Saints struggle to adjust

Majority stakeholder Sport Republic has an office at Southampton’s training ground, Staplewood. Despite being relegated from the Premier League last season, the club remain the jewel in its multi-club model, and getting Southampton’s affairs in order is imperative to the broader operation. The owner has two other clubs — Turkish second-tier side Goztepe, purchased in August 2022, and Ligue 2 outfit Valenciennes, acquired in July this year.

Lead investor Dragan Solak, a Serbian telecoms billionaire, took out a £110million ($133.4m by today’s rates) loan to buy Southampton in December 2021. The loan was from Luxembourg-registered company Summer Invest Sarl, which is owned by Solak and is a majority shareholder in his telecom company United Group. This was unrelated to Southampton’s cash flow and the loan was not to be repaid out of club accounts.

Since then, however, Solak has regularly provided Southampton with cash injections, covering “general running costs” and essentially footing the bill for Sport Republic’s overhaul in infrastructure. In April, Solak sunk in a further £15m, taking his additional investment to £63m over seven months.

Seeing little bang for his buck, Solak intended to be more proactive in the decision-making this season after his first full year of owning the club ended in relegation and fallout off the pitch. As The Athletic reported in May, there had been a feeling from observers close to Solak and the United Group that the club had been “burning cash” in their operational costs, most notably in player and managerial recruitment. Solak, however, remains committed and he would continue to invest if financial fair play (FFP) regulations allowed.

Wasted money?

Over the summer, a whole matchday squad’s worth of players departed — either on loan or permanently — including seven of the 15 signings made last summer and in January. Wasted money has been a sore point for some staff since Southampton, as is often the case following relegation, made club-wide cuts and redundancies. There is an acknowledgement internally Southampton should have replaced outgoings with more players earlier,

Last season’s disastrous Premier League campaign has notably damaged members of the dressing room. As a consequence, adjusting to a different approach has proven difficult for some players — it is partly why, following their first setback against Sunderland in a heavy 5-0 defeat, the squad is yet to bounce back.

The protracted nature of player sales — even Ward-Prowse and Lavia started the season with Southampton — caused consternation among those players who wanted out, complicating Martin’s attempts to drive through his vision.

There is an acceptance that players have been making too many individual mistakes on transition, resulting in Southampton conceding 19 goals from just eight games — the league’s highest. An expected goal against (xGA) total of 14.2 suggests it is not as if luck is conspiring against them, either.

The sky is often darkest before the break of dawn, but the example of Stoke City shows what can happen to once solid top flight clubs. As my son-in-law and other friends are season ticket holders, I hope they bounce back soon.

Fulham requires big funding from owner

After lengthy delays, Fulham’s shiny, new Riverside Stand has finally opened, creating “a unique Thameside destination with first class facilities for supporters and partners on match days, as well as for the wider community year-round”. This ambitious project has increased Craven Cottage’s capacity by around 4,000 to 29,600, while it has also taken advantage of the club’s fantastic location and wealthy catchment area by including two Michelin star restaurants, a rooftop swimming pool, corporate hospitality and event space, all benefiting from views of the Thames. Chief executive Alistair Mackintosh observed, “Fulham is the sort of club that can have a business class or first class and have fans that turn left on a plane.” Indeed, there is also an exclusive members club – with a football season ticket as an optional extra. It’s fair to say that “the times they are a-changing”, as this is a long way from the traditional pie and a pint. However, in a world where clubs face the tw...

Threat of financial calamity removed from Baggies

West Bromwich Albion had effectively been in decline ever since the club was sold to a Chinese consortium in August 2016, paying a figure north of £200m to buy former owner Jeremy Peace’s stake. Controlling shareholder Guochuan Lai’s ownership was fairly disastrous for the club, but his unloved tenure finally came to an end after Bilkul Football WBA, a company ultimately owned by Florida-based entrepreneur Shilen Patel and his father Dr Kiran Patel, acquired an 87.8% shareholding in West Bromwich Albion Group Limited, the parent company of West Bromwich Albion Football Club. This change in ownership was urgently required, due to the numerous financial problems facing West Brom, including growing high-interest debt and serious cash flow concerns, following years of no investment from the former owner. Indeed, West Brom’s auditors had already rung the alarm bell in the 2021/22 accounts when they cast doubt on the club’s ability to continue as a going concern without making player s...

A poor financial record, but new hope at Everton

I recently saw an amusing video online in which a group of Everton fans were rebuked in jest for being hopeful. Football fans in general tend to swing between excessive optimism and excessive pessimism, but for many it seems that moaning is in their bloodstream (Spurs fans probably take the trophy). However, Everton fans have had plenty to moan about on and off the pitch. Let’s hope that a new era is about to begin for this grand old club. Everton’s 2023/24 financial results covered a fairly momentous season, when they ended up 15th in the Premier League, though they would finished three places higher if they had not received an 8-point deduction for breaching the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability Regulations (PSR). It was a worrying time for Everton fans, as the club faced a “perfect storm” of issues, including large financial losses, an ever increasing debt burden, a challenging stadium build and the tortuous sale of the club. There were eve...

The Political Economy of Football V2

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