The Political Economy of Football V2

Looking at today's relegation battle between West Ham and Spurs, Alyson Rudd writing in The Times  states: ' Both clubs have a grumbling fan base, but more West Ham supporters have been able to place their concerns to one side while matches are in full flow. Spurs fans, by comparison, have practically engineered the present crisis by making sure their cavernous stadium bridles and sneers and jeers, thereby undermining the efforts of the players and leading to the unenviable statistic that Tottenham have won only twice at home in this league campaign.' I would hasten to add that most fans enjoy moaning and complaining about their own team.  I should know that as a Charlton fan whose supporters are among the leading negativists and pessimists in the EFL.  Win a game and social media is quiet.  Lose it and the armchair managers pile in explaining how they would have won and demanding that the manager be sacked. West Ham fans have never really settled in at the London St...

Congratulations to Hull City on their play off victory.  The Championship final is the most valuable one-off fixture in world football. For Hull, their 1-0 victory at Wembley today will see them bank at least £205million ($275m) in additional revenue across the next three seasons, . Deloitte said this could jump to more than £365million ($490m) if the Yorkshire side manage to stay in the Premier League beyond their first season back at that level. The findings were based on factors that took into account the projected rises in matchday, broadcast and commercial incomes. With neither of these teams in the final benefiting from parachute payments which are given to recently-relegated Premier League sides in the EFL, to help them adjust to the drop in revenues after losing their top-flight status — the uplift in revenue from sealing promotion is greater than when teams receiving those payments have bounced back quickly to return to the domestic elite e.g., yo-yo club B...

The Financial Times sports team reports: ‘Our inbox has been bombarded with notes from law firms, who think the EFL has opened the floodgates to further litigation. Southampton players may look to sue the club for depriving them of potential promotion bonuses. Clubs that finished just outside the play-offs or who were relegated after losing to Southampton could also claim their league position was affected by cheating. Even Hull might well argue they should be promoted by default.’ The bizarre case also raises some more philosophical issues. It comes a few weeks after the Confederation of African Football decided to award the African Cup of Nations to Morocco, despite the team losing the final in extra time to Senegal. CAF judged that Senegal had forfeited the match by leaving the field of play for about 15 minutes in protest at a refereeing decision. In other sports, changing the outcome of a competition after the fact is not unheard of. Doping cases have led to several Olympic ch...

Spurs’ plight has gripped football fans this season. But it has also overshadowed the troubles over at West Ham, who will be relegated if they fail to beat Leeds. West Ham are — by several measures — a big club. The east Londoners rank 20th in the Deloitte Money League, just four spots behind Italian giants Juventus. The club has spent more on transfers in the past five years (€815mn) than Aston Villa, Bayern Munich or Atlético Madrid, while the team’s home ground, the London Stadium, is the second largest in English club football. Relegation would hit West Ham’s finances far more severely than Spurs. TV money, which drops precipitously upon exiting the Premier League, accounts for 57 per cent of West Ham’s revenue, compared to just 29 per cent at Spurs. West Ham also have a leadership vacuum. The club’s split ownership — with no single party holding a majority stake — was held together for years by chair Karren Brady. Such a system can work, as seen at Crystal Palace, where Steve ...

It is now or never for the city of Leeds to unlock potentially billions of pounds of investment around Elland Road, according to Leeds United director Peter Lowy. Lowy is one of the most significant shareholders within the 49ers Enterprises ownership at Elland Road. While he keeps some distance from on-pitch or transfer matters, his expertise, after decades at the helm of shopping centre giant Westfield, is in developing the stadium and the land around it. He spoke to  The Athletic  at UKREiiF, a real estate investment and infrastructure forum being held in Leeds this week. Lowy has just been on stage, explaining why he feels a tram system is so important to the city, when he sits down for our interview. While the redevelopment of the stadium has planning permission and will accelerate through the close season, the future of the 30 acres of land around the ground is foremost in Lowy’s mind. He is concerned about the pace at which an agreement on a tram system is being re...

I confidently predicted that the real beneficiaries from Spygate would be sports lawyers and that looks like being the case.  Given the reputational damage they have already suffered, the club has wisely decided not to take the matter to judicial review, even though they might have grounds for doing so.  It would have been better if they had made a full admission more quickly. Southampton players are exploring their options regarding legal action against the club. Tonda Eckert’s squad had largely been kept away from the affair and only had the basic details communicated to them by the club. The players were furious at the EFL verdict, having only found out at the same time as everyone else, with members of the squad who had taken 40 per cent pay cuts after suffering relegation from the top flight year were due to have that reinstated in the event of promotion to the Premier League. They are due to meet with the club on Wednesday, and sources with knowledge of the players...