Watford versus West Ham is the real pay day

The drama on the final day of the Premier League season tomorrow is naturally focused on the fates of Liverpool and Manchester United, but the most important game in financial terms is between Watford and West Ham United.

There is a range of three places available to both teams and this could make a difference of just under £5.8m to their final payout from the Premier League. Leaving aside the relegated clubs, it is the teams at the top and the bottom that will see the smallest difference to their prize money: £1.93m for Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Brighton.

Wolves will finish seventh whatever happens and should therefore, leaving some unlikely outcomes aside, be in the Europa League next season. It's a just reward for a team who have not been daunted following promotion and made a big impact on the league. Paradoxically, the long drawn out Europa League campaign may hold them back next season (Burnley were negatively impacted this season).

The real excitement tomorrow will be whether City can steal the title or whether they will stumble at the last minute. Probably not. From a neutral's perspective, both title contenders have played some fantastic football this season. In a way justice would be done if City retained the title and Liverpool took the Champions League. However, there is a sense in which Liverpool fans would have preferred the title, while Spurs think that the Champions League title can be theirs.

Anfield is a superb stadium for atmosphere and all football fans remember with sadness what happened at Hillsborough. However, there is a sense in which City fans are a more cerebral lot, although they may be surprised to hear it. My sense is that if City win the title they will celebrate for a few days and that will be it. Liverpool fans will celebrate all summer and all next season as well. This is not to say that is wrong, just different.

Gary James, a lecturer in sports history at Manchester Metropolitan University (and a City fan) put it this way to The Times:'Liverpool's supporters have this great ability, no matter what the scoreline is, they're convinced they'll win. I'm not saying that's wrong, because their history bears it out. City fans aren't like that. We're a bit more realistic.'

If you are fan of a club like Charlton, as I have been since 1953, you realise that there is going to be a lot of disappointment, but that makes the good moments even better.

It's no deal say Spurs insiders over Taiwanese takeover

Senior figures at Tottenham Hotspur insisted on Friday that they had not been informed of any deal to sell Daniel Levy’s stake in the club. A business group, Eight Sports Capital — which is said to include a billionaire Taiwanese financier — claimed that it had an agreement in place to buy a 24.99 per cent stake in ENIC, the club’s majority owners, from Levy, who owns 29.88 per cent. The Times has been told Ng Wing Fai and Brooklyn Earick form part of the group, having both been linked previously to potential takeovers of the Premier League club. The Taiwanese businessman, Richard Tsai, is also said to be part of the consortium. He is reportedly worth £7 billion. Last year Earick, the former DJ and tech entrepreneur, was part of an attempted £4.5 billion takeover, which was “unequivocally rejected” by Spurs. An ENIC spokesperson said: “We can confirm that neither ENIC nor THFC are aware of any sale by Daniel Levy’s Family Trust of its minority stake in ENIC, THFC’...

Reports about Charlton sale exaggerated

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...

Hull City's 'strange' loan

When football finance guru Kieran Maguire seems flashing lights in a club's loan deal, I become concerned. He is the leading football finance expert in the UK. Hull City have borrowed £55m against their stadium and training ground yet they should get £30m from the Premier League before long. What is going on? https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cpwel48y51do

The Political Economy of Football V2

Search This Blog