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Sports lawyers circle like vultures

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...
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West Ham would take harder hit from relegation

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 ...
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Modern mass transit key to Leeds United plans

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...
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Saints players could sue club

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...
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Move to kick start new Newcastle stadium

Newcastle United’s owners are open to selling a minority stake in the club in order to help fund significant infrastructure projects, including a potential replacement for St James’ Park and a purpose-built training ground. People familiar with the matter have told  The Athletic  that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) retain a long-term commitment to Newcastle, the club they bought from Mike Ashley for £305million in 2021.  Nevertheless, they are willing to dilute their current 85 per cent shareholding and have been approached by possible investors. The British Reuben family own the other 15 per cent of Newcastle. David Hopkinson, Newcastle’s chief executive, has been pushing to end the sense of stasis regarding the club’s stadium plans and training facilities, both of which have become a source of frustration. St James’ is routinely sold-out but is in need of refurbishment, while Eddie Howe’s first-team squad continue to train in an environment which is mor...
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Spygate leads to severe punishment for Southampton

Southampton have been kicked out of the Championship play-off final, known as the richest game in football due to the financial rewards from winning it, after the club was found to have broken league rules by spying on opponents’ training sessions.  The English Football League, which runs the second, third and fourth tiers of professional men’s football, said on Tuesday that an independent disciplinary commission had decided to expel Southampton from the play-off final, due to take place on Saturday. It added Southampton had “admitted to multiple breaches of EFL Regulations related to the unauthorised filming of other clubs’ training”. Southampton will also receive a four-point deduction for next season. Southampton had been hoping to bounce back to the Premier League after being relegated last year. The south coast club is majority owned by its chair, Serbian billionaire Dragan Šolak. The club still has tickets for the Championship play-off final advertised for sale on its web...
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Crunch time for Spurs

Tottenham Hotspur will travel across London on Tuesday night for one of the most financially consequential games in football history. Victory against rivals Chelsea would see Spurs take a big step towards maintaining their place in the Premier League after the club’s worst season in more than 50 years. Defeat would leave the door open to relegation and a potential drop in revenue of up to £270mn next year alone. Spurs’ plight belies its longstanding reputation as one of the game’s most shrewdly run clubs under former executive chair Daniel Levy, who was ousted last year by majority owners the Lewis family. Over the course of his 25-year tenure, Levy garnered a reputation for overseeing a lean, frugal operation — former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson once said that negotiating with him was more painful than his hip replacement. But his latter years were characterised by wasteful spending on players and worsening performances on the pitch. The spectre of relegation is pr...
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