The Political Economy of Football V2

Zurich and Burnley are very different places, but the Swiss Ramble is able to run the rule over the Clarets.  He has to rely on last year’s accounts, but as Burnley are heading back to the Championship they are relevant. Burnley’s revenue will have been significantly higher last season after promotion, mainly due to the far more lucrative TV money in the Premier League.    Whenever Burnley are in the Premier League, they face a huge revenue challenge, so it’s very much a case of role reversal compared to the Championship. The magnitude of the financial disparity was clearly illustrated in 2023/24, when their £134m revenue was the second lowest in the Premier League, only ahead of Luton Town.   This was miles below the elite, e.g. the “Big Six” clubs all earned more than three times as much as Burnley, led by Manchester City £715m. Looking at the previous time they went up, their revenue more than doubled from £65m to £134m, mainly due to the much higher TV righ...

The brutal facts of lower league football finance revealed as Kieran Maguire runs the rule over the finances of Bristol Rovers.  The club has done well to increase revenues, but has not kept pace with rising costs:  https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/bristol-rovers-finances-show-brutal-11019084

Leeds United are considering taking legal action against Leicester City in the wake of Burnley’s landmark compensation victory over Everton. Everton were ordered to pay £40m after Burnley argued they would have avoided relegation from the Premier League in 2022 had the Merseyside club’s six-point punishment for breaking Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR) been applied during the season of the breach and not in 2023-24.  Last week’s decision, which was handed down by an independent disciplinary commission and is the subject of an appeal by Everton, was deemed to be a watershed moment that could open the door to further action between rival clubs. Leeds are now exploring how Leicester’s PSR issues affected two of their own seasons. The first is 2022-23, when both Leeds and Leicester were relegated, and then 2023-24, when Leicester gained automatic promotion back to the top flight and Leeds lost in the play-offs.  In September 2024, Leicester won an app...

The US billionaire owners of Crystal Palace are exploring a sale of the south London football club, in what would make it the latest Premier League side to change hands in English football’s top flight. According to people with direct knowledge of the matter, speaking to the Financial Times, the club is working with bankers at Raine Group to handle the process and is open to a variety of options including a full sale. T The people added that other options for securing new capital were also on the table. The club’s current ownership group includes Apollo co-founder Josh Harris, former Blackstone executive David Blitzer and Woody Johnson, a member of the family behind the Johnson & Johnson healthcare empire. The trio are designated as “significant shareholders” alongside British businessman Steve Parish, who has been executive chair of the club since 2010 and is a life-long Palace fan. Harris and Blitzer together control 30 per cent, while Parish has 10 per cent. Johnson, who o...

Newcastle United have struck a three-year front-of-shirt sponsorship deal with KNOX Hydration worth around £60million ($80.6m).   The South African sports drinks company are already paying £6m a season for three years from July 1 to rename the training ground ‘The Knox’, and have now committed to succeeding Sela as the main kit partner. Unlike Sela, which is owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), Newcastle’s majority stakeholders, KNOX is not affiliated with the sovereign wealth fund. For 2026-27, KNOX will pay up to £10m, given Newcastle’s new — and controversial — home kit went on sale last week without a sponsor. But for the following two seasons, that will increase to up to £25m annually, depending on bonuses being met, with the £6m training-ground naming rights fee on top in each of those three years. Newcastle will also work with KNOX to launch a unique club-linked drinks brand, which they hope will bring in additional revenue to aid their ...

Things have changed a lot at Craven Cottage since Tommy Cooper was chairman.  Fulham are arguably London’s poshest club.  As their chief executive has said, Fulham supporters turn left on the plane.   I remember going there some years ago and was placed next to home supporters who were wearing suits.   The club also experimented for a while with having a section for ‘neutral’ fans. The following analysis draws on the latest report from the Swiss Ramble.   The accounts are now a year old, but as the forensic analyst observes from his Zurich lair, the business model remains much the same. i.e, the amount the owner has to shell put would consume all my non-property assets in five days. Under Silva, Fulham have established themselves as a solid Premier League club, losing their tag as a “yo-yo” club. Before the arrival of the Portuguese coach, on the previous two occasions that they were promoted to the top flight they had failed to avoid an immediate ...