Football's Magic Money Tree

[Chester Perry]

No surprise to see this unfortunately - Football added to the EU's Money Laundering at risk list


https://twitter.com/KevSportsLaw/status ... 4797078528" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

just wish I could read the article

for anyone interested - this is a detailed report on the issue from a decade ago

https://www.fatf-gafi.org/media/fatf/do ... Sector.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chester Perry]

HealthyStadia.eu look at the Premier League and the sponsors prevalent in the grounds and finds much to their distaste

https://healthystadia.eu/premier-league ... -sponsors/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chester Perry]

A different angle on the summer transfer window for the Premier League - @MartynZiegler from the Times

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/spor ... -ldclvbss6" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

@KieranMaguire adds to his contribution to that article with this

https://twitter.com/KieranMaguire/statu ... 9506129920" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chester Perry]

Simon Chadwick asks whether "Sports washing" remains an appropriate term ,he also points out that the UK could easily be accused of the same thing

https://twitter.com/Prof_Chadwick/statu ... 6583583745" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chester Perry]

Another day another depressing story of a connection between betting and footbal

From the Sunday Times

Premier League clubs still taking money from blacklisted online betting firm - Jon Ungoed-Thomas and Lucy Bacon - August 11 2019, 12:01am,

Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur football clubs have been accused of “sanitising” the reputation of a betting firm whose UK operations were suspended this weekend after a Sunday Times investigation.

Some of the Premier League’s top players, including Roberto Firmino and Willian and Olivier Giroud, have launched sponsorship deals with the Russian firm 1xBet. Its websites have been blacklisted by regulators around the world.

The company’s UK website was taken down after this newspaper investigated 1xBet’s global activities, which included promoting a “pornhub casino” that enticed gamblers with topless croupiers, bets on children’s sports and advertising on illegal websites. The Gambling Commission is investigating.

Matt Zarb-Cousin, of the Campaign for Fairer Gambling, said: “The clubs are being used to sanitise gambling brands. They should consider the damage to their own reputations.”

The Church of England criticised Wayne Rooney last week for promoting the online casino 32Red.

Tottenham announced last August that 1xBet was its official betting partner for Africa. The firm was exposed four weeks ago in a Sunday Times investigation for fuelling the continent’s youth gambling epidemic.

Chelsea and Liverpool football clubs announced tie-ups with 1xBet last month. The gambling group, founded in 2007, has offered “battlecock” bets in some countries, with live streams of cockfights promoted on websites alongside the logos of Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur.

The brand is one of the biggest advertisers on websites that illegally stream Premier League matches. A 1xBet advert on a pirate website on Friday featured a cartoon of a topless woman removing her underwear that linked to the UK’s 1xBet website, run by partner FSB Technology.

Peter Szyszko, chief executive of White Bullet Solutions, a London firm that works with governments and private clients to fight intellectual property theft, said 1xBet was “on the radar” of law enforcement agencies: “They are helping to fund sites run by criminal gangs.”

1xBet blames marketing partners overseas for some of its dubious promotions and advertising on piracy websites: “If any third-party networks or partners are found to advertise the brand on prohibited sites 1xBet shall investigate.”

FSB said players‘ deposits would be protected on the suspended website. It said it complied with UK regulations and was reviewing its licensing deal with 1xBet.

Tottenham Hotspur said 1xBet had assured the club that it offered a safe environment to protect people from “irresponsible gambling and addiction”. Liverpool said its partnership deals ensured that marketing content was appropriate. Chelsea did not respond to a request for comment.

[Chester Perry]

Useful piece on Agents, who's who and who manages who, and their business approach

https://vijaykrishnacv.com/2019/08/10/t ... y-members/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chester Perry]

I don't necessarily believe this - Forbes.com - why the "Inflated transfer market is giving Premier League kids a chance" but it is a fact tha the big six played more young home grown and British players at the weekend than they have for a decade or more


https://www.forbes.com/sites/grahamruth ... b8ce9f5dc6" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

the stats on the starters

https://twitter.com/OmarChaudhuri/statu ... 7727338496" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

of course it could just be that in the cosmopolitan world of the Premier League a lot of players are just recovering from their efforts that the 3 confederation tournaments this summer or are carrying a lot of early injuries

or as @RodneyFort put it

"Funny how markets for player talent often are labeled “inflated” when they are up, but nearly never “suppressed” when they are down (always the result of hard nosed owners finally drawing the line, or some new-found shrewdness)."

