The Political Economy of Football V2

C eltic PLC on Friday reported a decline in profit for a first half that saw a "great deal of change and disruption", with the football club on its third manager of the season.   Celtic won a fourth Scottish league title in succession in May, but results on the pitch since have not been as emphatic this term. It believes there is "all to play for", however. In the six months to December 31, Celtic's pretax profit slumped 70% to £13.2 million from £43.9 million a year prior, with revenue sliding 29% to GBP59.4 million from GBP83.5 million.   Profit from player trading fell to £14.1 million from £21.5 million a year prior. The revenue decline, Celtic said, was due to it participating in the UEFA Europa League, the secondary European competition, instead of the Champions League like a year prior. In the current 2025/2026 season, Celtic exited the Champions League before the league phase began. In the prior season, it made it out of the league phase and into the Feb...

The Financial Times has the last word on the challenges facing Spurs: 'Spurs rank ninth in Deloitte’s list of the world’s richest clubs, with revenues of €673mn, short of Manchester United but ahead of Chelsea. The club’s net transfer spend over five years is about €666mn, according to Transfermarkt, below Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea but higher than Liverpool. The futuristic Tottenham Hotspur Stadium — which could be mistaken for a space ship that has inexplicably landed in N17 — is the second largest club ground in England. But the cavernous bowl served only to amplify the boos that rang out on Tuesday, as defeat to Newcastle United brought Frank’s tenure to an end. Croatian Igor Tudor has reportedly agreed to take over as interim boss until the end of the season. There is one key metric where Tottenham lag behind: wages. Staff costs of £222mn in the 2023-24 season, the latest figures available, were by far the lowest of England’s “Big Six” clubs, and lower than Aston V...

  A few extracts from an article in The Times today by James Gheerbant follow.   As at most football clubs, if things go wrong, its agency not structure and agency means the manager.   However, arguably Spurs face deeper problems than the person in charge.   The new stadium is splendid, but Arsenal took years to recover from the Emirates move and West Ham have never been happy at the London Stadium.   Wenger reckoned that Arsenal lost their soul when they moved. T he new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was supposed to be the final piece of the project to take Spurs from middling London outfit to global super-club, and in financial terms, it has certainly pulled its weight. Tottenham now have the ninth-highest revenue of any club in the world, ahead of Borussia Dortmund, Atletico Madrid and every Italian team. By a system of trays and motors, rails and pulleys, the football pitch can be retracted, enabling the stadium’s lucrative conversion into an ...

Ange Postecoglou has accused Tottenham Hotspur of thinking they are “one of the big boys” but never acting like an ambitious club during his two years in charge.   Postecoglou, 60, said Tottenham are the “antithesis” of their “to dare is to do” club motto, citing a lack of ambition in the transfer market. S purs won the Europa League under Postecoglou but finished 17th in the Premier League last season, losing 22 matches, their most defeats in a league campaign since 1934-35.   Speaking on the  Stick to Football  podcast, Postecoglou said: “Tottenham as a club were saying  ‘we’re one of the big boys’ and the reality is I don’t think they are, in terms of my experience over the last two years. When Arsenal need players, they’ll spend £100million on Declan Rice. I don’t see Tottenham doing that ever.” “When you walk into Tottenham, what you see everywhere is ‘to dare is to do’. It’s everywhere. And yet their actions are almost the antithesis of that, right?” ...

There is in general an approximate relationship between a club’s budget and  on pitch performance, but there are always outliers who do better or worse than the figures suggest.  Brentford are the classic example of over performance. For me Brentford are epitomised by someone I know who has lived in the same house in Acton all his life and been a loyal Bees supporter.    Other options are, of course, available in West London: two in the Premier League and one in the Championship. The following analysis presents highlights from the latest analysis of Brentford by the authoritative Swiss Ramble who reckons the club are at a crossroads given recent ownership changes. The reality is that despite significant increases in wages and transfer spend, Brentford are still operating with one of the lowest budgets in the division, so they have done very well to flourish in the top flight.    It should be acknowledged that there has been much growth at Brentford, g...

In the least surprising news of the day, Tottenham Hotspur have sacked head coach Thomas Frank.  Spurs are working through a few contingency plans as they look to replace Frank, who leaves the club 16th in the Premier League. Tottenham have won none of their last eight league games and just two from their last 17. They are five points above the relegation zone. Poor performances and results in the Premier League meant the controlling Lewis family seemingly had no other choice but to part ways with the Dane, who has left Tottenham in a genuine relegation battle with 12 games of the season remaining. Nevertheless, I do think there are far deeper structural problems at Spurs than the manager. Frank is well regarded and should find another role.