The Political Economy of Football V2

The National League posted the following statement this afternoon (Wednesday) in regard to the Ebbsfleet United’s position and extended suspension. “The National League’s Compliance and Licensing Committee convened this morning to further consider Ebbsfleet United FC’s compliance with National League rules and regulations, and particularly the Club’s ongoing suspension.   The position remained significantly as previously.   The Committee considered the response provided by the Club and noted that its outstanding PAYE arrears to HMRC remain unpaid and that the winding-up order remains in place. The Committee also considered information relating to the recent change in ownership of the Club and its current financial position, including whether, under its new ownership, the Club has the financial capacity to meet its obligations for the 2026/27 season, as required under National League rules and regulations. Following careful consideration of all the information available t...

A fourth Premier League season has now begun with 115 charges hanging over Manchester City, who have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. You must go all the way back to March 2019 to find the root of this disciplinary action, a time when the Premier League confirmed they were investigating City following a series of allegations published by German newspaper Der Spiegel. Using documents provided by Football Leaks, the whistleblower platform set up by Portuguese computer hacker and activist Rui Pinto, it was claimed that City had manipulated the value of several commercial deals in order to circumvent UEFA’s Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules. Abu Dhabi-based companies, namely Etihad Airways and Etisalat, were alleged to have helped a club owned by Sheikh Mansour, de facto leader of the country, reach financial compliance.  UEFA launched and completed its own disciplinary case against City, who successfully appealed a two-year ban from UEFA competitions through the Court of Arb...

This is very technical high finance stuff, but scroll down to the section on 'relevance to football finance'. It's quite scary from the perspective of the average fan, but helps us to understand why high rollers are investing in loss making football clubs:  https://theesk.org/2026/08/23/the-analysis-series-private-credit-governance-and-relevance-to-football-financing/

It is now nearly a year since Daniel Levy was dismissed as Tottenham Hotspur chairman by the Lewis family.  It has been 12 months of dramatic twists and turns, with Spurs avoiding relegation on the final day of the Premier League season, and then spending unprecedented sums this summer to try to make sure such a scare never happens again. But while most fans focus on the football — and a dubbing by Brentford   — another set of issues have been bubbling away separately. These relate to Levy’s continued position as a minority shareholder in the club. This has been in the news for much of this summer, even as we approach the first anniversary of Levy’s dismissal, and specifically this month, after he missed the opportunity last week to participate in the Lewis family’s latest equity injection into the club. On Thursday morning the club confirmed that his shareholding has been diluted, down by roughly two per cent, after the creation of new ENIC shares. Levy’s dism...

The authoritative Swiss Ramble provides an overview of Premier League finances.  Much more Information and analysis is available on his Substack page. The Premier League has now lost money seven years in a row. Obviously, this was adversely impacted by the pandemic, which led to the huge losses reported during the COVID seasons with £992m in 2019/20 and £689m in 2020/2.   However, it has not been much better since then, losing a hefty £2.3 bln in the last four seasons, leading to an annual average loss of £564m.   That represents a dramatic worsening compared to the performance before the pandemic, e.g. it generated £786m profit in the four seasons up to 2018/19. ‘ Creative accounting; The Premier League’s losses in recent years would have been even higher without the inclusion of exceptional gains from selling assets to other group companies.   This amounted to a record £293m in 2024/25, including Newcastle United £133m, largely from the sale of St James’ Park...

Europe’s top spenders in the summer transfer window include some familiar names. Chelsea lead the way with a net spend of €245mn, followed by Arsenal and Real Madrid, according to Transfermarkt data. More surprising is the presence of Ipswich Town and Coventry City, sides newly promoted to the Premier League, in fourth and fifth place.  Ipswich have spent a net €159mn on the likes of attacking midfielder Julio Enciso as they seek to retain their place after a second promotion to the Premier League in three years, while Coventry’s owners have authorised a net spend of €138mn for the club’s return to the top division for a quarter of a century. The net spend of both exceeds that of Liverpool, the two Manchester clubs and reigning European champions Paris Saint-Germain, although this could change by the time the window closes on September 1. It is conventional wisdom that promoted clubs must spend big to have any hope of competing against the established sides ...