The Political Economy of Football V2

A consortium of investors led by Amit Bhatia and backed by the Mittal family is in talks to buy a significant minority stake in Liverpool Football Club, in a deal that would value the English Premier League side at more than $6bn.   Owners Fenway Sports Group are interested in capital investment rather than a complete takeover. The investor group headed by Bhatia, the son-in-law of steel tycoon and billionaire Lakshmi Mittal, has hired advisers to work on the offer and is in active talks with Liverpool’s current US owners Fenway Sports Group, according to people familiar with the matter. The football club was expected to be valued at more than $6bn in any transaction, three people said, one of the highest in football history. The attempted deal underlines the continued appeal of England’s top-tier football clubs and the global reach of the Premier League. People familiar with the talks stressed to th Financial Times   that no deal had yet been struck and there was n...

The governance arrangements in the Bundesliga have long drawn rather uncritical admiration from fan groups in the UK, but I take a more sceptical view of the German Sonderweg in my book Political Football.  (The publisher has now gone out of business but cheap pre loved – or not – copies are relatively available, or I can send an electronic copy free). Looking at Bayern Munich, the authoritative Swiss Ramble notes that Bundesliga clubs are actually less transparent than their counterparts elsewhere.    Polite requests from his Zurich fastness for more information have produced little response. What follows are the main points from the Swiss Ramble’s analysis of Bayern, much more analysis is available on his Substack page. Unlike many other clubs, which rack up enormous losses in the pursuit of sporting success, Bayern have also performed very well off the pitch, so this article will delve into their finances to try to understand what drives their “Bavarian model”. ...

At all levels of football lawyers are the key players these days and Morecambe are taking legal advice before responding to a censure notice issued by the independent football regulator, the first of its kind under the new regulatory regime The IFR claims that two of the club's directors, Katjie Singh Morni and Harjit Singh, are in breach of Section 65 of the Football Governance Act. It is stated that they responded to requests for information about the running of the club a month late and without fully addressing the questions asked. The club's response is here:  https://morecambefc.com/news/independent-football-regulator-warning-notice-1784232143191

What lay ahead?   Jude and his brother in Leamington kit where his police sergeant father was a star part-time striker, although the family came from Stourbridge. Never mind brand Beckham – although he has been doing well with a range of television adverts in the World Cup.    It’s the lad from Stourbridge who is attracting the attention of the world’s top brands. There are few things that unite LVMH and McDonald’s. But the luxury goods group and the fast-food giant have both turned to the same man to promote their brands: Jude Bellingham. The England midfielder has been one of the standout players at the World Cup. Bellingham, 23, is among a generation of young superstars, alongside Erling Haaland and Lamine Yamal, taking up the mantle from Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in a sport where younger fans increasingly follow individual players rather than teams. Sports business website Sportico estimates that Bellingham is the ninth highest-paid player at the World ...

While our attention has been focused on the World Cup, the Premier League transfer market has been heating up with plenty of cash to splash. Tottenham Hotspur are tired of fighting relegation. The Lewis family has injected cash. Spurs have spent €267mn on players so far this window, higher than any other club, according to data tracker Transfermarkt. Manchester City haven’t won the league for two seasons straight. That won’t do for Khaldoon Al Mubarak, who chairs the club and leads UAE sovereign investor Mubadala. City has a new manager, Enzo Maresca, who joined after a messy exit from Chelsea. The club has spent €175.20 mn, including the signing of England midfielder Elliott Anderson from Nottingham Forest for £116mn (€136mn). Spurs have recouped almost €70mn from selling players, City around €23mn, but neither has sold quite like Newcastle and Chelsea, who have moved on €188mn and €132mn of players respectively. Having missed out on the Champions League, private equity-ow...

The bromance between Fifa boss Infantino and President Trump has attracted lots of attention, not least because Trump was able to get a US red card rescinded, the only one in the tournament.   But more fundamental Americanisation of the beautiful game is taking place with Fifa's compliance. In search of every last US dollar, Fifa is leaving no stone unturned. Ahead of Sunday’s final, football’s governing body is somehow still finding new ways to reach into fans’ wallets. Those who simply cannot get enough of the World Cup final have been offered the chance to attend the pre-match press conference in New York. The privilege that has until been reserved for, well, members of the press, is now open to attendees of Fanatics Fest — a four-day jamboree organised by Michael Rubin’s sports merchandise and memorabilia company. A one-day pass will set you back $80. But it doesn’t stop there. Diehards can buy one of the 1,996 “championship rings” available after the game (price still...

