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Manchester City and Etihad Airways: Economy plus?
History The 2007/8 Premier League season could not finish fast enough for Manchester City. The final match under Sven-Göran Eriksson was a nine-goal thriller at Middlesbrough, where unfortunately City conceded eight of them. The club’s reputation at the time was that of the Keystone Cops of English football, a bunch of mavericks in blue where the wheels were always on the brink of falling off. In those days their hated local rivals at Old Trafford looked upon City with mocking contempt rather than as an enemy, saving their true loathing for Liverpool and Leeds United. Behind the scenes things were even worse. Whilst City fans were excited at the start…
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Newcastle: Opportunity Knocked
Introduction Regular reference is made about the ‘Big Six’ clubs in the Premier League and the disproportionate amount of wealth, transfer spend and media exposure that they generate. These clubs (Manchester United and City, Spurs, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea) seem to have created a glass ceiling which is almost impenetrable to break (with the notable exception of Leicester in 2015/16 as they jostle for Champions League (CL) positions, having taken 60 out of 62 places in the CL since 2004/5. One of my chums on Twitter, called @TheGingerPirlo_ , asked about Newcastle United, a club who had been successful in the early 2000’s, and an assessment of Mike Ashley’s reign…
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QPR FFP Fine: Everything Counts in Large Amounts
Imagine someone stealing £170 million from you, and the culprit eventually is fined a tenth of that sum having spent all the money elsewhere. That’s how Derby County and their fans are feeling following the EFL Financial Fair Play verdict against QPR. On 24 May 2014, in the 90th minute of the Championship play off final against Derby County, (Sir) Bobby Zamora scored the only goal of the game to achieve promotion for Queens Park Rangers. Had QPR complied with FFP properly, it is highly unlikely that Zamora would have been part of the QPR team, after the club was relegated the previous season from the Premier League, along with…
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Bournemouth 2016/17 and FFP Fine: Every Breath You Take
Introduction: Bournemouth have just agreed a fine of £4.75 million with the English Football League in relation to a breach of FFP rules, a couple of years after initially showing an expected fine of £7.615million, so we thought we’d take a more detailed look at how this arose and the state of the Cherries’ finances. Overview Income £136.5 million for 11 months to 30 June 2017 (2016 £87.9 million for year to 31 July 2016) Proportion of income from broadcasting 91% (2016 85%) Wages £71.5 million (£59.6m) Profit before player sales £15.2million (loss £6.1m) Highest paid director £1,226,000 (£1,074,000) Player signings £9.3 million (£69.8m) League position 9th (16th) Income For…
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Crystal Palace 2017: Dancing In The Dark
Starting with the elephant in the room, we’re Brighton fans here on this blog, so stop reading if you’re a Palace fan and think the aim is to have a pop at your club’s finances. The Palace accounts cover the year to 30 June 2017, they were due to submitted to Companies House by 31 March 2018 but were a few months late. Eagles fans (and those of their rivals) have speculated as to why the club has taken such an approach, as all other clubs had submitted their accounts some time ago. Vast amounts of social media space have been taken up with fans arguing, often with themselves, as…
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New TV Distribution Rules: Everyone’s A Winner…?
On the same day that lots of people were getting giddy about Amazon buying one of the Premier League TV rights packages for 2019-22 for an ‘unspecified price’ (i.e. peanuts) the Premier League owners also sneaked through a new formula for the distribution of PL monies between clubs, in what was a textbook example of a slick PR operation choosing a good day to bury bad news for anyone outside of the Premier League. Q: What’s the problem? Some of the ‘Big’ clubs feel that they get a raw deal from the existing way that broadcasting monies are split in the Premier League, so want to change the rules. Q:…
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Morecambe Finances 2017: Bring Me Sunshine
Introduction Morecambe had a nervous finish at the end of the 2017/18 season, surviving in the Football League on the final day. Perhaps they should have expected a close shave after being taken over by a Brazilian in 2016. What was probably cause for a party at the time has then no doubt been replaced by the sombre reality of trying to survive financially after being railroaded by an owner whose relationship with the truth is about the same as Sam Allardyce’s ego is with modesty. Being a fan of a lower league club is no different to that of a Premier League club, except there are fewer zeroes at…
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Aston Villa and FFP
Executive Summary Villa easily satisfied FFP in 2016/17 due to parachute payments and player sales despite spending £88 million on players. They should easily satisfy it in 2017/18 as player trading position reversed and sold more than they bought. Will need major belt tightening in 2018/19 as parachute payments fall from £34m to £15m and FFP loss limit falls from £61m to £39. If you want the long version read on… Introduction There’s nearly as many questions about Financial Fair Play (FFP) these days as there is about Katie Price’s love life, and the answers are usually equally confusing. I’ve been asked to look at Villa’s FFP position,…
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Newcastle 2017: Lovely Jubbly
Introduction Mike Ashley, Newcastle’s colourful owner, has finally submitted the club’s accounts for the year ended 30 June 2017 for public scrutiny. In first announcing a selected set of information from the accounts on the club’s website Ashley has laid himself open to accusations of trying to massage the message from the club’s season in the Championship. Kind words are in short supply in Tyneside for Ashley, who bought the club in May 2007 and has overseen two relegations during that period. Easy to criticise, and hard to love, but is Ashley as bad as some make out, given that he has lent the club over £140 million interest free,…
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Premier League Club Values 2017
As the 2017/18 season comes to an end, all but one Premier League (EPL) club has submitted their accounts for publication, and that has allowed us to estimate values. The new domestic broadcasting deal that came into play in 2016/17, combined with wage restraint due to the EPL’s Short Term Cost Control rules, has boosted club income and profitability. As a result the total value of EPL clubs has risen over 30% from £12.1 billion to £15.8 billion. The clubs have been valued using the Markham Multivariate Model (MMM) devised by Dr Tom Markham, a graduate of the University of Liverpool’s Football Industries MBA programme, and is now head of…