The Political Economy of Football V2

Plymouth Argyle’s 2023/24 financial results cover their return to the Championship for the first time since 2010, following the previous year’s promotion from League One. Argyle have come a long way since they entered administration in 2011, when the club was deducted 10 points, leading to relegation to League Two, where they only just avoided dropping out of the football league. James Brent bought the club, took it out of administration and steadied the ship. He then stepped aside in 2018, allowing Simon Hallett to became the majority shareholder before taking on the role of chairman. Hallett’s arrival was not enough to prevent another relegation to the fourth tier, but the club has made excellent progress since then. Argyle bounced back to League One at the first attempt and have steadily improved, leading to promotion back to the Championship after 13 long years away. Following promotion, Argyle’s pre-tax loss narrowed from £3.4m to £2.4m, as revenue shot up by £10.9m (74%) ...

Plymouth Argyle chairman Simon Hallett is profiled in this week's Football League Paper.  He's put £15m into the Pilgrims but emphasises that he is not the traditional club chairman who phones up the manager to complain about his selections.   'I am very much hands off,' he says. The 66-year old lives 3,500 miles away but gets over to his Devon home three or four months a year, his visits tied into watching Argyle.   Plymouth is his emotional home where his family moved in 1966 when he got a job as a mechanical engineer.   He went to school in Plymouth before Oxford University.  His fortune comes from data analytics as chief investment officer for £60bn American company Harding Loevner. He joined Plymouth as a director in 2016 and now owns 97 per cent of the table topping club.  He emphasises the importance of data analytics in play recruitment: 'I'm from an investment background and understand the importance of data in making decisions....

Plymouth Argyle have filed their accounts for the year to December 2017 with Companies House, but they have done so (as they are entitled to do) under the small companies rule which limits the amount of available useful information. Kieran Maguire of the PriceofFootball comments, 'Looks as if Plymouth Argyle made a £32,000 profit in 2017. Can’t tell for sure as club took advantage of a legal loophole to avoid showing the profit and loss account.' To general surprise, the Pilgrims have had a poor start to the season. I saw them at Charlton last Saturday and they didn't look like relegation candidates to me. But then last year they had a much better second half of the season. From being at the foot of the table, they were in contention for the play offs, finishing 7th. Money received in advance from season ticket holders and hospitality was up 23 per cent as fans and sponsors of the club increased in numbers. The club is committed to a £6.5m ground development. After ...