The Political Economy of Football V2

Former FA chief executive Mark Palios and his wife, Nicola, have been trying to sell Tranmere Rovers for more than two years. They initially thought they had a buyer in the shape of an eclectic group led by Donald Trump’s former lawyer and pop star Rihanna’s partner A$AP Rocky, only for that to fall through last year. More recently, they have been in advanced talks with an American investment firm called Ascent Capital Partners. That deal has stalled due to a combination of the EFL wanting more information on Ascent’s investors and Ascent worrying about the club’s slide towards the National League. Ascent and Palio are still talking, but the latter is looking for alternative options, too, one of whom is understood to be Morley Sports Management, the London-based firm that owns Scottish League One side Hamilton Academical and Welsh semi-pro side Haverfordwest County. The challenge for Tranmere is always the accessibility of two Premier League clubs across the Mersey. T...

It is the prospect of Spurs, one of English football’s so-called Big Six clubs, exiting the league that is capturing media attention as the Premier League season approaches its end. “There’s not much hope. There is anger, just disbelief really that we’re in this situation,” Flav Bateman, host of The Fighting Cock, a Spurs fan podcast told the Financial Times . “I think a lot of Spurs fans feel the same. We’re not even talking about it anymore.” The club’s place in the Big Six has not chimed with performances on the pitch. Spurs have not won the league since 1961, while their last FA Cup trophy was 35 years ago.   Fans complain that the emphasis on the business side has led to years of under-investment in players. Spurs have spent about £1.3bn on transfer fees for players in the past decade, the sixth highest in English football and similar to Liverpool and Arsenal, according to estimates from Transfermarkt. However, Spurs spent just 43 per cent of revenue on player wages...

The Financial Times gives its verdict on the challenges facing Spurs: 'The next three days will be crucial for Tottenham Hotspur, one of English football’s “Big Six” clubs. Having won only once in the past eight games, the London team are in the drop zone, and the expectations among bookmakers and data wonks have now shifted: Spurs are increasingly expected to be relegated. Demotion would be calamitous and unprecedented for such a wealthy club. Some roots of the current crisis run shallow. A newly appointed manager failed to improve results after last year’s dismal league finish, the worst in decades. New players, bought at considerable cost, did not deliver what was hoped for on the pitch. And injuries to key squad members piled up. In an increasingly competitive league, such things can snowball quickly. Without the experienced hand of Daniel Levy — Spurs executive chair for almost 25 years until his ousting in September — perhaps the club reacted to those problems too slo...

Premier League clubs made a combined loss of almost £800 mn last season, highlighting the challenges facing investors who have spent billions of pounds buying teams in the world’s most popular football league. Annual accounts from the 20 teams in England’s top flight covering the 2024-25 season show that 14 clubs reported pre-tax losses, despite revenues rising to more than £6.8 bn across the league from £6.3 bn a year earlier.   Chelsea, controlled by US private equity firm Clearlake Capital, reported a loss of £262 mn, a record for an English club. Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham, both currently fighting to avoid relegation, made losses of £120.7 mn and £104 mn respectively. English football has attracted billions of pounds of investment, much of it from the US, including from wealthy individuals, hedge funds, private equity firms and sovereign wealth funds. However, M&A activity has cooled recently, in part owing to concerns about the ability to generate financial returns...

Football finance guru Kieran Maguire has told a Livepool fan site that the financial implications could be huge if the club fails to qualify for the Champions League next season:  https://www.rousingthekop.com/2026/04/16/how-hard-liverpools-finances-could-be-hit-by-missing-out-on-champions-league-football/ A difficult question for Liverpool's owners is whether the slot machine is no longer paying out.

Lincoln University's student paper looks at the financial challenges that will face Lincoln City in the Championship next season with a playing budget likely to be as small as that of Charlton this season:  https://thelinc.co.uk/2026/04/lincoln-city-finances-championship/