Increasingly the most important people in any football club are not the accountants, but the lawyers.  A career as a sports lawyer offers good prospects and is more interesting than many branches of the legal profession. Leeds United have opened legal proceedings and served a statement of claim against Leicester City after being denied automatic promotion in 2023-24, when the latter broke financial rules.    This follows Burnley’s recent successful action against Everton. A statement of claim sets out why the claimant is taking action against a respondent. In this case, Leeds have included specific losses, but also requested an assessment of damages as a result of Leicester’s PSR breach. As it stands, the hearing is not set to take place until next summer.   It is always possible that it will be settled out of court. Last month, it was revealed Everton had been ordered to pay Burnley £35m in compensation and interest. In 2021-22, the Lancashire club were rel...

The chairman of Oxford United has apologised for the uncertainty and concern that has arisen after the club was given a transfer ban.   In particular, he reassured fans that it would not affect plans for a new stadium north of the city:  https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/sport/26283814.oxford-united-head-apologises-amid-uncertainty-concern/ The club evidently found competing in the Championship challenging and now they have paid a financial penalty in League One.

To try to capitalise on the surge in interest from the World Cup, Major League Soccer has launched its largest-ever marketing campaign called “Thanks World, We’ll Take It From Here”, featuring MLS stars past and present, including Lionel Messi and David Beckham. It aims to convert America’s growing legion of football fans into loyal followers of the country’s top professional league as its season resumes on July 16.  MLS, which launched in 1996 as a condition of the US’s bid to host the 1994 World Cup, faces a pivotal moment. The arrival of Messi at Inter Miami in 2023 drew unprecedented attention to the league. Even before the World Cup, viewership and match attendance increased in recent seasons.  As part of efforts to build on this momentum, the league is shifting to a summer-to-spring calendar in 2027 to align with the international football schedule. Currently its season runs from late February to early December. This change, alongside roster rule tweaks, aims to inte...

Rumours abound that Newcastle United’s captain, Bruno Guimarães, will be the next big name player to leave St James’ Park. The Swiss Ramble has produced an in depth and highly informative analysis of the related financial position.    Unavoidably it requires making a series of assumptions about the club ‘s future finances.   The full analysis is available on his Substack page. It is evident that clubs like Newcastle face big challenges from financial rules despite their sincere efforts to comply with them.    Many of us believe that the rules are designed to protect existing elite clubs from insurgents.   [WG] The club’s supporters will be somewhat perplexed about losing another one of their stars, given that Anthony Gordon and Sandro Tonali have already been sold this summer, especially after they would have thought that any financial concerns should have been addressed by the record sale of Alexander Isak to Liverpool last September. It was not me...

Football finance guru Kieran Maguire expressed concern about a bridging loan taken out by Hull City.  The owner has now offered an explanation.  Stadium upgrades were necessary over the summer to meet Premier League requirements.  Moreover, interest rates in the UK are around seven per cent for a loan compared with 40 per cent in the owner's home country of Turkey:  https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/acun-ilicali-hull-city-loan-11057334 There is also a tension between the club's growth ambitions and regulatory compliance:  https://cryptobriefing.com/hull-city-premier-league-200m-budget/ The rules pose more challenges for a promoted club like Hull and some analysts seem them as a means to protect the elite status of existing top clubs.

A top football finance writer has Sunderland to sell a player at a big profit to stay the right side of domestic and European football finance rules:  https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c2ey8v8pekeo

Stoke City were once a solid mid-table club in the Premier League, but they have struggled to return despite considerable support from the club ownership. In many ways the club''s fate reflects the economic challenges faced by the Potteries as what remains of the historic Potteries industry succumbs to high energy prices. Time for the Swiss Ramble to review the club's finances with his usual forensic analysis.  Much more on his Substack page. Stoke have consistently under-performed since their relegation from the Premier League in 2017/18, finishing in the bottom half of the Championship eight seasons in a row, despite being backed by the wealth of bet365.    Stoke did very badly financially, but without the compensation of doing well on the pitch. Stoke have posted losses in six of the last eight seasons, the only two exceptions being the years that benefited from substantial loan write-offs. This is very different from their time in the Premier League, when the club c...

