The Political Economy of Football V2

There is concern that Oldham Athletic could be forced into administration and lose their ground: Latics could be pushed out of Boundary Park They were actually a founder member of the Premier League.

Brentford are currently fifth in the Championship. Next season they leave the atmospheric but dated Griffin Park for a new 17,250 capacity stadium just a mile away. It has been squeezed into a very cramped site, reflecting the advances that have been made in construction techniques, particularly in the use of cranes. It would not be harsh to say that Brentford have not been one of London's fashionable clubs, although I remember seeing them play in the pre-war movie The Arsenal Stadium Mystery. But they have modernised themselves impressively and have developed a very clever recruitment strategy based on buying low and selling high. Every year, to cover losses, Brentford sell at least one of their best players, but have still managed to secure five consecutive top half finishes. They have earned more than £120m from player sales since 2014. For example, Ezri Konsa was bought from Charlton Athletic for £2.5m. Then owner Roland Duchatelet was always willing to sell a promisin...

One often doesn't get much intelligent analysis of the situation of League Two clubs. In some respects, there is better coverage of the non-league system. However, here is an exception about Cambridge United: What next for Cambridge United? The financial situation has stabilised, but the football has disappointed. The article notes that there is a need for 'some answers as to what they want to be and how they intend to get there. Many questions have been asked of the structure of the football side of the club. It is a system that, ultimately, makes just one person accountable for everything.' What always strikes me about Cambridge United is that they are playing in a university city. One could the same about Oxford United, but Oxford still has a significant working class population and substantial mature manufacturing industry. Cambridge is more dominated by the university and hi-tech companies. If you want to support, say, Arsenal or Spurs they are relatively acce...

In a further step towards the globalisation of football, Atletico Madrid have been issued a licence to launch an Ottawa-based club in the Canadian Premier League in time for the team to be included in the 2020 season starting in April. The club will play in the 24,000-capacity TD Place Stadium in the Canadian capital, formerly the home of the now-defunct Ottawa Fury Football Club. For Atletico, it is a relatively low cost way of getting themselves better known internationally, an arena in which Real Madrid have excelled. To make the project possible, Atletico Madrid worked with Jeff Hunt, a Canadian businessman who holds stakes in the Canadian Football League's Ottawa Redblacks and in the Ontario Hockey League's Ottawa 67's. To make way for the club, the Canadian Premier League (CPL) has been expanded from seven to eight teams. This of itself reflects the relative weakness of soccer in Canada. The great Canadian passion is, of course, ice hockey, although women's...

I don't have time to analyse the accounts of every club, so I am grateful to Kieran Maguire of the Price of Football for providing information and analysis on the 2018/19 accounts of Lincoln City. This was the year in which they were promoted to League One. The price of promotion is revealed: 'Lincoln losses more than doubled to £2.2 million in 2019. Promotion costs estimated at over £600k took up some of this as some transfers had add on clauses when club promoted. Losses high by League Two standards but within budget. Lincoln spent over £1/2 million on player signings in 2018/19 as they invested in the squad to push for promotion...and it worked.' Lincoln had one of the highest League Two income totals (please note only they and Grimsby have published 2019 accounts to date so most figures from 2018). Maguire notes, 'Lincoln matchday income up 6%, TV 11% and commercial down 9% but latter includes player sales and cup contribution from previous season. TV will be up ...

It is amazing how much you can rack up in the way of losses even as a second tier non-league club. Admittedly, Torquay United were in the EFL. Even so, it is quite stunning that, according to Kieran Maguire, 'Torquay United lost £943k last year in the National League South. Total losses over £2.2 million. Owners commit to cover losses until 2020/21.' I have always thought that Torquay had quite a challenging task. The town has a large retired population, some of whom are not interested in football and others have retained allegiances to clubs elsewhere. You can view the accounts online, but they are not very informative as they are compiled under the 'exemption rule': Torquay United

Kieran Maguire of the Price of Football looks at the motivations for ownership in the Premier League: Profit, vanity or insanity? He notes: 'Football clubs can broadly arrange their finances in one of three ways, bank lending, owner loans or shares. In terms of the Premier League all three methods have been used.' The clubs reviewed are the Big Six plus Everton.