[Chester Perry]

More on the transfer window from the excellent @MuradAmed - shame I cannot read the article in the FT

https://twitter.com/muradahmed/status/1 ... 0908751872" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chester Perry]

Max Mauro on a frankly worrying trend - the appropriation of children's football by the media

https://footballcollective.org.uk/2019/ ... childhood/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chester Perry]

Yet another way to try and make money out of football

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sport ... Spurs.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

the worrying thing for Amiens is this has been tried more than once - it feels personal

[Chester Perry]

Keep seeing reports like this

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footb ... rmian.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

surely this is a breach of FIFA rules - Darmian is not allowed to speak to Inter until January - there is a case to be had here if UTD want it

[Chester Perry]

For anyone left wondering how Arsenal made a widely reported £45m transfer budget pay for over well £100m of purchases @SwissRamble explains all


https://twitter.com/SwissRamble/status/ ... 4086341632" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Royboyclaret]

For anyone left wondering how Arsenal made a widely reported £45m transfer budget pay for over well £100m of purchases @SwissRamble explains all


https://twitter.com/SwissRamble/status/ ... 4086341632" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Top drawer analysis yet again from Swiss Ramble. A fascinating insight into Arsenal's finances.

Although we at Burnley are at a different level it's remarkable how closely the two clubs' are aligned in terms of policy. For instance this next piece from the link is almost word for word something I posted on a Burnley thread just a couple of weeks ago as a dig at our Board to be a little less cautious..........

"..........Part of fancy financial footwork has simply been a willingness from the Board to be bolder with cash balances. In the past, it looked like the Club wanted to hold enough cash to cover all future obligations, but that always looked to be overly prudent............"

[GodIsADeeJay81]

Often the selling club will still get (most of) its cash immediately, as they sell the debt to a third party financing company for an agreed fee. Obviously, this commission then leaves “the game”, but the arrangement still works well for all parties.

Is this something Burnley has/currently do?

[Royboyclaret]

Is this something Burnley has/currently do?

No indication from the accounts that Burnley adopt this policy, although clearly many PL clubs now do.

Simply means that we wait say three years, over installments, for the full transfer fee to be received.

[Chester Perry]

I can say that given that we have no longer have a credit facility or loan agreement - the one with Barclays was terminated earlier this year (producing that famous @KieranMaguire statement) after not being used for some time. So it is not possible for us to have such an agreement in place currently.

https://twitter.com/kieranmaguire/statu ... 0496704513" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Some clubs use similar facilities in purchases - Barcelona have (I believe) in the Griezmann purchase because all the money had to be deposited with the league as they triggered the buyout clause.

[Chester Perry]

Celtic's shock exit from the Champs League is going to cost them a few bob

https://twitter.com/KieranMaguire/statu ... 4130604032" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

these shocks are magnified when you consider that the Celtic squad get paid more than the whole of the Romanian League

https://twitter.com/KieranMaguire/statu ... 9276763143" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Still no different to us losing to Accy a few years back in the League Cup - of course we were more intent in securing another years Premier League monies which is far, far more substantial

[Chester Perry]

The Telegraph continue their long established picking over the mire of the finances of Barca and Real - their desire to win the signature of Neymar (so the other doesn't win it) and the financial mess success in this quest will create for the victor. Reading this kind of makes you want to believe that PSG are doing this just to weaken the hand of a major European rival (especially Barca as they have a solid record against PSG)

Why battle between Real Madrid and Barcelona for Neymar is one neither wants to lose... but can't afford to win - Sam Wallace - Chief Football Writer


The battle between Real Madrid and Barcelona to bring Neymar back to Spain this summer is one like no other: for the sake of their prestige neither club feel like they can lose, and yet from a financial perspective it is also a transfer that neither can afford to win.

After years of overspending – the two highest wage bills in European football and two extensive stadium redevelopments that will lock up revenue for years to come – the Neymar episode has become a strange kind of death match for Spain’s big two. The pressure each feel from the other to prevail has meant that the footballer whose £198 million transfer fee to Paris St-Germain in 2017 remains the biggest ever, is being fought over by two clubs with very little available cash.

Barcelona’s detailed half-year accounts are four months overdue, but even the little information available does not bode well.

The headline figure for the past financial year, released this month, reported that Barcelona made a net profit of just €4.5 million (£4.17million), despite player sales of around €75 million in the final few weeks at the end of June.