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

Watching Spain in the World Cup is almost like watching Barca, not just because of the number of their players in the squad.  As the Financial Times pointed out in an interesting analysis, the playing philosophy (possession football) that can be traced back to Johann Cruyff subtly influences the way in which Spain play. Simon Kuper writes in the Pink 'Un: 'The story starts with Cruyff. The Dutchman played for Barcelona in the 1970s, and when he returned in 1988 as manager, he made every side from the under-10s to the first team play the same style.  They defended on the halfway line and pressed the instant they lost the ball. He introduced a training exercise that remains the staple of almost every Barcelona practice today: the rondo, essentially, a piggy-in-the-middle game in which players inter pass in a confined space, while opponents try to intercept. That helps explain why Barcelona, the most Cruyffian club, produced about half the national team’s current starters, whil...

When Fenway Sports Group president Mike Gordon started to plan for Liverpool’s future without Jurgen Klopp in early 2024, his first call was to Michael Edwards. Initially, Gordon’s attempts to get Edwards back on board were in vain. Enjoying more family time with wife Emily and their children, and the slower pace of life working as a consultant for Ludonautics, the sports advisory analytics business launched by his former Liverpool colleague Ian Graham, Edwards had no interest in returning to his old job as the club’s sporting director. However, Gordon refused to admit defeat and following discussions in Boston, he belatedly got his man by offering him a role with a much wider remit as FSG’s first CEO of football. Edwards, who had left the club in 2022 after more than a decade of service, was given responsibility for overseeing Liverpool’s budget and strategy. He was also tasked with identifying, buying and subsequently running another European club, with FSG vowing to embark on ...

On Thursday morning, Manchester United unveiled the proposed location of their new, 100,000-capacity stadium.  Unsurprisingly, minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s prize project will be based on land the club acquired last month to the north-west of the existing Old Trafford stadium, around 350 metres away from what has been their home since 1910. Collette Roche, United’s chief executive of new stadium development, spoke to journalists following the event at Old Trafford to give an update on where the plans stand, and how they have changed since United first announced their ambitions for a new home in March last year.  Back in March 2025, Ratcliffe expressed confidence that the project could be completed in as little as five years, provided it gained the support of local and national government. Omar Berrada, United’s chief executive, was unequivocal on timescales at that stage. When asked if the 2030-31 season was the target for the grand opening, he simply said: “Yes.”Yet ...

There was a time, not that long ago really, when Tottenham Hotspur were synonymous with frugality, on the pitch at any rate. The criticism of the club, and foremost on their erstwhile chairman Daniel Levy, was that they had money but wouldn’t spend it. Cash-rich. ‘Ambition’-poor. That is a tougher argument to square now.    Tottenham are spending big. For some time, the only player they’d ever committed a guaranteed fee in excess of £50 million for was Tanguy Ndombele, who joined from Lyon in 2019. But with these latest recruits, they will have spent over £50m on five separate transfers in a year. Even by the standards of modern English football, Tottenham’s outlay is eyebrow-raising. Inside the first three weeks of the summer window, they have committed a reported £230 million on three signings. Add unreported agent fees and the Premier League’s transfer levy of four per cent on every incoming transfer, and their splurge tops a quarter of a billion pounds. The club’s sing...

The latest Deloitte report on football finance calculates the benefits of promotion to the Football League. 'Coventry City, Ipswich Town and Hull City earned promotion to the Premier League for the 2026/27 season. Following their return to the top-flight after a 25-year absence, Coventry City can expect a revenue uplift of at least £210m across the next three seasons, based on projected increases in matchday, broadcast and commercial revenue. The other club that secured automatic promotion, Ipswich Town, may anticipate a minimum boost of £170m – this figure is comparatively lower as they were in receipt of parachute payments during the 2025/26 season, following their relegation from the Premier League in 2024/25. These figures could rise to £365m and £325m respectively, should both clubs avoid relegation after their first season in the Premier League. Amidst the controversy surrounding this year’s play-offs, Hull City ultimately defeated Middlesbrough in the final at Wembley to...

