Summer 1976 and I’m gathered around a bed with my mum and my eleven-year-old sister, watching my dad, full of tubes, breath slower and slower. The priest has just given him the last rites, the consultant has just explained he’s done all he can, my mum is weeping, I’m holding my sister’s hand. Even then I was obsessed with numbers and I’m staring at the heart rate monitor, watching it count down and hoping for a miracle*. Very sad you might say, but why the melodrama, and what the Dickens has this got to do with Bury football club? Emotional blackmail this isn’t though, Bury fans are watching their own…

Introduction Sale and leaseback is the latest buzz phrase in the world of football finance, as Derby County, Aston Villa and Sheffield Wednesday have used this mechanism to avoid points deductions in the EFL Championship. How does it work, is it legitimate and what the benefits to the clubs involved (and their owners) in terms of FFP ‘compliance’ will be covered in this article? What is sale and leaseback? Accountants have used sale and leaseback for a long time to help companies raise money and it is usually a transaction arranged with a bank or other lender effectively mortgaging an existing property owned by a business. Under present accounting rules…

To attempt promotion to the Premier League is an expensive business as revealed when Middlesbrough submit their accounts to the government registrar for the 2017/18 season and reported a £20.2 million operating loss Only the receipt of parachute payments and some player sales prevented these losses from being too damaging for Boro, who are fortunate to have a benevolent owner in Steve Gibson to fund the club’s operations. Key Financial Highlights for year ended 30 June 2018 Turnover £62 million (down 49%) Wages £49 million (down 25%) Pre-player sale losses £20.2 million (2016/17 profit £10.3 million) Player sale profits £15.3 million (up from £11.3 million) Player signings £66 million (up…

Ken Anderson, Bolton Wanderers Swiss/Monaco resident rogue chairman until the club went into administration, has been in the firing line recently from fans, players, other clubs, unpaid creditors and the local media. Even before Anderson was involved with the club Wanderers had been struggling financially, despite once heady days in the Premier League and a benevolent former owner. Nat Lofthouse, the Lion of Vienna, is no doubt spinning in his grave as a series of damning stories have been publicised over the running of the one club he played for during his whole career. A look at Bolton’s most finances over recent years shows highlights the club’s decline that has…