The Political Economy of Football V2

Paris Saint Germain has been in trouble again with Uefa over its financial arrangements. The investigation into the club, which was dropped in July to the surprise of many has been reopened: Reopened investigation Kieran Maguire of the PriceofFootball has noted that its Qatari owners have pumped €316m of capital into club. If this is to satisfy financial fair play then the regulators understand even less about finance than previously thought as break even and owner financial support are independent of each other.' Whether this 'financial engineering' will achieve its objective remains to be seen: Capital pumped into club

Without the €200m sale of Cristiano Ronaldo to Juventus, which also wiped out his €42m annual wages, Madrid would be posting a €87m loss rather than a €43m profit. His replacement Dominican Republic striker Mariano cost €20m this year, spread over five years, making his book cost this year just €4m. He earns €34 million annually less than Ronaldo, altogether lifting €130m off the costs. The club are in the midst of financing a new stadium extension that will not put an extra standard seat in the Bernabeu, which is a bit odd, given that membership, at about 92,500, has been closed for years. The new Bernabeu with a shopping centre is President Florentino Perez's long-term plan to increase revenues, but it is well behind schedule. But such projects invariably are, as we have seen at Tottenham Hotspur and less dramatically at Brentford. Since it was first announced in 2011, the naming rights backer, Abu Dhabi energy company IPIC, has pulled out. The total cost of the stadium wil...

Bloomberg Businessweek takes an in depth look at the background to the growing possibility that Roman Abramovich will see Chelsea, if he can find a sufficiently wealthy buyer, and the whole phenomenon of Londongrad: Has anyone seen Roman Abramovich?

Bournemouth owner Maxim Demin has resigned as the sole director of his two British companies, while retaining control over Wintel Petrochemicals and Wintel Holdings. Unlike Roman Abramovich, Demin has a British passport and has no visa problems entering Britain. It is unclear why he has stood down. His directorships previously stated that England was his country of residence, but he now spends more time in Switzerland.

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 ...

The papers this morning are full of pictures and text about the public spat at the training ground between Manchester United's charm merchant manager Jose Mourinho and Paul Pogba. In the meantime, the share price has been falling. Kieran Maguire of the PriceofFootball has been taking an in depth look at the club's finances: Made of stone Maguire concludes, 'United are in a strong financial position. Woodward’s recent comment that “playing performance doesn’t really have a meaningful impact on what we can do on the commercial side of the business” won’t have gone down well with the United faithful.' 'This is further evidenced by United’s board’s refusal to accede to Mourinho’s summer transfer requests suggesting that they don’t particular care, or need to care, what the fans think, and whether you’re a Red or ABU, that isn’t good for football.' Some fans of lower league clubs with barmy owners would be happy to have United's problems. It has been sugge...

Roman Abramovich, Chelsea's owner, has been denied Swiss residency after the authorities there responded to unverified police reports. An injunction preventing publication of a leaked police report has only just been lifted. The report alleged that 'Mr Abramovich was known for suspected money laundering and contacts with criminal organisations' [in Russia]. It added, 'We consider his presence in Switzerland to be a threat to public safety and a risk to Switzerland's reputation.' That is saying something given the scandals that have touched the Alpine state in the past, although it has made real efforts to clean up its act. Mr Abramovich applied in 2016 to live in the ski resort of Verbier in the canton of Valais where he was welcomed with open arms by local officials. They negotiated a lump sum tax payment with him. The application was halted after the state secretariat for migration asked for the police report. Mr Abramovich denies any wrongdoing and has ...