The Political Economy of Football V2

Swansea City's recent heavy investment in its playing squad has been laid bare in the club's latest financial accounts. As noted by football finance guru Kieran Maguire, the club's turnover has plummeted from £126.8 m in 2018 to £22.3 m for last season.   It was revealed by filings earlier in the month that the club had posted a loss of £21.6 m for the year ending June 2025 – a record for the football club.   Those figures are also up from the £14.4 m for the previous 12-month period, and are £5.3m ahead of the previous record loss of £16.3 m.    Swansea have not made a profit since 2020. Operational costs have also increased from £47m to £51m, with player wages are up six per cent to £29m. The club also spent more on transfer fees during that time, shelling out £10.7m, a whopping increase of 80 per cent on the previous year, and the highest since the £55.5m spent in 2018. Gross squad costs also edged up by 17 per cent to £19.9m. Profit on player trading fo...

Football finance guru Kieran Maguire has discussed the financial consequences of Leicester City’s relegation to League One. “I don't think they’ve got a lot of money coming in, so realistically it's going to have to be a fire-sale, and the other thing is that the owner is going to have to dig the club out...It really does now come down to the level of commitment from the owner, which has been missing in recent years.” Maguire says Leicester can’t rip up player contracts just because they have been relegated twice and continued: “You say the players will walk away, well the average wage at Leicester last season was £67,000 a week and if they've got a contract, which has another two or three years remaining, they can say to Leicester ‘You either pay us up or we stick around’ because the players' first responsibilities are towards their families not the club owner.” One can sympathise with fans who held up 'King Power Out' banners up on Tuesday, but after years...

Plymouth Argyle are set to have operating losses of £10.6 million this season, chief executive officer Paul Berne revealed at a Fans' Forum at Home Park on Thursday night. Turnover is expected to be £18.5m, with a loss before player trading of £11.2m, Berne told an audience of supporters in Club Argyle. Player trading of £600,000 will slightly reduce that deficit to £10.6m. Argyle's football budget this season has been £10m, which is £4m more than when the club were last in League One in 2022/23. That has placed them seventh in the division. Berne said: "We are striking a similar budget for next year, which we expect to be similarly competitive. We are planning to retain all contracted players, and round out the squad with the seven or eight contracts coming to an end which are currently under review." Over the last 12 months, the club has needed £20m to cover losses, and to cover Foulston Park developments, and other capital. Berne said: 'We took the de...

Chelsea's owners are rational actors so what is their strategy? Under the ownership of free-spending oligarch Roman Abramovich Chelsea Football Club lost about £1mn a week for almost two decades. The losses racked up by the club’s current owners have made the Abramovich era appear restrained by comparison. Chelsea this month reported a £262 mn pre-tax loss in 2024-25, a record for a Premier League club, as owners Clearlake Capital and financier Todd Boehly try to wean the club off Abramovich’s millions. When US investment firm Clearlake and financier Boehly bought Chelsea for £2.5 bn almost three years ago, the football industry expected a new era of financial rigour at the west London club. But they have since spent about €1.7bn (£1.5bn) on players, parted ways with four head coaches and have yet to agree on a critical revenue driver: whether to modernise Chelsea’s existing stadium or move elsewhere. With the club at risk of missing out on a place in next season’s lucrative Ch...

The dismissal of ‘Linkedin Liam’ solves one problem at Chelsea, but one has to ask why he was appointed in the first place.  Most Chelsea fans would acknowledge there are far deeper problems under the current ownership. Do the owners really understand what is involved, particularly emotionally, in running a top football club?    As was remarked on Radio 5 this morning, it’s hardly the same as turning round a ball bearings company in Wisconsin.    Nevertheless, the owners clearly think they will eventually be able to cash in on their investment. So let’s step back and see what the Swiss Ramble has to make of their 2024/25 accounts from his Zurich fastness. Chelsea’s strategy has been far more reliant on player sales than any other major English club, so they have generated an impressive £859m from this activity in the last decade. In this period, they made more than £100m on four occasions. They made £273m in the three seasons since BlueCo got involved, w...

The departure of Baroness Karen Brady from West Ham has seen other departures following, with Nathan Thompson, the executive director, stepping down with immediate effect. Financial director Andy Mollett will retire at the end of the season. Tara Warren, Brady’s trusted No 2, resigned from her role as executive director in December. In light of Brady’s exit, sources with knowledge of the situation say Sullivan has no plans to step down and remains fully committed. The 77-year-old, who owns 38.8 per cent of the club, and Kretinsky who owns 27 per cent (via 1890s Holdings), are in the process of purchasing shares from Vanessa Gold — the daughter of the late David Gold. She inherited 25.1 per cent after his passing in January 2023. The deal is expected to be completed in a month’s time, which would bring Sullivan and Kretinsky to just over 40 per cent each. The pair also have a joint-option to purchase more of Gold’s shares. “This must now be a turning point — not a rebrand,” said...