Skip to main content

Why lawyers are among football's big earners

A modern Subbuteo set doesn't just need accountants, it also needs lawyers.   Here are some of the recent key legal cases involving football clubs with the law firms involved in brackets:

  • Manchester City challenged the Premier League rules on sponsorship which were found to be unlawful (David Pannick KC who reportedly charges £5k an hour, two other KCs, three additional barristers and law firm Freshfields.   The Premier League's three KCs led by Sports Silk of the Year Adam Lewis KC and four more barristers instructed by Slaughter and May).
  • The European Court of Justice ruled that Fifa's transfer regulations were unlawful after a challenge by former French international Lassana Diarra.
  • A joint action by players' union Fifpro and European Leagues claiming that Fifa's decision to launch a revised version of the Club World Cup had put player health at risk and is in violation of EU law.
  • Leicester, Manchester City, Nottingham Forest and Everton have faced action for alleged breaches of Premier League rule breaches in the past two years, Leicester won the their case and Clifford Chance is representing City in its ongoing battle with the Premier League.   (Pinsent Masons acted for Everton, Squire Patton Bogs for Forest and Linklaters for the Premier League.  Nick De Marco KC of Blackstone Chambers represented Leicester to the delight of the club's fans).
  • A tribunal appointed by the FA found in December that Fifa's planned reform of regulations for agents was illegal.
  • In April Fifa settled a case brought by Relevent Sports, a promoter seeking to bring European league fixtures to the US.
  • The Premier League's legal bill last season rose from a typical budget of £8m to £45m.
With the arrival of private equity, sovereign wealth, hedge funds and billionaires in a globalising game the stakes have changed.   Club owners have a fiduciary responsibility to pursue their own interests through any means available.

Nick De Marco wrote on Linkedin: 'the growth of lawyers in football is not something those like me has caused, but is an inevitable result of the complex financial and ownership rules, competition and the money at stake.

 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

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’...
Post a Comment
Read more

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...
1 comment
Read more