The Political Economy of Football V2

Former FA chief executive Mark Palios and his wife, Nicola, have been trying to sell Tranmere Rovers for more than two years. They initially thought they had a buyer in the shape of an eclectic group led by Donald Trump’s former lawyer and pop star Rihanna’s partner A$AP Rocky, only for that to fall through last year. More recently, they have been in advanced talks with an American investment firm called Ascent Capital Partners. That deal has stalled due to a combination of the EFL wanting more information on Ascent’s investors and Ascent worrying about the club’s slide towards the National League. Ascent and Palio are still talking, but the latter is looking for alternative options, too, one of whom is understood to be Morley Sports Management, the London-based firm that owns Scottish League One side Hamilton Academical and Welsh semi-pro side Haverfordwest County. The challenge for Tranmere is always the accessibility of two Premier League clubs across the Mersey. T...

One time prime minister Harold Macmillan once said of The Wirral ‘funny place, it sticks out, up there.’   I have only been to Tranmere Rovers once, but I was able to park in the road outside and I thought they were a really friendly club. The problem is that they are the third club on Merseyside and it is relatively easy to travel across the Mersey.    The Wirral itself is an odd mixture of deprived and high end housing.    There was once another EFL club at New Brighton:   the once decaying seaside resort is seeing something ofa revival. Tranmere Rovers are set to become the latest English team to come under American ownership, as a bid for the Merseyside club from Ascent Capital Partners is waiting for English Football League (EFL) approval. Current owners former Football Association (FA) chief executive Mark Palios and his wife Nicola bought the club in 2014 but have been trying to sell the League Two side for at least two years. They decli...

Tranmere submit their 23/24 accounts reports football finance guru Kieran Maguire. Revenue wass £6m up 10%.  Wages were £4.5m up 13%.    Wages £75 for every £100 revenue. Operating losses £1.5m up 9%. Player purchases £0 Player sales £0. Cost of squad £25k. Borrowings £1.3m.  Total losses over time £7.8m.  Since the accounts were published TRFC has raised £160k in fresh shares and taken out loans   The club is currently 22 nd in League Two.

It has been a momentous week for Everton, and for the region as a whole. The Friedkin Group’s takeover means both of Merseyside’s Premier League clubs are now controlled by Americans. Meanwhile, a third, League Two side Tranmere Rovers, could join them if the English Football League (EFL) ratifies a takeover by a consortium led by Donald Trump’s former lawyer Joe Tacopina. In football terms, Liverpool is on the verge of becoming the USA’s 51st state — the name of the 2001 movie starring Samuel L Jackson and Robert Carlyle, which was filmed in the city and used Anfield, the home of Liverpool FC, as a backdrop. Everton is a club of contrasts.     Much of their mainly local support comes from some of the United Kingdom’s most economically challenged districts in the north end of Liverpool, near Walton where Goodison Park is located, and the ‘People’s Club’ — as former manager David Moyes christened them — has long taken pride in not being co...

Fans of League Two side Tranmere Rovers (once in the second tier) noticed last week that their club had borrowed money from a company owned by former Port Vale boss Norman Smurthwaite. The 64-year-old businessman did not sell up at the latter club on the best of terms with their fanbase, so Tranmere supporters were quick to share their dismay as they thought this must mean the proposed takeover by American celebrity lawyer Joe Tacopina and friends was off, to be replaced by Smurthwaite. The Athletic , however, has been assured that Tacopina and company are still trying to close the deal and Smurthwaite, who gets on well with Tranmere’s current owners Mark and Nicola Palios, is merely a lender.

Some more detail emerged this week about who is joining Donald Trump’s former lawyer Joe Tacopina in his attempt to buy Tranmere Rovers. As  The Athletic  reported last month, Team Tacopina has been in talks with the League Two side’s majority owners Mark and Nicola Palios for more than six months and his proposed takeover is being assessed by the English Football League. In their report, they explained that the 58-year-old New Yorker wants “to harness the power of his celebrity contacts” to propel Tranmere and SPAL, the Italian third-tier team he owns, up their leagues, and, if the takeover is approved, we should expect a Welcome to Wrexham-style documentary. Last weekend, the showbiz editor of British newspaper The Sun on Sunday revealed the name of the first of those “celebrity contacts”, although in this case the relationship is also lawyer/client as Tacopina is defending American rapper A$AP Rocky against a charge that he fired a gun at a former friend in Los Angele...

