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The Magic of Football – still there in the Cups?
Posted on January 27, 2012
It’s increasingly difficult to see any magic in the beautiful game other than black magic, especially when you look at it from a financial perspective. You only need to think of the narrow escapes at Plymouth and Wrexham recently, and both Portsmouth and Darlington are standing on the edge of the precipice. The Cups may […]
Posted in Community, Fans | Leave a Comment »
Stadium developments (and redevelopments)
Posted on October 24, 2011
In the last couple of weeks, stadiums, both those which are newly planned and those where there has been or will be redevelopment, have being popping up on my radar screen with surprising regularity. The saga of what to do with the Olympic stadium shows no signs of reaching resolution. Sadly we seem to be […]
Posted in Assets, Stadium | 5 Comments »
The ins and outs of the transfer window
Posted on September 3, 2011
So, the transfer window finally slammed shut, to use the mandatory cliché, amid the predictable hype. In one respect this was hardly surprising – of the 289 August deals reported by the BBC (1), no fewer than 93, or 32%, had taken place on the final day. In total 141 (49%) had taken place in […]
Posted in Costs, Globetrotterisation, Premier League, Transfers, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
The Big 1, 2, 3 or is it still 4? Or more?
Posted on June 9, 2011
Currently I’m working on a joint research project on various European football leagues with colleagues in Austria. One set of data which we have produced so far casts some light on this perenial debate. The latest version of the date centres of course on whether Liverpool ‘have fallen out of the Top 4′, and/or whether […]
Posted in Governance, History, Premier League, Pyramid movement | 3 Comments »
A day of reckoning
Posted on May 23, 2011
I managed to follow the great play-off between AFC Wimbledon (to whom, many congratulations) and Luton Town (to whom, commiserations) at least live online. Football at its most exciting. I wonder if Andy Burnham chose quite the right words though when he tweeted “Wimbledon back in Football League. Brilliant. A great victory for all football […]
Posted in Broadcasting rights, Costs, Economic impact, Fans, Football Conference, Governance, Merchandising, Premier League, Promotion, Pyramid movement, Relegation, Revenues, Sponsorship | 2 Comments »
The Olympic stadium, the small matter of distance, and the Premier League
Posted on January 21, 2011
By the time you read this, it may well be that the post-2012 fate of the Olympic stadium has been decided, with the decision going to one contentious bid rather than the other (I won’t rehearse the pros and cons of Tottenham and West Ham, taking a detour via Crystal Palace – they have been […]
Posted in Football League, Governance, Premier League, Stadium | 38 Comments »
Groundhog Day for the Trotters?
Posted on November 12, 2010
Reading through my Bolton file certainly makes for consistent reading, although ‘consistently inconsistent’ might be more accurate. “We have to balance the books” he told us as far back as 2003 (1), adding “We can’t afford to spend any money we haven’t got. We’re not going to go down that route.” A fan of Mr […]
Manchester City following in Pompey’s footsteps
Posted on October 2, 2010
Manchester City’s financial results, published earlier this week (1), were generally reported uncritically earlier this week, notwithstanding the key loss of £121m, with the exception at least of The Sun (2), where there was some attempt to look beyond the positive headlining provided by the club. According to the club, the financial highlights could be […]
Posted in Benefactors, Costs, Debts, Ownership | 10 Comments »
The trouble with new stadiums 4 (and final)
Posted on August 10, 2010
[See also The trouble with new stadiums 1, which looked at the argument that "We’re a club with ambition and we need more seats to reflect that ambition", The trouble with new stadiums 2, which looked at the argument that "We’ve got the wrong sort of stadium. We need one better suited to maximising our […]
Posted in Assets, Costs, Debts, Stadium | 13 Comments »
Who loves fans? Who doesn’t?
Posted on July 26, 2010
There’s an interesting pair of stories in the news today. First comes the news (1) that UEFA have introduced a new requirement in their club licensing requirements – the necessity for a club to appoint an operating supporter liaison officer (SLO). The purpose of this rather clumsily named role is to “to ensure a proper […]
Posted in Merchandising, Organisational culture, Premier League, Public relations | Leave a Comment »
A Political Football
Posted on May 20, 2010
In the lead up to the general election (and running alongside a large number of local council elections), I blogged on how I thought it significant that the political parties were wooing the fan vote, but did not hold out much prospect for major new initiatives actually happening after polling day. Well, as many a […]
Posted in 2018, Governance, Politics, Premier League | Leave a Comment »
English excesses exported?
Posted on February 16, 2010
With Deloitte’s annual publication of its Football Money League, identifying what Deloitte euphemistically calls the ‘richest’ clubs (it is based on revenues and conveniently ignores debts), we have become used to English clubs being at the vanguard of high revenues. In its most recent version published almost a year ago (1) there were seven English […]
Posted in Costs, Wages | 1 Comment »
Oldham (v. Spurs?!)
Posted on November 10, 2009
When I blogged on Parallel Realities and Worcester City recently, contrasting the board’s full-blown optimism in pursuing a new stadium with the harsh reality of the club’s financial situation, I cited other examples – Portsmouth, Southend and, most notably, Darlington. I might also have cited the case of Oldham, a particularly interesting case, as it […]
Posted in Benefactors, Insolvency, Stadium | Leave a Comment »
Sad news for Spurs fans?
Posted on September 22, 2009
The end of an era really. I refer of course to the sad news that Chas and Dave are splitting up, following the death of Dave’s wife – a big enough story in its own right to make The Daily Telegraph (1) for example. The link between entertainers and specific clubs goes back from Robbie […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Italy’s new ‘Premier League’
Posted on August 27, 2009
The BBC has reported under the headline Serie A to form breakaway league that “Serie A is set to copy the formation of England’s Premier League“, to be known as Lega Calcio Serie A (1). Before looking at a rather important detail that the BBC omits, it is worth looking at whether the formation of […]
Posted in Broadcasting rights, Governance | 5 Comments »
