The Political Economy of Football V2

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....

Gloomy speculation about the fate of League One and League Two clubs may overlook the willingness of benefactor owners to provide the funds necessary for them to survive.  A case in point is Simon Hallett at Plymouth Argyle:  https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/sport/football/simon-hallett-protects-plymouth-argyles-4188495 Many football fans who are not Pilgrims fans admire the dedication of the Green Army in following their team all over the country.  I would also like to express my thanks for the work they have put in to help youngsters interested in football in the remote Isles of Scilly with its two team league, now effectively cut off from the mainland. The United States-based businessman has already been generous to Argyle, particularly in terms of developing the stadium at Home Park. Now he has stepped up to the plate in the club's hour of need.  He states: '  My role since becoming Argyle’s owner has been to provide the money to invest in our future.  ...

Plymouth Argyle owner, US-based businessman Simon Hallett has increased his shareholding in the club to 90 per cent, buying out the remaining 30 per cent of shares of former owner/chairman James Brent. That led to Brent and his daughter, Natasha, stepping down from the Pilgrims’ board of directors. Hallett wrote on his chairman's blog, 'My increased shareholding does not mean a change in the goal of financial sustainability that I outlined in my last letter. It does mean that I will provide more capital in coming months.' This will take the form of shares not debt. 'Some of that money will go to fund continuing, but shrinking, deficits, and some to provide the cash to make further necessary investments in our infrastructure (for example, a new sound system at Home Park!) Some, of course, will go to fund the football budget.' 'That budget will be enough to allow us to compete in League Two, but no amount of spending can guarantee success, so it will not be an...

Plymouth chairman Simon Hallett has said investing in a £5m redevelopment of the grandstand at Home Park was the right choice for the club's long-term future. The US-based businessman and his wife Jane put up the cash to support the redevelopment and refurbishment at the stadium. He said, 'The substantial commitment that my wife Jane and I were prepared to make was only investment in assets that would support Argyle over many seasons, not just through the life of a few player contracts. He added, 'The Board has been very clear, for a number of years, that we want Argyle to be financially sustainable, in the absence of owners who are prepared to fund deficits year after year.' He made his comments in his Boardroom Blog, a good way of communicating with fans, particularly for a chairman who is across the pond: Chairman's chat Argyle are at risk of relegation from League One, depending on the outcome of their game against Scunthorpe at Home Park next Saturday. In...