The Political Economy of Football V2

The high court in London has issued a winding-up order against Sheffied United’s former parent company, COH Sports Bidco Ltd, as a result of a dispute between United’s current owners, Steven Rosen and Helmy Eltoukhy, and their predecessor, Prince Abdullah’s United World, which claims it is owed £35m in unpaid fees after the £110m sale of United in December 2024. The action was initiated after United World accused the current owners of transferring ownership from COH Sports Bidco Ltd to1919 Partners LLC in a bid to avoid paying the amount outstanding on the purchase price.   United World noted, “no defence was filed and the debt of more than £35m was not disputed”, adding that it had made “every effort to resolve this matter amicably”, but received no response. They concluded, “It appears that Helmy Eltoukhy and Steven Rosen are simply not concerned about this means for the club. What happens to Sheffield United now is the result of their choices.”   For its part, the club ...

Mark Walter and Todd Boehly have agreed to sell their stakes in Chelsea FC to Clearlake Capital in a deal that values the club at about £5bn including debt and will help the US financiers alleviate pressure on their insurance empires. The deal will put US private equity firm Clearlake, an existing investor in Chelsea, in control of the football club and give both Walter and Boehly a small gain on their investment, according to people familiar with the matter.   The pair are set to receive £950mn in cash for their combined 25 per cent holding, the people said. “Chelsea Football Club today announced affiliates of Clearlake Capital Group will acquire the ownership interest of Todd Boehly   .   .   . Clearlake will also acquire Mark Walter ’ s ownership interest and therefore acquire full control of the club, ” Chelsea said in a statement, which did not disclose financial terms of the transaction. Clearlake will finance the purchase using its own capital and large direct inve...

It is early November 2019, a brisk day on the banks of the River Wear, and Gillingham are in town for an FA Cup first-round game. Nearing the end of a dour 1-1 draw, a lame effort from the visitors bounces into the Stadium of Light’s Roker End. Only one side of Sunderland’s 49,000-seater ground is open to home supporters on a day when attendance was just 7,892, and it isn’t that side. Beyond the FA Cup, this was just 15 months into a League One stint which ultimately spanned four years.  Seven years on, no seat remains vacant. From atop the same stand, under a darkened sky, amid a swell of anticipation and almost a lifetime of it not happening here, the first two-tier ‘tifo’ (banner) in English football unfurls. “New shores to conquer” bellows in bold typeface, abutting a depiction of ships on a wave of blue flags. Above and behind, a lighthouse, akin to the one found two miles away, not far from the now-demolished Roker Park home that last hosted a game like this, backdrops pr...

Homer the Cherry Hound Bournemouth won their first competitive match in Europe against Real Sociedad last night. In the early 21st century, this club led a hand-to-mouth football existence, crowdfunding the return of Eddie Howe, as a player, from Portsmouth. After their dalliance with oblivion, the club started the 2008-09 season on minus-17 points in League Two, with Barnet’s Underhill Stadium and Aldershot Town’s Recreation Ground among the away trips, and by Christmas they looked doomed to non-League. But Howe, an untested coach, was appointed at the turn of the year and not only did he save them, he would eventually lead them to the Premier League. Europe was first considered a possibility under Howe. In 2016-17, the club, then owned by the Russian millionaire Maxim Demin, finished ninth and Uefa were invited to assess the suitability of the Vitality Stadium for hosting European games. But it was under Andoni Iraola that a European tour became reality. After five years in the...

This week’s Carabao Cup win for Everton was attended by two prime ministers: Andy Burnham and Canada’s Mark Carney.   But this distinction should not obscure some worrying concerns for fans. Towards the end of last season, The Friedkin Group should have been basking in the progress made by two of the clubs in its sports portfolio. Everton and Roma were both pushing for the upper reaches of their respective domestic leagues, with designs set firmly on European qualification.   Rather than a source of satisfaction, however, it quickly presented a problem for TFG and one that may now contribute to the American conglomerate considering how best to continue its Premier League association. Uefa’s rules on multi-club ownership prevent clubs under one umbrella from competing in the same continental competition and, for a while, it seemed as if Everton and the Italian side Roma were both destined to qualify for the Europa League.   In that eventuality, the regulations sta...

