The Political Economy of Football V2

Chelsea’s underachievement this season has been highlighted by a financial analysis that says only Wolverhampton Wanderers have performed worse in the Premier League compared to money splashed out by the top flight’s biggest spenders.  One Chelsea fan described it as ‘epic mismanagement.’ Despite spending £637 million on wages, transfers and agents fees, Chelsea finished tenth — 33 points behind champions Arsenal — and missed out on the European places. Sunderland’s achievement in qualifying for the Europa League spot secured them billing as the best value for money along with Arsenal, followed by Brentford, Bournemouth and Brighton & Hove Albion. After Wolves and Chelsea, Burnley were the next worst-performing, followed by Tottenham Hotspur. Omar Chaudhuri, the chief intelligence officer at the sports intelligence agency Twenty First Group, which carried out the analysis for The Times, said: “Chelsea are in the top two spenders but have failed to qualify for th...

As Premier League clubs push back against the idea of an independent regulator, the authoritative Swiss Ramble takes a cold look at their finances from his Zurich fastness. This analysis looks at how football clubs in the top two divisions have fared in the last 10 years up to 2019/20, the last season when all clubs have published accounts. It therefore excludes 2020/21 when COVID had a big adverse impact as matches were played behind closed doors. Just looking at revenue, people might think that there are no problems, as the 44 clubs in the Premier League and Championship have generated an impressive £41 bn in the 10 years 2011-20. That said, there is a clear gap between the Big Six, led by Manchester United £4.7 bn, and the rest. However, a large chunk of this money has simply gone on £28 bn of wages – before clubs pay any other operational expenses, buy players or invest in stadiums, training grounds, etc. Perhaps unsurprisingly, highest wages were paid byManchester City   £...

Chelsea's accounts came out last week and the authoritative Swiss Ramble has reviewed them from his fastness in Zurich, The club swung from £102m loss before tax to £36m profit, despite revenue dropping £40m (9%) from club record £447m to £407m, as profit on player sales surged £82m to £143m and expenses fell by a hefty £90m. After tax, results improved from a £97m loss to £32m profit.     The £36m profit is the best result to date of Premier League clubs that have published 2019/20 accounts. It is likely that others will report substantial losses, due to the pandemic. It may surprise some that Chelsea have now posted profits in three of the last four years, though the one loss was a hefty £102m in 2018/19. This represents something of a turnaround for Chelsea, who have reported almost half (nine) of the top 20 losses in Premier League history. All revenue streams decreased, impacted by COVID, though the damage was limited by the return to the Champions League. Broadcastin...