans in the Premier League after the 'twenty is plenty' campaign, but Championship prices can still be very high. Some Brentford fans were deterred by having to pay as much as £44 for a seat for the away game at Leeds. Add on travel costs etc. and you wouldn't have much change out of £100. Nevertheless, away attendances in the EFL continue to rise. A health warning: these figures relate to last season when Newcastle United's Toon Army were on the march (73,380 away visits during the season). It's a far cry from the 73 Morecambe fans who travelled to Wycombe Wanderers last Saturday to see their team pull off a surprise 4-2 win featuring a 39-year old striker (Kevin Ellison) who scored twice. The average number of away fans at EFL games last season was just under one thousand, a rise of six per cent. In the Championship the average was 1,571; in League One it was 799; and in League Two 484. Sheffield United had ...

High profile Billericay Town owner Glenn Tamplin, said to be the second most powerful man in Essex, sacked himself as manager of 'Ricay after they succumbed to a 2-5 home defeat by Wealdstone in the quarter finals of the FA Trophy in front of a crowd of 1,831. Tamplin has made a number of marquee signings for the New Lodge side and says he has put £2m into the club. The club's wage bill is around £25,000 a week. However, he got the hump when most of the players refused to give up a week's wages after recent performances. He said: 'They are not matching my investment. We are not getting the results for what I am paying, so I am stepping down.' Allegations of threatening behaviour and blackmail against Tamplin are currently being investigated by the police: Gangsters allegation Tamplin is a born again Christian. He is said to be worth about £50m. His steel company was placed into liquidation with substantial debts: Life story Non-league football certainly...

Just what should we make of the Chinese Super League (CSL)? Is a fair basis of comparison the development of soccer in the United States? Both have a penchant for signing 'marquee' players, big or fairly big names who are past the peak of their careers, but might still attract the crowds. Thus, defender José Fonte has agreed a £4.3m move from West Ham United to Dalian Yifang. The 34-year old is likely to earn about £120,000 a week after tax. He had 17 months left on his £70,000 a week West Ham contract. However, he has not played since October because of an ankle injury. The political environment in China is a lot more complex than the United States, or at least less transparent. A few years ago I spent a fascinating few days at a workshop on government-business relations in China in Beijing. I learnt a lot, but I also realised how much I didn't know or understand. Jonathan Sullivan of the University of Nottingham aptly commented that the business environment and po...

Even League One clubs can attract foreign investment interest, with a Thai businessman taking over at Oxford United: United takeover Sumrith Thanakarnjanasuth was part of a consortium that owned Reading between 2014 and 2017. The club is currently losing £35,000 a week. Turnover in the last year for which figures are available was £5.148m

Sorry for the break in service, but I was unexpectedly in hospital for a fortnight. Some great stories again soon.