The Political Economy of Football V2

The steep bowl design lof Birmingham City’s new stadium features 12 chimney-form towers, designed to echo the brickworks that once sat on the site and point towards how the hard-working people of Birmingham changed the world during the Industrial Revolution. The chimneys — undoubtedly the biggest talking point — will provide structural support for the roof while accommodating lifts and staircases and helping with ventilation. One tower will even include a lift to what is claimed will be Birmingham’s highest bar, offering city-wide views. Once completed, they will be viewed from 40 miles away. Early reaction to the £1.2billion ($1.57bn) project from locals has been largely positive, but considerably more mixed across the country. Long-serving supporters of football clubs are sensitive to changes around history and tradition, with a stadium move the most delicate issue, yet the initial signs are that many Birmingham fans are on board. The design includes seating as close to pitch...

The Swiss Ramble looks at club funding in the Premier League.  Almost two-thirds came from the Big Six, led by Manchester United £5.6 bln, Manchester City £5.4 bln and Liverpool £4.7 bln. The Premier League made a hefty £7.1 bln operating loss in the last decade with four clubs losing more than half a billion: Chelsea were far worse than anyone else with a massive £1.4 bln deficit, followed by Everton £895m, Aston Villa £871m and Fulham £507m. Four clubs had more than £2 bln cash to spend in the last ten years, namely Chelsea £2.7 bln, Tottenham £2.6 bln, Manchester City £2.3 bln and Manchester United £2.2 bln. There were another four clubs above the £1 bln mark: Arsenal £1.8 bln, Everton £1.8 bln, Liverpool £1.6 bln and Aston Villa £1.0 bln. However, the sources of these funds were quite different. At its simplest, the larger clubs could use money they had generated themselves, either through operating activities or player sales, while the aspirational challengers had to rel...

Spurs’ state-of-the-art stadium is the envy of the Premier League and has been widely considered one of the best venues in Europe since it opened in April 2019 — after a three-year build — at a cost of £1.2billion ($1.6bn). The Emirates, now nearly 20 years old, remains a spectacular ground in its own right, and one of the best in England, but it has aged quickly over the past six years due to the competition it faces from the blue-and-white part of north London. Whether it is hosting the biggest music artists, annual NFL matches, boxing events or housing the F1 Drive — an electric go-karting track — under the South Stand, Spurs’ stadium is light years ahead of Arsenal’s home. As part of their agreement with Islington Council, Arsenal can host six non-football events attended by more than 10,000 people per calendar year. Only three of these are allowed to be music concerts. Spurs, on the other hand, can host up to 30 non-football events. That is an increase on the 16 Haringey C...

Majority control at Norwich City passed to Attanasio’s Norfolk Holdings group from Delia Smith and Michael Wynn Jones after 28 years. Attanasio, the owner of American baseball team Milwaukee Brewers, first purchased a minority 22% stake from former director Michael Foulger in September 2022, before increasing his shareholder to 40.4% in April 2024.   In March 2025 Attanasio converted his loans into equity, giving him 85% of the football club. Smith and her husband have retained 10%, while the remaining 5% is owned by independent shareholders, including the supporters’ group, Under the former owners, the club had been promoted to the top flight on no fewer than five occasions, but they had become the classic “yo-yo” club, most notably in the four seasons between 2018/19 and 2021/22, when they were twice finished top of the Championship, only to twice come last in the Premier League. Norwich City’s pre-tax loss in 2024/25 widened from £14.4m to £20.7m, mainly due to a steep red...

Liverpool owner Fenway Sports Group (FSG) has ended its interest in buying La Liga club Getafe. The cost of the takeover — coupled with Spain’s strict limitations on spending linked to the club’s limited revenue — are understood to have ultimately made it prohibitive. Getafe president AngeloTorres, who had previously put off potential bidders with a valuation of around £160million ($211m), had lowered his price tag to closer to £100m ($132m), while publicly downplaying talk of selling the club he has owned since 2002. However, FSG were the latest in a long line of suitors to show serious interest in a club which has built a reputation for being well run and developing young talent. FSG have been committed to building a multi-club group around Liverpool since Michael Edwards was appointed as their CEO of football in March 2024. Over the past 18 months, FSG technical director Julian Ward has also been heavily involved in trying to find the right opportunity. French club Bordeaux ...

A replica of Mbappé’s Adidas-branded shirt, with his name on the back, retails for as much as £185 — or £200 for one with long sleeves and Champions League badges.  The advent of the £200 shirt is seen by some industry executives as a byproduct of prevailing trends reshaping football finance. Merchandise is an increasingly important growth driver for clubs, as the media rights market slows significantly — and with onerous new regulations linking transfer spending limits with revenues, generating growth off the pitch is crucial to stay competitive on it. Revenues at the retail and licensing division of FC Barcelona — which charges fans £320 for a shirt with teenage star Lamine Yamal’s name in a limited edition font on the back — rose 55 per cent to €170mn last year. Manchester United’s retail sales grew 16 per cent to £145mn last year, despite flat revenue overall. Meanwhile, Liverpool FC has built a retail network across Asia and the Middle East, opening its 22nd store las...

