The Political Economy of Football V2

Macclesfield Town have been wound up over debts exceeding £500,000:  https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/54177582   It is never easy for clubs on the edge of Manchester, but the owner clearly has a lot to answer for in this case. A discussion of what has happened and the broader context here:  https://www.football365.com/news/save-crocodile-tears-macclesfield-town

Macclesfield Town financial results show a loss of £250,000 in year to 30 June 2018 and total losses over the years increased to nearly £4.3 million. Macclesfield Town employee numbers fell by 10% in 2017/18 and the club spent next to nothing on new assets. Kieran Maguire of the PriceofFootball comments, 'Clear warning signs of cash flow problems.' It looks as if Macclesfield Town owner and shareholders wrote off £1.6 million of loans by converting into shares in 2017/18. The overdraft increase is concerning as is rise in ‘other creditors’ to over £600,000.

Macclesfield Town have won promotion back to the Football League on the slimmest of budgets, the smallest in the division. Many clubs operate with playing budgets twice as big as Macclesfield's £350,000 and for others such as Tranmere Rovers or benefactor clubs like Ebbsfleet and AFC Fylde it would be three times as much. The owners are Bashar and Amar al-Khadi, two Iraqi-Kurd telecom entrpreneurs whose family settled in Britain in the late 1970s. They bought the club in 2003. Since relegation from the Football League in 2012, finances have been drastically tightened and wages were late once this season. There have been appeals to supporters for donations for signings. There has been no additional income from player sales, TV games or cup runs such as last year's FA Trophy final at Wembley. In 2013 the club was £1m in debt and close to administration. The debt is now down to £280,000. Promotion to the Football League will be worth about £1.2m.