The Lewis family have injected a further £120 million into Tottenham Hotspur.  The injection is the third in the last year and the largest one so far, as the majority shareholders continue their investment into the club. The injection comes in the form of purchasing new shares in ENIC, the company that owns 88.30 per cent of Tottenham Hotspur Limited. The Lewis family injected £100m by the same mechanism in October 2025 and then another £100m in June 2026. While the money is for working capital, rather than specifically for transfers, both matters are related. Spurs spent heavily in the summer transfer window on fees and salaries, including a deal worth a potential £100m for Sandro Tonali from Newcastle United and £85m for Mateus Fernandes from West Ham United, adding to transfer debts that were already among the highest in football. The release of Spurs’ 2024-25 accounts earlier this year revealed that even before this summer’s splurge. Despite improvements in player sales...

Nottingham Forest’s ambitious plans to redevelop their City Ground stadium took a major step forward Wednesday night, as they were granted planning approval. Seven years and seven months after the scheme was first announced, the Premier League club were given the green light by Rushcliffe Borough Council to push forward with their plans to increase the capacity of their historic home to 45,000 in an initial phase, followed by a second phase that would take it up to as much as 52,500. The club intend to redevelop three of the four stands at the stadium, but most notably the Peter Taylor Stand, which will triple in size from holding 5,000 seats to 15,000, within a structure that would stand 58 metres tall. That is only slightly shorter than the Council House in the city’s Market Square, where Forest celebrated promotion in 2022. Forest also want to fill in the corners on either side of the Trent End, joining it up with the neighbouring stands to create up to 5,000 more seats as par...

Chelsea have announced that Clearlake Capital has taken “full control” of the club after completing a purchase of minority stakes from Todd Boehly and Mark Walter. Boehly will leave his role as chairman. It ends the American’s four-year affiliation with the west London club, after he fronted the consortium with majority shareholders Clearlake that paid £2.3billion ($3bn) to acquire the club from sanctioned Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich in 2022. Hansjorg Wyss, who holds a 12.8 per cent stake, will “remain an important stakeholder and partner in the ownership group”, the statement said, adding that there will be “no changes to the day-to-day operations, leadership or strategy” at the club. Clearlake had always been adamant that they had no interest in relinquishing their majority stake and, if anything, would look to increase it. Now they have full control of Chelsea and BlueCo sister club Strasbourg, while Boehly and Walter have both been paid what they clearly regard as a fai...

Premier League football club Sunderland is targeting major US cities that identify with its industrial heritage as tougher financial rules push England’s leading clubs to seek out fresh sources of revenue. Tom Burwell, the club’s chief executive, said he wanted to tap into Sunderland’s history of mining and shipbuilding, as well as its regeneration this century, as a way to drive interest in the team beyond its home in north-east England.   “Our opportunity is to build on an identity and a business that’s deeply rooted in the 30km radius of Sunderland,” he told the FT. “It’s our responsibility to land that story in markets that we’re able to, then grow fan bases and ultimately grow revenues.” Burwell singled out Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Detroit as big post-industrial cities where Sunderland’s story had struck a chord during their recent pre-season tour of the US. “Our view on North America is to be highly targeted alongside partners and distribution platforms, and wrap our ve...

Arsenal have drafted in major global management consulting firm Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to conduct strategic exercises that explore operational improvements at the club. The Premier League champions could look to cut costs but are also eying improvements in other areas of the club to ensure they maintain their current status in the game. From a financial perspective, Arsenal announced record revenues of £691million ($934.4m) while almost breaking even with an overall loss of £1.4m for the 2024-25 season.   Their underlying operating losses before the disposal of player registrations did grow from £50m in 2024 to £65m in 2025, however. Overall operating costs rose by £53m from £147.9m to £200.8m, which at the time, Arsenal said reflected increased staging costs, specific direct costs of delivering increased revenues, certain residual property matters and inflationary pressures. A really top football club has to find different ways of staying ahead of the curve, many of t...

