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

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

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

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
Post a Comment
Read more