The latest Deloitte Annual Review of Football Finance is now available and is well worth reading:  https://www.deloitte.com/content/dam/assets-zone2/uk/en/docs/services/consulting/2026/deloitte-annual-review-of-football-finance-2026.pdf It sounds a cautionary note about the state of the game and the growing gap between fans and wealthy owners, but then we live in a world in which billionaires are increasingly calling the shots in culture, sports and politics. The report states: 'The 2024/25 season was one of transformation and expansion, with both UEFA and FIFA launching refreshed competitions for their flagship men’s club competitions. These saw more clubs compete for larger prize pots, with distributions to those participating bolstering otherwise plateauing broadcast revenues. These changes underpinned a 6% strengthening of the European football market, which surpassed €40 billion for the first time in 2024/25. The ‘big five’ leagues’ relative contribution to this total remain...

The Premier League’s ‘Big Six’ are on the hunt again.  After last summer’s transfer window was characterised by the league’s financial powerhouses harvesting talent from their domestic competitors, the biggest moves of this window so far suggest that trend is set to continue. All the mooted deals involve the Premier League’s traditional powerhouses attempting to poach from their domestic competitors — and in all cases, the would-be sellers insist their stars are not going anywhere, or that it will take an enormous sum to persuade them otherwise. How long can they hold out? Many think that the financial fair play rules are designed to protect the existing elite and disadvantage aspirational clubs. Aston Villa As ever, much depends on finances. Close examination of Villa’s situation reveals why they are determined to secure a huge fee for Rogers if he departs and why they might face pressure A UEFA settlement agreement will see them banned from Europe for a year if they breac...

Highlights from the Swiss Ramble's Premier League financial forecasts for the coming season: Arsenal are likely to set a new revenue record for English clubs after winning the Premier League and reaching the final of the Champions League. Revenue is boosted across the board by an uplift in central Premier League TV rights, mainly from overseas deals. Higher TV money from UEFA competitions, as nine clubs were involved in UEFA competitions, compared to seven in the previous season. Seven clubs froze ticket prices, but 13 increased their match day income via price increases. Only one club managed to generate an operating profit. However, there was a big increase in profit from player sales, partly driven by the assumption that deals completed in June 2026 are booked in the 2025/26 accounts. Three clubs have wages to turnover ratios above 80%, though, on the other hand, seven clubs are below 60%. Six clubs are profitable at a pre-tax level, though all but one of these are driven by sig...

How one organizes football on islands is an interesting challenge.  One solution adopted in Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man is to enter an all island team, backed up by a local competition, in non-league competitions on the mainland.  Travel and other expenses of visiting teams have to be met, so wealthy backers are needed. The Garrison Field stadium At the other extreme, the Isles of Scilly has two teams which play each other in league and cup competitions every week at the Garrison Field stadium. The latest Four Four Two features football on the Scottish island of Arran.   Attempts to field a representative island team on the mainland faltered in the face of the unreliable ferry service (thank you, Scottish Government). In the island competition Lochranaz Northend Thistle went 18 games without a victory before finally folding after Covid.  They played at the Ewe Camp and had a special machine for picking up sheep dropings Brodick, the islands 'capital', c...

Talking football with Alan Curbishley As a Charlton supporter, I have reason to remember Dagenham & Redxbridge.  When we were in the Premier League, they held us to a 1-1 draw at The Valley and we managed to just beat them 1-0 when we played them away.  Alan Curbishley, Charlton manager at the time, told me, 'They gave us a torrid time.' I got the impression at the time that they were a second choice team for quite a few West Ham supporters.  Certainly they are located in area which has a strong basis of West Ham support.  Now the club admit they have a rather old demographic. In 2010 the club played in League One under John Silk.  Now they are in the National League South, but are aiming for the Premier League.   American CEO John Grabowski arrived at Dagenham in January 2025.   He had previously overseen an attempt to buy Dunfermline, prior to leading the investment group takeover of Dagenham this February. The objective is to make Dage...

Atletico Madrid have reached a 10-year strategic agreement with entertainment company Live Nation to stage concerts at their Metropolitano home ground,  The Athletic  has revealed. It comes at a time when city rivals Real Madrid have seen their own plans to hold concerts at their refurbished Santiago Bernabeu stadium curtailed by complaints and legal disputes over noise pollution regulations. Under Atletico’s new deal, between 15 and 20 concerts are expected to be held each year at the Metropolitano, all during the off-season months when there are no competitive club fixtures.   The agreement also includes the option of an extension beyond its 10-year term and is expected to be announced officially in the coming hours. The plan is to use not only the stadium itself but also a new smaller arena that is due to be built alongside it, as well as an existing fan zone just outside the ground, which already has a stage. According to industry sources, Atletico expect to r...

