The Political Economy of Football V2

Football finance guru Kieran Maguire reports  that  Stockport County lost over £7 million in 23/24. Losses were underwritten by owner Mark Stott putting in £11m in the form of new shares. County spent over £640k on player signings. Total losses over the years now exceed £21 million. Port Vale lost £3.8m in 2023/24. Club does have cash in bank, mainly due to owners lending almost £6.5 million in year to take total loans to just under £15 million. Player purchases were £131k.

Stockport County’s ground is the only one I have visited with both my EFL club (Charlton) and my non-league club (Leamington), the latter in the National League North. Simon Wilson was City Football Group’s (CFG) strategy and performance manager in a former life but, after moving into consultancy work for clubs around Europe, he was introduced to local property magnate Mark Stott. A City season ticket holder, Stott wanted to invest in a football club and commissioned Wilson with the task of assessing the market. Despite Stockport only just picking themselves up from their lowest ebb — finally earning promotion from the National League North in 2019 — Wilson recommended them. It had that nice combination of being almost like a start-up, but with loads of history and loads of potential,” Wilson says. “There weren't massive skeletons in the closet, no big costs that you couldn't deal with.” The years of underachievement, which had seen the end of the club’s professional st...

Stockport County lost £93,000 a week in 2021/22 in the National League, reports Kieran Maguire. Stockport bought players for £367k in 21/22 and spent nearly £1m on property and other long term assets. Stockport borrowed over £5m from company controlled by owner on 21/22 but this and other loans effectively written off when £7m loans converted into shares.