The Political Economy of Football V2

Coventry City owner Doug King is profiled in FT Wealth, of itself something of an accolade.The 59-year-old calculates risk and reward for a living. Since graduating from Loughborough University in 1990 with a degree in mathematical engineering, he has traded everything from grain to petroleum.   The business model of the average Championship club, however, requires another kind of risk management. Wage bills that exceed revenues. Seemingly unavoidable operating losses. Fans who feel like they own the clubs. Owners who pick up the bill until they won’t, or can’t. When he bought Coventry, he assumed more than £36mn of net liabilities and cleared debts owed to the former owners. “I think that I bought [the club] because I felt like I could do a pretty good job of running it or handling it. I like sport, I understand business, I understand trading, so when you get into contracts with players and you’re looking at transfer agreements   .   .   .   contingencies, payment plans, he gi...

The Kroenke family first invested in Arsenal in 2007, eventually taking full control in 2018. After years of perceived lack of communication and ambition, supporters launched the “We Care, Do You?” campaign in 2019, which questioned their ownership.  Two years later effigies of 'Silent' Stan were hanged and burnt outside the Emirates Stadium by fans protesting Arsenal’s decision to become founding members of the ill-fated European Super League.  The Arsenal supporters who felt the Kroenkes were detached and uncommunicative launched their “We Care” petition, gaining more than 100,000 signatures. The Kroenkes felt there were misconceptions about the work they had been doing in the background. Josh Kroenke said in a press conference: “Should we get a great result on Saturday, it’s not going to change or affect who we are. When you win something, the sun’s still going to come up the next day. You’ve got to get back to work and there are many teams trying to gain on you, incl...

Football finance guru Kieran Maguire has warned that Southampton need to be very careful with their debts and finances.  With sports lawyers on the prowl for business, there is also the risk of legal action:  https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c8d82zn563vo  

The Tottenham Hotspur chief executive Vinai Venkatesham has issued a withering assessment of the way the club was run under Daniel Levy, likening the state-of-the-art training centre to a five-star hotel rather than a centre of high performance.  Venkatesham was appointed to his role in April 2025, having stepped down as chief executive at Arsenal the previous summer. However, he has said that some aspects of the club were “in a significantly worse state” than he expected.  “Our training centre is amazing, one of the best, if not the best in the world,” Venkatesham told BBC Sport. “But when you look around, it looks more like a five-star hotel than it does a performance environment. That will change over the summer. I think there are many areas where the club hasn’t got the right level of expertise.”  He explained that the football side of operations was the club’s main downfall when he arrived last year. [One Spurs fan wryly observed that it was like a water company sayi...

Before the season started, everyone expected the Black Cats to go straight back down, but Régis Le Bris’ side defied the odds to reach Europe for the first time since 1973.   From Zurich the Swiss Ramble reviews their remarkable progress.   Here are some highlights. The return to the Premier League did not come easy, as both promotions were only achieved via the play-offs, including a nail biting victory over Sheffield United to get out of the Championship, when the winning goal was scored in the fifth minute of injury time. Ownership There has been a distinct improvement in Sunderland’s fortunes since Kyril Louis-Dreyfus (KLD) became controlling shareholder in February 2021, when he bought 41% of the club, though the previous ownership group retained 59%: Stewart Donald 34%, Juan Sartori 20% and Charlie Methven 5%. Even though it was only a minority stake, this gave Louis-Dreyfus full control of the board. This transaction made Louis-Dreyfus the youngest perso...

Tottenham Hotspur’s owners, the Lewis family, broke their long silence on Wednesday,  issuing a rare statement  taking “ultimate responsibility” for the club’s struggles and promising more investment for a rebuild. The Lewis family, who have owned the club since Joe Lewis acquired a controlling stake in 2001, have promised investment in several areas, said their plans for Spurs “require investment — in our teams, the academy, our backroom functions and more — and we are fully committed to this. “We are not selling the club. We are all in. We are investing in it. You will see more of this in the coming months.” This statement is the first time the Lewis family have ever commented publicly on Tottenham matters, even though ENIC first became majority shareholders when they bought Alan Sugar’s stake at the turn of the century. Traditionally any communication was done by Daniel Levy, but he was sacked as executive chairman last September. Since, the Lewis family have starte...