It is  possible to invest in a football club and walk away quids in. Mark Walter is expecting to make a profit when he sells his 12.8 per cent stake in Chelsea to majority owner Clearlake Capital.   Co-owner Todd Boehly, who also owns 12.8 per cent of the club, and Walter are in talks with Clearlake to be bought out. Both men, along with Hansjorg Wyss (12.8 per cent) and Clearlake (61.5 per cent), formed a consortium to buy Chelsea from the sanctioned Roman Abramovich for £2.3billion in June 2022. An agreement with Clearlake to purchase Walter’s and Boehly’s shares is close, reports The New York Times. The possibility of a buyout within the consortium has been there since  The Athletic reported a breakdown in relations between Boehly and Clearlake two years ago. Sources close to the U.S. private equity firm have always insisted they had no interest in selling to Boehly or Walter, and were more likely to increase its shareholding than walk away.

The Swiss Ramble uses his unrivalled data bank and forensic skills to analyse the financial performances of the top 15 clubs in Europe.  Much more in depth analysis can be found on his Substack page. England still dominate the top 15 with the usual Big Six (Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur), while the next highest contributors with three apiece are Spain (Atletico Madrid, Barcelona and Real Madrid) and Italy (Inter, Juventus and Milan). Germany provide two clubs (Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund), while Paris Saint-Germain are the sole French representative. Looking at the combined results for the top 15 clubs, they still lose money, but there has been a significant reduction in losses (excluding exceptional items) from £1.4 bln in 2021/22 to £257m in 2024/25.     The Premier League’s average loss widened from £55m to £70m.   Three of the other leagues swung from a loss in 2021/22 to a profit in 2024/25, ...

This evening two of the north’s greatest football clubs meet when Leeds play Newcastle United.  Both represent regional capitals (Manchester is not capital of the whole north).   Even the Everton supporting prime minister had to come to the north-east for the Great North Run. It will be a curious walk to Elland Road for Newcastle United fans on Monday evening. The caged tunnel down which away supporters were funnelled has gone. The Norman Hunter Suite that sat next to the entrance to the visiting section has been demolished. Instead, amid what will probably feel more claustrophobic for the 2,960 supporters from Tyneside, will be the white walls of a building site, housing the cranes, diggers and machinery that have already started the transformation of one of English football’s most atmospheric grounds. That main stand development, which could be finished by 2028 and will increase the capacity of Elland Road to 48,000, is the most visual display of ambitio...

From his Zurich fastness, the Swiss Ramble considers whether Arsenal’s transfer spending has been constrained by financial regulations.   His workings out and much more interesting detail can be found on his Substack page. By most standards Arsenal had a decent transfer window, as they managed to strengthen their midfield and defence, but many of their fans were still left disappointed by the absence of a marquee signing in attack. Excluding the various add-ons, Arsenal’s £196m gross spend was a lot lower than many of their rivals, so it was less than half of Manchester City’s £458m, while four other clubs splashed out more than a quarter of a billion, namely Chelsea £362m, Tottenham £319m, Newcastle United £274m and Aston Villa £261m.   Of course, many of these clubs also sold well, especially Chelsea £419m, Aston Villa £318m, Manchester City £301m and Newcastle United £243m, all of whom generated significantly more than Arsenal’s £103m. Is the club sailing close t...

In the unlikely event of an American consortium asking my advice on buying an EFL club, I would say go for a ‘stand alone’ club, on that has no rivals in its vicinity.  Shrewsbury Town meets that criterion, being the only EFL club in Shropshire or Salop. Salop is a very rural county by English standards.    The county town is Shrewsbury.   To its east is the ‘new town’ of Telford which has its own non-league club and also quite a big Wolves following.   Salop has quite a high retired population who may have historic allegiances elsewhere. So it’s a challenge.   It reminds me in many ways of Shropshire pop group T’ Pau of ‘China in my Hands’ fame.   I still have their vinyls, but friends dismiss them as one hit wonders. T’ Pau may just have a nostalgic following, but the Shrews can be revived. Former U.S. and Premier League goalkeeper Brad Friedel is part of an American group that is trying to buy English Football League strugglers Shrewsbury Town...

