The Political Economy of Football V2

Are Real Madrid the world’s top club?   That’s a contested title, but they are formidable on and off the pitch.   Here are a few salient financial considerations.   Scour any list of the world’s richest football clubs and you’ll find Real Madrid at its business end. In 14 of the past 20 years, Madrid have registered football’s biggest revenues. Revenue doesn’t equal rich, but Madrid’s bottom line has been healthy for a while, too. Financials for the 2024-25 season, released last month, confirmed another profitable year in the Spanish capital; Madrid have now booked a surplus for 23 consecutive years, a streak that even withstood the Covid-19 pandemic. To the world’s highest turnover and long-run profitability, add a lack of debt. Madrid and their club president Florentino Perez have prided themselves on the latter, with low net debt regularly cited whenever their latest figures are announced. Madrid’s commercial profile is huge, but it’s far from their only growth...

The authoritative Swiss Ramble reviews the 2024/25 accounts of Bristol City.  What fokllows is an extract of some of his main points.  Despite the improvement on the pitch, Bristol City’s pre-tax loss significantly increased from £3.3m to £18.6m, mainly due to a much lower profit from player sales, which dropped from £21.7m to £6.0m. This was exacerbated by a reduction in revenue, which fell £2.5m (6%) from (restated) £42.8m to £40.3m, though operating expenses were cut £2.5m (4%) from £65.4m to £62.9m and net interest payable decreased £0.4m (16%) to £2.3m.   Bristol City’s £40.3m revenue is actually the highest in the Championship – if you exclude clubs that benefit from parachute payments.    With the exception of Leeds United, no club without parachute payments has generated more annual revenue in the history of the Championship than Bristol City. City chief executive Tom Rawcliffe observed, “Although the loss is evidently larger than last year, it is ...

As a neutral watching the highlights, West Ham were perhaps unlucky to fall to a late sucker punch from Fulham at the London Stadium yesterday.  But they needed to be more clinical with their chances. Many fans are thoroughly fed up with the board and joined in a red card protest on 15 minutes,  Fifteen represents the number of years that David Sullivan, the largest shareholder, and Baroness Karen Brady had been running the club. So far there is no sign of the current leadership making way for someone with vision and strategy,  but with this great club stuck in the relegation positions, fans have to hope. 

A consortium led by James Bord, owner of Scottish club Dunfermline Athletic, has been named as the preferred bidder to purchase Championship club Sheffield Wednesday.  Bord, 44, was selected over a group led by the Chicago-based Storch family and former Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley who were seen as the front runners. Joint administrator Paul Stanley said: “From a financial perspective, the proposed financial offer from the preferred bidder provides certainty for the club. The consortium we intend to progress with has submitted the strongest overall proposal for the club. “This includes: A fully funded offer, clear financial assurances to support the club’s trading requirements, a structure that allows all creditor obligations to be dealt with in accordance with EFL rules, meaning no further sporting sanctions are anticipated as part of the transaction.” Bord is a former professional poker player who founded his own consultancy called Short Circuit Science in 2016, which...

Eddie Howe has called on Newcastle United to end their “limbo” and show ambition by announcing plans for a new stadium in 2026 — despite being 99.9 per cent sure he will not be around to manage the team there.    The head coach wants to drive the club into the world’s elite, a target set by the new chief executive, David Hopkinson, and he says that means their 52,000-seat St James’ Park stadium in the city centre must be redeveloped or replaced along with the training ground and academy. Discussing how he can guide the club to new heights after wnining the Carabao Cup and qualifying for the Champions League in 2025, Howe told The Times “You look at the training ground, the stadium… that part of  the club is in limbo at the moment. In terms of which direction the club is going to take, that would be a big step forward to get clarity on that and take everything into the future in a really positive way. It would have a game-changing effect on everything. “I am also talking a...

The death of globalisation as an economic principle has been widely proclaimed given the reintroduction of tariffs as a political and economic weapon.   However, it is alive and well in footall as is illustrated by the extensive involvement of US-based private equity firms in European football clubs.   Europe may be finished in some American eyes, but its ‘soccer ball’ clubs remain world class. The ultimate test of globalisation in football would be the staging of a regular league match in another country, but so far all attempts have failed in the face of exist ing rules.   Court challenges have been only partially successful. Plans to stage a Serie A game between Milan and Como in Perth, Australia have been abandoned, the league’s president and the government of Western Australia said in a joint statement on Monday.   Many fans will no doubt be pleased, but those pushing this concept are not going to give up - and they have plenty of money to spe...