The Political Economy of Football V2

When I first became old enough to follow football in the early 1950s, Hearts stood out as a leading Scottish club. As we enter 2026, there is an unexpected sight in the Scottish Premiership, as Heart of Midlothian sit proudly on top of the table, ahead of the Glasgow giants. Hearts’ dramatic improvement this season owes a lot to Tony Bloom’s investment in the club in June, when the Brighton owner paid £9.86m for a 29% stake in the club in non-voting shares. This change was overwhelmingly voted through by 98.5% of Foundation Of Hearts (FOH) members. From an investor’s perspective, Hearts ticked many boxes, as the club is located in a wealthy city, attracting millions of tourists, while it has a of potential on the pitch. Following the successful completion of Bloom’s investment, Ann Budge announced that the time was right for her to stand down after an 11-year involvement. The club said that the “poor on pitch performance” had impacted the finances in 2024/25, though it had stil...

If I was a Chelsea fan, I would be concerned about how recent events have developed, but there is also a more positive side to the story.   BTW, I support Charlton and I expect Chelsea to win the FA  Cup game by something like 3-1. Even by Chelsea’s standards, this is an extraordinary sequence   of events. On December 12, Enzo Maresca was named Barclays Manager of the Month for November. Three weeks later, he is gone. The speed of Maresca’s departure at Stamford Bridge is pretty shocking. It was only in late November that Maresca engineered one of the most impressive wins of his tenure — a 3-0 victory over Barcelona in the Champions League. Five days later and Chelsea sent out a statement that they might be title contenders by securing a 1-1 draw with Arsenal, despite being down to 10 men for nearly an hour due to Moises Caicedo’s first-half red card. They were third in the Premier League, just six points behind their London rivals. Now they are a further nin...