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Ready to come back onto the e-pitch
Posted on August 13, 2014
Back in February last year (!) I noted a change in life circumstances and wondered “How this will affect my blogging is not yet clear.” As you may have noticed, it had a major impact on my blogging. Between March and July this year, for example, I made 16 work-related trips, twelve of them abroad, […]
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
Opening a can of worms?
Posted on March 27, 2013
The varying relationship between football clubs and their local councils I have, in a previous posting, described as a postcode lottery. It is often a vital one, especially when the stadium sits at the heart of an issue. I am of course particularly aware of this as a resident of Coventry, where a protracted dispute […]
Posted in Stadium | 9 Comments »
Deconstructing Peter Lorimer
Posted on May 15, 2012
Peter Lorimer’s thoughts on fans being on the boards of football clubs (1) were, at least as reported by the BBC, somewhat confusing and even confused. Certainly his assertion that he does not envisage a member of the Supporters Trust having a place on the Leeds United board is hardly a surprise given the way […]
Posted in Benefactors, Investors, Ownership, Trusts | 4 Comments »
That feeling of déjà vu at Pompey, all over again
Posted on February 17, 2012
Portsmouth’s return to Administration today (1) for the second time in a smidgen under two years speaks volumes, especially coming in the week that Rangers, a rather more iconic club, suffered the ignominy of Administration too (2). High profile those these events are, the phenomenon of financial problems is not confined to te top clubs. […]
Posted in Benefactors, Ethics, Financial doping, Fit and Proper Person tests, Globetrotterisation, Governance, History, Insolvency, Ownership | 4 Comments »
That elusive number of insolvent football clubs
Posted on February 13, 2012
Today’s breaking news makes for grim reading. First there are the reports that Portsmouth is to go into Administration again (1). With the club’s bank account now frozen, players and other staff unpaid, and an early parachute payment in the offing, this comes as no great surprise. Meanwhile, North of the Border, it is reported […]
Posted in Insolvency | 2 Comments »
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 »
A not quite 24 carat golden age of football ethics?
Posted on November 16, 2011
Received wisdom seems to be that, once the baton of running FIFA was passed on from safe and reliable English hands, there was a rapid descent into a quagmire of unethical goings on. Even Uncle Sepp himself now admits that FIFA “has had a rough time of late” and concedes that there is now “the […]
Posted in Ethics, FIFA, Governance, History | 5 Comments »
Some rather late and ineffective justice for Luton fans
Posted on September 11, 2011
There was some small crumb of comfort for Luton fans in the news that four of the directors of the previous owners of the club had been banned from being company directors (1) (and hence now fail the Fit and Proper Person Test). Former chairman Bill Tomlins was disqualified for six years; Derek Robert Peter, […]
Posted in Debts, HMRC, Insolvency, Points deduction | 5 Comments »
Cutting your coat to suit the cloth the Pompey way
Posted on August 11, 2011
As I write, Portsmouth still only have a squad of 16 (1). The first two matches of the season have seen just three subs on the bench – shades of last season, when at their opening game against Coventry there were four subs on the bench, and the squad was heavily dependent on youth players. […]
Posted in History | 3 Comments »
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 »
Some stadium snippets
Posted on April 22, 2011
Mainly, but not exclusively, bad news from various clubs at various levels in the pyramid: Bradford City (L2; population 294,000; nearest higher Level club Leeds United 10 miles [city centre to city centre, not stadium to stadium]) Younger readers may be forgiven for not knowing that Bradford City was home to Premier League football, albeit […]
Posted in Stadium | 4 Comments »
Onward and upward at Portsmouth?
Posted on March 5, 2011
As Plymouth Argyle fans come to terms with their club being in Administration, they can look along the South coast to Portsmouth to see that things can get better. On Thursday UHY Hacker Young, Pompey’s Administrators announced “the completion of the Club’s Company Voluntary Arrangement and exit from Administration on 24 February 2011. On 10 […]
Posted in Debts, HMRC, Insolvency, Ownership | 3 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 […]
Meanwhile on Planet Pompey
Posted on October 15, 2010
Or is that two different planets? Latest development is that the Football League has again declined to return the club share (1). The statement from the club says: Following a meeting of The Football League Board today, Portsmouth Football Club have been informed that the League are not yet able to approve the transfer of […]
Posted in Debts, Governance, HMRC, Insolvency, Ownership, Points deduction | 1 Comment »
The increasingly irrational world of football club owners
Posted on September 10, 2010
My blood boils far too easily these days. Perhaps it’s an age thing. Or perhaps the wacky world of football finance really is going insane. Three stories in the last few days have had me reaching for my gun. I’ll deal with them alphabetically by club, but Mansfield Town fans and Nottingham Forest fans can […]
Posted in Benefactors, Insolvency, Ownership | 1 Comment »