Last October they projected a total club annual wage bill, including amortisation costs, of €633 million for the financial year ended in June, one in which football props up all other loss-making sports. That wage structure must now accommodate Neymar, one of many reasons why they have been so reluctant to offer PSG a cash fee.

Having bought Antoine Griezmann and Frenkie de Jong this summer, salary costs will have increased again. For all their indignation at Neymar’s original sale, Barcelona’s accounts for 2017-18, the period in which he was sold, published last October, revealed that without the fee received, then €222 million, the club would have made a loss. Barcelona’s results also revealed that they were borrowing to pay their wage bill: opening a €140 million credit line with a New York-based lender during the 2017-18 season.

Remarkably, it seems that Barcelona are the favourites to re-sign a player whose original signing in 2013 led to the resignation of then president Sandro Rosell over allegations that the club’s funds had been misused to do the deal. Rosell, who later served a jail sentence for a separate criminal conviction, against which he has appealed, was succeeded as president by Josep Maria Bartomeu, who seems just as determined to land the Brazilian at all costs.

Unlike Real Madrid, Barcelona at least have a piece to play: the Brazilian Philippe Coutinho, one of two players originally signed to fill the Neymar void and of interest to PSG in part exchange. There were reports of meetings between representatives of Barcelona and PSG in Paris yesterday.

As for Real, unable to raise any funds, they have failed to get even that far. No club have come forward with big money for Gareth Bale, James Rodriguez or Mariano Diaz. Real’s finances have long since been a source of interest. No cash evident in their most recent results for the six months up to Dec 31, and a total club wage bill for 2017-18, including basketball, which reaches €530 million when amortisation costs are also added.

It began as a summer in which Zinedine Zidane expected to sign Paul Pogba and yet, of the new arrivals so far, the coach has been disposed to pick only Eden Hazard. The cost of Hazard’s £130 million transfer has been spread over the course of his contract, which was why Real could afford it.

Although funds have been raised with the sales of Mateo Kovacic, Marcos Llorente and Theo Hernandez those have already been invested in the signings of Hazard, Luka Jovic, Ferland Mendy and Eder Militao. There seems no prospect at all of Manchester United contemplating a cash-plus-player exchange deal for Pogba, whatever the player’s complaints. Attempts to create a market for James have failed and he has now returned to Madrid from his two-year loan at Bayern Munich, with the only option currently a loan to Napoli.

The promise of a summer of change at Real has ended with the signing of three players Zidane seems unwilling to pick and another year relying on an increasingly disgruntled old guard, including Luka Modric, who has no interest in being part of a Neymar trade to PSG. When it comes to the likes of Bale and James, Real’s wages are so high that they are out of the reach of all but a few clubs.

As for PSG, their challenge to the establishment two years ago has ended with their marquee signing the target of sweary banners from fans and his position untenable. As in 2017, Neymar may well get the transfer he wants, although at what cost it is not yet clear. For the club he is leaving, and for the club he joins – and for the club he does not – there are a different set of difficulties.

No doubt Neymar would claim he is worth all the trouble and all the euros, although there are others who might disagree.

[Chester Perry]

That FIFA ruling on Man City is not going away anytime soon - the lawyer representing the child at the centre of the case is fuming at the let off - From the Telegraph

Fifa accused of 'astonishing' leniency after fining Manchester City for breaching rules on transfers of schoolchildren - by Ben Rumsby - 14 August 2019 • 6:40pm


Fifa was on Wednesday night accused of risking more clubs flouting rules designed to protect child footballers after Manchester City were let off with a fine for their part in breaking regulations.

City escaped a transfer ban on Monday after rules governing the transfer of schoolchildren were relaxed to give them an input into their own sanction provided they confessed to breaches related to the cross-border transfer and registration of players under the age of 18.

The decision by Fifa’s disciplinary committee came just months after Chelsea were handed a one-year ban from signing players for breaking those rules under their previous guise, which had previously resulted in Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid serving similar punishments.

It also came at the end of a two-year academy transfer ban imposed on City for breaking Premier League rules designed to prevent the poaching of young players.

The comparative leniency of Monday’s sanction was branded “astonishing” last night by a lawyer and agent who has represented schoolboy players being pursued by clubs in the world’s richest league.