The finances of Barcelona are very complex, but in some ways quite alarming.   Continued success requires spending on players, the stadium and many other things besides (never forget utilities costs).   Yet one cannot run a world class football club and a global brand without taking big risks, even if it inevitably draws you into an international financial world that looks increasingly unstable and under pressure to many analysts. Barca tottered past €1billion (£859m; $1.1bn) in revenues last season, only the second football club ever to do so, behind rivals Real Madrid. Yet they still failed to turn a profit, losing €17.8m post-tax, while a costly remodelling of their Camp Nou home remains unfinished and debts continue to pile high. On the pitch, they wrapped up a second consecutive La Liga title in May in the best way possible, beating Madrid 2-0 at home to ensure their El Clasico rivals couldn’t catch them. Hansi Flick’s side fell at the quarter-fina...

Liver;pool have signed a shirt deal with Turkish Airlines, the fourth largest in the world, that is worth in excess of £300m over five years. The club believe that the deal is the most valuable in Premier League history, although Manchester United have made similar claims. The new deal will take over from that with Standard Chartered in June 2027 which was estimated to be worth £50m a season compared with £60m for the new deal.  Standard Chartered will remain as a global partner. They have been Liverpool's front of shirt sponsor since 2010.   The club have had only three such partners in the last 35 years, Carlsberg preceding Standard Chaetered. A deal for sleeve sponsorship is also up for renewal.   Expedia's branding has been worth between £9m and £12m a year.  The kit deal with Adifdas is worth £90m a year.

Barcelona has topped revenues of €1 billion, but remains one of the most indebted clubs in world soccer:  https://forzafootball.com/news/barcelona-announce-record-breaking-finances-but-still-trail-real-madrid-159443561 The club has boosted its finances with a new commercial deal:  ysscores.com/en/news/14037095/fc-barcelona-boosts-its-finances-with-a-new-commercial-deal

David Moyes has admitted that he has never spoken to the Everton owner Dan Friedkin in the 20 months since he bought the club, as the veteran manager prepares to pick up the pieces of a shambolic transfer window. Friedkin, the 61-year-old American, purchased Everton in December 2024 but claims emerged this week that they are looking for new investment after a transfer window that ended with a chaotic deadline day on Tuesday, in which they sold fans’ favourite Iliman Ndiaye to Manchester City for £65million and the USA international Folarin Balogun pulled out of a late move from Monaco, to leave Moyes with only 18 outfield players in his senior squad. With Moyes in the final year of his contract, the manager insists the transfer debacle will have no bearing on his future, although he did make the shock admission that he had never spoken to his American employer, with his contact coming via the owner’s representative, Rishi Majithia, and the club’s chief execu...

Daniel Kretinsky has reached an agreement with David Sullivan to become the largest single shareholder at West Ham United, in a major blow to Amanda Staveley in her pursuit of a stake in the Championship club. Staveley was at the London Stadium this week as a guest of the club’s co-chairwoman Vanessa Gold, who in July had agreed to sell her family’s 25.1 per cent shareholding, valued at £150million, to a consortium led by the British businesswoman and former Newcastle United director. But The Times understands that Kretinsky, Sullivan and the other shareholders have exercised their pre-emption rights ahead of Thursday’s 5.30pm deadline to purchase the Gold family stake, with Kretinsky and Sullivan believed to have reached a separate agreement that certainly makes it difficult for Staveley to maintain an interest in West Ham. The deal is due to be completed by the end of this month. Gold has now issued a completion notice on the £150million share sale, which includes a fi...

Three words dominate the mind of Abdullah Ashraf: English Football League.   To be more specific, it is the EFL’s League Two, the fourth tier of English football, that preoccupies the daily thoughts of this 24-year-old American businessman. Currently, 20 of the EFL’s 72 clubs, from the second tier through to the fourth tier, either have Americans as owners or prominent investors. Oklahoma real estate investor Ashraf plans to add to that number after taking over at Tamworth FC, a club in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football pyramid. Ashraf, the founder and chief executive of Dawn Group International (DGI) and owner of Oklahoma United FC in his home city, made some bold pledges after being unveiled as Tamworth’s new owner earlier this summer. He vowed to turn the club fully professional, buy and redevelop the Lamb Ground, Tamworth’s home since their foundation in 1933, and build a new training facility once the premises were purchased from the l...