Barcelona actually reported a pre-tax loss of €8m in 2024/25, though this was significantly better than the prior year’s €204m deficit, reports the Swiss Ramble.  This was largely driven by a steep reduction in exceptional items, which fell from €225m to €10m, mainly due to movement in economic levers. As a reminder, Barcelona had pulled these famous levers (“ palancas ”) to raise funds, albeit at the expense of sacrificing income in the future. As it stands, Barcelona have made around €850m from pulling these financial levers, split between TV rights €665m, Barça Vision €112m and Personal Seating Licences €70m.   Looking at the five seasons between 2019/20 and 2023/24, Barcelona’s reported loss was €298m, but if the €842m gain from economic levers is excluded, the underlying loss would have been a cool €1.1 bln.   The good news is that on this basis Barcelona have actually posted profits in each of the last two seasons, first €20m in 2023/24, then €2m in 2024/25. In ...

Last season was the third for Derby County under the ownership of David Clowes, a local businessman and lifelong supporter, who bought the club out of administration in July 2022, splashing out around £55m in the process. As Clowes said, his purchase had “ended nine months of uncertainty and fear over the future of our club.”  The authoritative Swiss Ramble analyses the 2023/24 accounts. Following promotion to the Championship, Derby’s pre-tax loss narrowed from £14.2m to £11.1m. Revenue shot up £12.5m (64%) from £19.4m to a club record £31.9m, but this was more than offset by the increased cost of competing in the higher division, as operating expenses rose £15.0m (39%) from £38.2m to £53.2m. The net improvement was thus thanks to a significant increase in profit on player sales, which more than doubled from £4.6m to £10.3m. The main driver of Derby’s revenue growth was the higher TV deal in the Championship, which led to broadcasting income more than quadrupling from £2.9m to...

West Ham are in a relegation battle.  No one gains financially from demotion, but it impacts some more than others. Existing cost bases play a big part, likewise a team’s ability to generate money by selling some faces that didn’t look out of place in the top tier. Beyond that, club owners come into play. Between 2015 and 2024, Championship clubs lost a collective £3.2billion, all of it (and a little more) funded by benevolent shareholders. Amounts required for recently relegated clubs can vary, but a general rule is that the longer you stay in the second tier, the more you’ll need to lean on an owner or two. One thing is for certain — if relegation comes, West Ham’s revenue will drop. That has been the case pretty much since the Premier League’s inception, but it has become more pronounced since 2016, when a new TV deal exploded onto the scene. Since then, only one club has seen post-relegation turnover fall by less than a third. That was Bournemouth in 2020-21, and even tha...

 Hearts made a net operating loss of £400,000 in 2024/25 despite increased turnover and European football.  However, it should be noted that  the 29 per cent investment made by Brighton owner Tony Bloom, shows up on the balance sheet rather than the profit and loss accounts:  https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c33p83vll0yo In any case the loss is relatively modest compared with some English clubs.

Derby County lost £11.3m in 2024/25.   An increase in revenue saw a £3m reduction in losses compared with the previous year:  https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c867vjlpl1vo Billionaire John Textor is said to be interested in acquiring the club if his bid for Sheffield Wednesday fails, but many fans think that his track record suggests he would not be a good fit for the club.

In 2017 Barcelona had posted six straight years of profits, where wages were less than 60 per cent of revenue and where those revenues were growing healthily — up €164m and 34 per cent in three seasons. Barcelona made a profit again in 2017-18, but its size, considering it included a world-record fee for Neymar, was miserly. The club booked a €20.1million pre-tax surplus but only after more than €200m in player profits. Operating performance collapsed, from a €10.5m profit in 2016-17 to a €176.8m loss  Before accounting for any of the other costs involved in running a club of Barca’s stature, 81 cents in every euro were gobbled up by football staff costs or the fees paid to bring players to the Camp Nou. And those other running costs were and are massive. The club very quickly became structurally unsound. In 2020-21, Barca recorded a €555.4million pre-tax loss, by a long way the worst financial result ever recorded by a football club. In June 2022, when Barca announced the sa...

Celtic’s results off the pitch in 2023/24 saw their pre-tax profit further improving from £18m to £46m, a record for Scottish clubs.  Revenue rose £19m (15%) from £125m to £144m, another all-time high for Scotland, while profit from player sales shot up from £7m to £31m. The significant increase in Celtic’s revenue was was driven by the successful Champions League campaign, which led to uplifts in match day, up £10.7m (21%) from £49.6m to £60.3m, and broadcasting, up £8.8m (24%) from £36.4m to £45.2m. Both revenue streams established new club records. Celtic have pretty much been in a class of their own in Scotland when it comes to generating money from player trading, as seen by looking at the latest available accounts, where the next highest profit was only £5.6m at Rangers, followed by £1.3m at Aberdeen. Celtic have posted profits in nine of the last ten years, the one exception being the COVID-impacted loss in 2020/21. As a result, they have generated an impressive £135m ...

The owner of Fulham FC is betting a £350mn investment in its stadium that includes adding a private members’ club will provide the Premier League club with the financial firepower to compete with its richer rivals. “I think it’s going to go a long way towards making Fulham competitive and compliant with [financial] fair play rules,” Shahid Khan told the Financial Times on a tour of the west London development, which features a grand piano, marble bar and a riverside walkway.   The multibillionaire said the additions to Craven Cottage, the club’s home since 1896, were made viable by its Thameside location, which was a “key asset” — adding Fulham has the “most educated, richest fan base in English football”. Khan is seeking to build new revenue streams to help reduce his financial support and fund player signings after Premier League clubs spent a record £3bn-plus in the summer transfer window.   The league’s financial regulations mean clubs cannot lose more than £105mn over...