Donald Trump’s former lawyer Joe Tacopina is leading a consortium that wants to buy English League Two side Tranmere Rovers and replicate Wrexham’s climb up the leagues. The 58-year-old New Yorker has been in talks with Tranmere’s owners for at least six months and his proposed takeover is now only waiting for regulatory approval from the English Football League . Tacopina has become famous in the United States for defending a string of celebrity clients, including the late Michael Jackson, former New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez and rapper A$AP Rocky, as well as being a regular commentator on legal matters on American television. But as well as his combative legal work in American courtrooms, Tacopina is well known in Italy for owning football teams. In 2011, he was part of the U.S. group that bought Roma, before selling up and moving on to Bologna in 2014. He sold them a year later and bought Venezia, where he took the side from the fourth to the second tier and was knighte...

Football finance guru Kieran Maguire reports: ' Tranmere financial results show losses of £579k, down 75% for 2018/19 as the club had a successful return to the EFL winning promotion.'   Since the year end the club has raised £3.5m from investors in Indonesia. The cloud on the horizon is their relegation on a points per game basis which they are challenging.  One consequence is that their manager Micky Mellon has left for Dundee United. Tranmere fan Ryan Ferguson commented on his blog: ' Won on the sacred fields of Prenton Park and Wembley stadium, our third division status has been revoked by computer,' Ferguson continues. “After years of relentless hard work and improvement, growth and resurrection, our fate was sealed by a single Zoom call, without a blade of grass 
in sight.' Tranmere were promoted in 18/19 without spending any money on transfer fees Tranmere’s football income more than doubled in 18/19 due to EFL broadcasting deal and solidarity payments from P...

Tranmere Rovers fans are angry about the 'monstrous injustice' of the club's relegation from League One on a points per game basis. The owner, Mark Palios, is considering the possibility of legal action against the EFL, although he says that he would prefer to settle the matter by discussion:  https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11733/12007526/mark-palios-says-tranmere-rovers-considering-legal-action-over-relegation-from-league-one I can understand why the club and its fans think they have become the victims of rough justice.  I greatly enjoyed my one visit there. However, I am doubtful whether a legal action would succeed.  The owner points to similar actions in France, Belgium and Scotland succeeding.  Some of the circumstances may be different and, in any case, these are different legal jurisdictions. Palios seems to think that one proceed on the basis of anti-competitive behaviour and unfair prejudice.  I don't recall the latter in law, but there might b...

An old Private Eye cartoon but still relevant Leading football finance analyst Kieran Maguire of Liverpool University, and author of a new book on the Price of £ootball has been making a fascinating series of comparisons between the finances of Tranmere Rovers and Manchester United who meet in the FA Cup today. In terms of revenue, for every £1 generated by the Wirral club, Manchester United make £136. For every £1 in wages paid by Tranmere, Manchester United pay £83.40. For every pound in transfers paid by Tranmere, Manchester United paid £18,219.10. Tranmere pay their board of directors nothing , Manchester United pay theirs £10.6m. Tranmere pay their shareholders nothing, Manchester United pay theirs £22 million a year. Tranmere Rovers have paid their bankers £1.2 million in interest since 2006, Manchester United have paid theirs £816 million. In his book, published by Agenda, Maguire states: 'There are many examples of fine owners in all divisions ... such as Nicola [...

Tranmere Rovers lost £45,000 a week in the National League before being promoted via the playoffs last season. Income was down as parachute payments from EFL reduced. In the three year period the club was in the National League the total net loss of revenue from central funding was £2.45m. The strategic report notes, 'Promotion back to the EFL sees the restoration of central funding and it was anticipated that this, together with the continued development of off field businesses, would get the club into a break even position whilst maintaining a competitive playing budget in League 2.' The latter seems to have been achieved as the club is challenging for promotion. Turnover was down from £5.3m to £4.6m. Commercial income accounted for 62 per cent of the total. The club has been highly innovative ín the international market. The international desk has delivered six week camps in Inner Mongolia with 6,000 children being coached, along with coach education for 600 coaches. ...