American celebrities cannot get enough of English soccer clubs including those outside the top flight. Award-winning actor Hugh Jackman is in talks to purchase a stake in English second-tier club Norwich City.   While there have been no official moves to arrange any investment so far, the 57-year-old has held discussions with the Championship club’s ownership over a potential deal, according to sources with knowledge of the situation, speaking on the condition of anonymity. Jackman grew up in Australia but is a fan of Norwich, who have spent the majority of the last half-decade in the English top and second divisions, and was asked about potentially becoming the latest celebrity to invest in English football and the possibility of being pitted against his Deadpool & Wolverine co-star, Ryan Reynolds, who co-owns fellow Championship side Wrexham. Jackman is best known for playing the superhero Wolverine in Marvel’s X-Men series, having also appeared in The Greatest Showman an...

The bar of the Tooting & Mitcham United football club looks like a relic from the 1930s. Black-and-white photographs of past players line the walls as fans queue to buy £5 ($6.80) pre-match pints—a bargain by south London’s standards. But instead of accompanying their beers with pies like fans of yore, today’s supporters are tucking into perfectly seasoned jerk chicken and plantains served on rice. “The food is what gets me here,” says Terry, a Chelsea supporter turned season-ticket holder at semi-professional Tooting. Lower-tier football clubs are having a culinary moment. Footy Scran, an Instagram account documenting football-stadium food around the world, has singled out several clubs outside the Premier League for praise. Supporters of Whitehawk, a non-league club in Brighton, can tackle a gravity-defying burger combining chicken, beef and hash browns, topped with onion fries. Forest Green Rovers, in the Cotswolds [Forest of Dean?], another non-league club, has decid...

Everton Football Club’s billionaire owners are seeking new investors less than two years after buying the club, following a summer transfer window in which Premier League rivals drove spending to new records in an arms race for talent. The Friedkin Group, the US conglomerate that also owns Italian football club AS Roma, is working with advisers on the Everton stake sale process, according to three people familiar with the matter. The process, which is still at an early stage, could result in new investors buying a significant stake in the Premier League club, though it is possible that a deal does not materialise. The Friedkin Group and Everton declined to comment. Any deal would follow John Henry’s Fenway Sports Group selling more than a third of crosstown rival Liverpool Football Club to a consortium including Amit Bhatia, the son-in-law of steel tycoon and billionaire Lakshmi Mittal, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos at a $7bn valuation. The Friedkin Group paid about £330mn to tak...

On the basis of this summer, it is the belief that by signing players from the Premier League, a club is operating with the least jeopardy and is most likely to produce immediate and substantial results.  The evidence is overwhelming in the summer spend by the 20 current Premier League teams on players registered last season to Premier League clubs, therefore including purchases from relegated West Ham, Wolves and Burnley. By the time the window closed at 11pm local time last night, Premier League clubs had spent £3.6billion ($4.9bn), according to an analysis by  The Athletic , and £1.7bn ($2.3bn) of this was spent on those in last season’s Premier League,   in a spend that shatters all previous windows for spending within the division.  In the six summer windows between 2017 and the 2022 seasons, the average Premier League spend on players registered to Premier League clubs in the previous season was £418.2m, which means we have seen a comparative fourfold incre...

Everton succeeded in achieving the one thing no club wants from a transfer window. On many different levels, they have ended up weaker than when the window opened.   Squad numbers alone indicate that is the case with manager David Moyes having 22 outfield players last season only to find himself left with just 18 now. Thierno Barry is his only recognised striker.  The Friedkin Group (TFG), who have inflicted immeasurable damage on themselves by presiding over the entire farce which started with them pushing for the sale of homegrown midfielder Harrison Armstrong to Nottingham Forest for £35million only to then pull-out amid the prospect of a supporter uprising.  Certainly, this is not how matters were supposed to play out in January when club officials stressed that funds were being stockpiled for the summer when phase two of Everton’s rebuild would be implemented.  TFG’s entire ambition for the club is being scrutinised 20 months into its reign and Everto...