During the past few days, we have been enjoying the world gymnastics championship well staged in an impressive arena in Rotterdam. In this posting the focus is on the port city’s football club. From his fastness in Zurich, the Swiss Ramble has been casting his usual forensic eye over the 2025/26 accounts from Feyenoord. Here are his key findings. Feyenoord had a “challenging” season off the pitch, as they swung from a €31.1m pre-tax profit to €17.0m loss, a sizeable year-on-year deterioration of €48.1m. Revenue dropped by nearly a third, falling €51.5m from €166.7m to €115.2m, but costs remained at virtually the same level, so this all fed through to a much larger operating loss, which widened from €28.8m to €78.9m. This was partially offset by €62.6m profit on player sales, up €2.2m from the previous year’s €60.3m. The net loss after tax was lower at €12.6m, thanks to a €4.4m tax credit. The main reason for the revenue decrease was significantly lower...
The supporters who own AFC Wimbledon will vote over the next four weeks on whether to accept an £87million ($116m) investment in the League One club from a consortium led by former Southampton and England full-back Ryan Bertrand. In a complicated deal, Sloane Street Capital (SSC), a newly set-up investment vehicle, would pay £16m for approximately 34 per cent of the club’s shares this season but then invest a further £71m over the next five years, at which point SSC would own 90 per cent of the club’s economic value. However, under a shareholders’ agreement, the club’s current owner — the 6,265-strong Dons Trust — will always retain at least 50.01 per cent of the voting rights, giving the trust veto control over the club and its stadium’s freehold. Bertrand, who played for nine different clubs during a 17-year career including Chelsea, Southampton and Leicester City, is SSC’s senior football advisor and would hold the same role for Wimbledon, with two of SSC’s minority shareholde...