Four Four Two has a special feature on celebrity involvement in football.  We all know about Wrexham, but I was surprised at the extent and breadth of the involvement.   Who would have thought that tennis Naumi Osaka (she of kimono fame) would have a stake in North Carolina Courage? Harry Redknapp recalls that when he joined West Ham as a player the chairman was a Mr Pratt who owned the wood yard over in Wanstead.   Redknapp admits that he does not know who Snoop Dogg is.   I am from an analog age, but even I know that. The rapper turned up for Swansea's match against Preston in February.  The marvelously named Prestgon gaffer Paul Heckingbottom commented, 'Just the smell of weed in the tunnel is the only thing where we realised something was different.' Quite a few of the investors are celebrity footballers or at least retired footballers with money to splash.  They include Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe.   I'm not sure that Hector...

France are the most impressive team I have seen in the World Cup so far, but their team faces the challenges of a divided nation, a situation examined by football writer Simon Kuper in the Financial Times. Kuper notes that the federation’s president since 2023 (Philippe Diallo) unites two different worlds. He passed through the obligatory grande école, Sciences Po university in his case, that is the entry ticket to the French ruling class, but also played football in Nantes’ youth academy. And, unusually among France’s overwhelmingly white elite, he is the son of a boxer from Senegal. That background helps him manage relations between the diverse national team and a divided nation that may elect a far-right president next year.  France’s talent pool is certainly unmatched. Les Bleus reached four of the last seven World Cup finals, winning in 2018 and runners-up last time. Dozens of the 98 French-born players at this tournament represent their parents’ countries of origin, inclu...

Newcastle United have been fined a combined €6million (£5.2m, $6.8m) by UEFA and have entered into a stringent future compliance agreement after breaching the governing body’s Financial Sustainability Regulations (FSR). For the three-year period ending June 2025, Newcastle overspent relative to UEFA’s football earnings threshold, while they also exceeded their 70 per cent squad-cost ratio (SCR) across the calendar year of 2025, with their expenditure reaching closer to the 75-per-cent mark. UEFA has fined Newcastle €3m for the football-earnings overspend, plus a further €7m which is suspended pending future compliance, and another €3m for their SCR violation. While Newcastle appear pleased with the settlement, insisting they “worked closely and constructively” with UEFA’s Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) to “swiftly resolve the matter” — which involved senior figures, led by David Hopkinson, the chief executive, and Simon Capper, the chief financial officer, spending months in ...

Aston Villa have been fined €22.5 million for breaching UEFA’s squad cost ratio (SCR) limit — but will only pay €7.5m with the rest only payable if their compliance with the regulations takes a downturn. UEFA, European football’s governing body, say Villa will only have to pay the remaining €15m if the club’s SCR position does not continue to show improvements, having seen a reduction in percentage between 2024 and 2025. For the 2025 calendar year, Villa’s SCR was still found to be above the tightened 70 per cent limit imposed by UEFA. The €22.5m fine is the second most expensive fine to be handed out to a European club for 2025, behind Strasbourg (€25m). Chelsea, meanwhile, were found to have breached and were fined €3m, €2m of which was conditional. UEFA said in a statement: “Regarding Aston Villa FC and Chelsea FC, which had already been sanctioned in the previous season, the CFCB First Chamber took into consideration the improving trend in their squad cost ratio between 2024 ...

Chelsea’s ongoing struggle to comply with UEFA’s financial rules has seen the club hit with another fine, albeit one much reduced from a year ago. Europe’s football governing body announced on Tuesday the club had breached its squad cost ratio (SCR) limit in 2025, resulting in a €3million (£2.6m) fine, of which €2m (£1.7m) is conditional. The latter element will become payable if Chelsea do not continue to “significantly decrease” their SCR figure in 2026. The monetary punishment doled out for Chelsea’s 2025 transgression pales in comparison to those issued to them by UEFA last summer, when the club was found to have breached both their SCR limit and UEFA’s separate football earnings rule, which restricts overall losses at clubs competing in Europe. Chelsea’s failure to comply with the SCR limit in 2024 resulted in an €11m (£9.5m) fine. Their football earnings breach cost them a further €20m (£17.2m), alongside a threat of that increasing to a total of €80m (£69m) and the require...