The Political Economy of Football V2

Optimistiaeth yn yr awyr yn Abertawe I was surprised when one of my granddaughters announced that she had discovered her inner Welsh woman despite not speaking a word of Cymraeg.   I was even more surprised when she applied for a job at Swansea City given that she has no interest in football.   She didn’t get it, but she soon landed a similar backroom finance role at a firm of solicitors.   She is now completing on an immaculate three-bedroom property with garden and parking for a figure in the low £100ks.  Meanwhile her cousin has moved Into a two bedroom property in Oxford costing over £300k. What follows draws on analysis by the Swiss Ramble and far more detail is available on his Substack page. There’s been little for Swansea City fans to get excited about in recent seasons, but there is just a hint of optimism in the air this summer.   The initial 2-1 win away at Stoke should boost morale.   Perhaps most excitingly, Swansea have part...

The Sunday Times magazine carried a long article yesterday on Arsenal including a rare interview with manager Arteta and other key figures at the club.  It was clearly a public relations exercise designed to put the club in the best possible light ahead of the new season, fair enough.   However, it did contain some interesting statistics and comments for the neutral (I should mention that my stepdaughter and her husband are Gooners). 'Following last season's triumphs, analysts expect a 15 per cent bump [in revenue] for Arsenal, pushing the club beyond £790m.  That would place them firmly in the global financial elite ...it would make Arsenal third in the world behind the mighty Real Madrid and Barcelona.'  [The actual placing would depend on how much PSG grew their revenue]. The article points out that there are now four Basque managers in the Premier League: Arteta, Emery at Aston Villa, Iraola at Liverpool and Alonso at Chelsea.  The Basque population is ...

The consortium including U.S. billionaire Jeff Bezos that has purchased a minority shareholding of Liverpool will hold the option of buying a controlling stake in the club per the terms of the agreement with current owners Fenway Sports Group (FSG). And sources on both sides of the deal have confirmed to The New York Times there is a mechanism that could see the consortium purchase a controlling stake in the club in the next 12 months. Those sources stress, however, that the language around this element of the transaction does not constitute a commitment, so it is merely an option that could lead to further investment as opposed to something that is set in stone. As part of the deal, FSG will continue to be majority shareholders in Liverpool and are retaining operational control of the club, with sources telling  The Athletic  on Friday that there will be no change to the leadership or day-to-day running of the Merseyside club.

The UK’s financial watchdog has fined and banned a British financier over bids he made to buy a bank and Reading Football Club, during which he falsely claimed to own a €200mn bond portfolio.  Paul Taylor, who has been involved in several large deals over the past three decades, “acted dishonestly and with a lack of integrity” during both sets of negotiations, the Financial Conduct Authority said on Friday, fining him £489,000.  Taylor, a former bricklayer turned financier who has previously been linked to the Qatar royal family, made “false and misleading statements” while he was chief executive of the London-based firm Blue Horizon Asset Management, according to the FCA. He has also been barred from working in financial services. In December 2023, during negotiations over the £37mn purchase of a UK bank, Taylor supported his position with documents claiming he was the ultimate beneficial owner of a €200mn bond portfolio, the FCA said. The claims triggered an exclusivity ...

The British-Indian businessman Amit Bhatia leading leading the deal to buy a third of Liverpool does not possess the profile of his fellow syndicate members Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, and Eduardo Saverin, the co-founder of Facebook. He is the one, however, with a background in English football. He was involved with the fan advisory board, supporters’ groups and was chairman of QPR in the Community Trust. It was through those connections that he is said to have developed an understanding of what football clubs mean to people, something that will soon be put to the test again. The announcement last month that he was transferring his shareholding in QPR, a clear sign that the discussions to buy into Liverpool were progressing, produced something of a rarity in modern football. There were a slew of positive messages about Bhatia on social media rather than simply opprobrium. This was despite Bhatia’s promotion to QPR chairman in August 2018 failing to ...

  British-Indian businessman Amit Bhatia is to become Liverpool’s new vice-chairman and take a place on the board in return for a minority stake in the 20-times English football champions.  He is to be joined on an expanded board by Elaine Saverin, the wife of Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, and Bryan Baum, who is representing Amazon founder Jeff Bezos rather than Bezos becoming a board member himself. The transaction documents provide options and flexibility for how a relationship may evolve over time, which effectively means that Bhatia would be in the driving seat to purchase a larger shareholding should FSG wish to sell more of the club in the future.  For now, FSG will retain majority ownership and there is to be no change in the day-to-day operation of Liverpool. The transaction is not a direct capital raise for the club, or an indication of a change in transfer strategy.  The deal remains subject to approval from the new Independent Football Regulat...