The Political Economy of Football V2

The British-Indian businessman Amit Bhatia leading leading the deal to buy a third of Liverpool does not possess the profile of his fellow syndicate members Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, and Eduardo Saverin, the co-founder of Facebook. He is the one, however, with a background in English football. He was involved with the fan advisory board, supporters’ groups and was chairman of QPR in the Community Trust. It was through those connections that he is said to have developed an understanding of what football clubs mean to people, something that will soon be put to the test again. The announcement last month that he was transferring his shareholding in QPR, a clear sign that the discussions to buy into Liverpool were progressing, produced something of a rarity in modern football. There were a slew of positive messages about Bhatia on social media rather than simply opprobrium. This was despite Bhatia’s promotion to QPR chairman in August 2018 failing to ...

Keen Super Hoops supporter Lord Young of Acton (he did briefly consider becoming Lord Young of Lofus Road) reflects on the travails of being a QPR supporter in his column in this week's Spectator. It occurred to me that the noble lord's remarks contained some universal truths that could be applied to supporters of any team outside the Premier League, or even the big six.  Being a football supporter is as much about disappointment as it is joy. Young confesses that at the beginning of the current season he thought that QPR would get promoted. 'We've been languishing in the second tier of English football for more than ten years and I thought that we might finally escape.'  [I don't think many pundits predicted that]. As it turns out 'this season is looking a lot like the previous three.  With seven more games to play, the summit of my ambitions is to finish in the top half of the table.' He tells his sons that 'watching the Hoops bounce up and down th...

Having spent three out of the four seasons between 2011/12 and 2014/15 in the Premier League, QPR are now in their tenth consecutive season in the Championship. During this period, they have spent most of the time in the bottom half of the table with their best finish being ninth in 2020/21, while the last two seasons involved battles against relegation. There was another disappointing start to this season’s campaign, when the Hoops only won one of their opening 16 games, leaving them bottom of the Championship, but results have picked up since then, so they are currently in a respectable 14th place. QPR’s pre-tax loss reduced in 2923/4 from £20.3m to £13.5 m, as revenue rose £2.6m (11%) from £23.3m to £25.9m, while profit from player sales more than doubled from £1.0m to £2.2m.    In addition, operating expenses were cut by £4.4m (10%) to £41.1m, but net interest swung from £0.8m receivable to £0.6m payable. All three revenue streams were higher, led by gate receipts, w...

QPR lost £474k a week pre tax in 2021/22 reports Kieran Maguire.   This took QPR total losses over the years to £332 million. Losses covered by a combination of shares issued to owners and loans.    In terms of cash, QPR spent £20m more than it generated in 2021/22, this was funded by borrowings from owners. Total revenue up over £7m mainly due to fans returning to matches post Covid.    Wages were up 10% mainly due to increase in playing staff. Wages are £124 for every £100 of income. QPR bought players for £2.8m and had sales of £250k. Also spent £8.5m on new training ground. QPR owe almost £6m to EFL for Covid loans, £10.2m on FFP settlement, £68m on loans and £2.1m on player transfer instalments. New investor Richard Reilly now owns 12% of QPR. QPR badly need a new stadium to generate income.

  Championship club Queens Park Rangers have reached the maximum amount (£6.8m( that could be raised through its QPR Bond launched at the end of September. The bond was available through the sports advisory and capital solutions firm Tifosy Capital & Advisory. Senior figures at Tifosy say it is seeing increased interest in these types of schemes as clubs look for alternative financing tools and aim to strengthen the connection between the club, its supporters and other retail investors. “We're in dialogue now with seven or eight clubs across England and Italy. I think there's a momentum building around this kind of financing.”

Queens Park Rangers have launched a bond in an attempt to partially crowdfund their plans for a new £20 million training ground. QPR this week received planning permission for a new training base at Heston Sports Ground in Hounslow. It is hoped that the state-of-the-art complex will open during the 2022/23 season. A QPR bond will finance part of the project with Tifosy Capital and Advisory. The financing model is similar to that used by Norwich City when they revamped their academy in 2018. The bond will pay five per cent gross interest annually, with an additional three per cent gross in club credit. Investors will meanwhile be paid a one-off 25 per cent bonus if Mark Warburton’s side win promotion to the Premier League during the lifetime of the five-year bond.  There is a minimum subscription of £500 and no upper limit. In a statement, QPR chairman Amit Bhatia said: “As a board, we have a clear vision for QPR: to deliver competitive and entertaining football while ensuri...

QPR reduced their operating losses from £22m to £12m in 2019, reveals Kieran Maguire of the PriceofFootball. These are moderate operating losses by Championship standards. QPR do have cash in the bank but are technically insolvent and are reliant on their owners to carry on trading. Losses over the years exceed £287 million. QPR's owners lent the club a further £11.4 million cash in 2019 interest free. QPR are still in receipt of parachute payments which made up 64% of income in 2019. The figure of £22m will drop to £7m in 2019/20. QPR wage bill was down 25% in 2019 as club prepares for life without parachute payments and eliminates big earners from wage bill. Parachute payments meant that QPR are still in the top 10 earners in the Championship. QPR spent no money signing players in 2018/19 and had sales of £3.9 million. Owner loans are mainly because some written off as part of FFP settlement, which costs the club £1.7m a year in terms of cash and had an effective cash co...

There are quite a few gaps in this list and I am not sure how reliable it is, but some of the figures are interesting. QPR come out top: EFL's richest owners Of course, there's a difference between having a lot of money and being willing to spend it. Some owners have cottoned on to the fact that the easiest way to make a small fortune is to start with a large one and buy a football club. Some are relatively tight fisted, but that hasn't led to prudence across the league. Rather, there is still a willingness to splash the cash in an unsustainable way, illustrated by the recent history of Bury.

The authoritative Swiss Ramble takes a look at the recently published accounts of Queens Park Rangers. The club's loss significantly increased by £32m from £6m to £38m, largely due to booking a £20m FFP fine (for previous misdemeanours); a £15m reduction in the parachute payment driving a £17m (35%) decrease in revenue from £48m to £31m; and profit on player sales down £7m to zero. The £38m reported loss is not the worst in the Championship, as it is just below Cardiff City’s £39m (including £23m promotion payments), though it is obviously significantly impacted by £20m exceptional item for the FFP settlement: a fine of £17m plus the EFL’s £3m legal costs. All three QPR revenue streams were down. As well as broadcasting slumping £15.1m (43%) to £20.2m, due to the lower parachute payment, commercial fell £1.2m (17%) to £6.3m, while gate receipts were £0.3m (6%) lower at £4.9m. Few Championship clubs earn big money commercially, but QPR £6m is only around mid-table for the divisio...