Dan Chapman, head of the sports and employment teams at Leathes Prior, told the Daily Telegraph: “I can see clubs looking at it today thinking, ‘Oh, brilliant. Well, let’s sign that 14-year-old in South America, play a bit hard and fast with the rules and see if we can get away with it. If we get caught, the penalty’s not very severe anyway’.

“The whole point of Fifa imposing transfer bans on clubs for breaching the minors rules was that they knew it was only such a ban that would act as a true deterrent. Financial penalties, even if large and let alone at this level, won’t deter all clubs.

“I really hope that this decision does not spur some clubs to be saying to their recruitment teams, ‘No more transfer bans so let’s go out there and get all the world’s best kids and ignore the rules’.”

He added: “It was thought that Fifa were moving hard to really punish these teams after the Madrid, Barcelona, Chelsea cases. And this feels like a 360 the other way, doesn’t it? Is this the new norm?”

Chapman also questioned the decision to allow City’s case to be judged under regulations that came into force barely a month ago rather than those that were in place at the time of their offending.

He said he expected Chelsea to have gone “absolutely mad” at the outcome, which came days after they served the first instalment of their own two-window transfer ban.

The Stamford Bridge club still have a potential appeal pending at the Court of Arbitration for Sport to overturn the second tranche of the sanction and Chapman predicted they would seek to argue they, too, should now be judged under the new regulations.

“Chelsea will absolutely certainly want to argue that if Man City are able to be assessed on the basis of the new rules then their appeal should be as well.”

Chelsea declined to comment on Wednesday night on the outcome of the City case and whether it would affect their own plans.

[Chester Perry]

More ways to make money out of football - From the Telegraph

'They might as well be handing over the keys': Criminals study footballers' social media accounts, warn security experts - Tom Morgan, Sports News Correspondent - 14 August 2019 • 9:27pm

Alex Bomberg, a security chief to the stars, is an avid follower of Neymar’s Instagram account. Not because he enjoys the Brazilian’s boastful posts of flash cars and watches. He instead uses it as an A-Z guide for showing his VIP and royal clients “what not to do”.

“I don’t think we’ll get a sea change in football’s approach to security until we see someone’s family member injured, or worse,” the former soldier tells The Daily Telegraph.

Premier League footballers, Bomberg says, have become the “easiest of pickings” for criminal gangs who scour players’ social media accounts as well as the fixture lists for opportune times to swoop. Bomberg believes reports of players on away fixtures having their houses burgled have diminished only because the clubs are desperate to keep them quiet.

“Criminals are studying social media accounts because they know when the players are going away,” he adds. “They might as well be handing over the keys. They are the easiest of targets and the clubs have a duty of care here. That’s the major issue, which is sadly lacking. Footballers are in a category of their own when it comes to risk.”

Bomberg was not among those to praise full-back Sead Kolasinac for fighting off two men wielding knives after he and Mesut Ozil, his Arsenal team-mate, were attacked in north London two weeks ago.

“Getting out of the vehicle and doing that escalated the situation,” he said. “If those players had received the right training and advice, they would have handled that differently. They wouldn’t have got out the vehicle, for one. There’s lots of these incidents out there, and it’s not just football. We are really lucky in Europe that we haven’t seen a death.”

Bomberg, 47, chief executive of Intelligent Protection International Limited, based in the UK and France, works with several high-profile clubs in Europe but none in the Premier League. He recommends a personal security package for players worth about £400,000 a year.

“Footballers getting robbed is a European problem. We are not seeing this with athletes in America, where security is more covert,” Bomberg says. “If you are earning £5 million-plus a year, you need to be investing in security.”

Kolasinac and Ozil are not the first London-based footballers to be targeted on the road. In 2016, then West Ham striker Andy Carroll was threatened at gunpoint on his way home from training.

Bomberg adds: “You need to have an holistic approach. We need to see players being trained, given education and told about the risks of social media. These young people have got families and I really don’t think anything will be massively done at football clubs until someone gets hurt. It just doesn’t seem to be on the agenda.”

The first lesson for players is to get wiser about their social media use, he says. “People are putting stuff on social media and you have to have an understanding of how this might play out afterwards and be used against you. If there is a picture of the inside of your house, it does a couple of things. You see the layout of the living room and you show people what you’ve got in there. It’s often the background of these pictures that the criminals are studying.”

Bomberg believes Ozil and Kolasinac would have benefited from “defensive driver” training classes. Instead, the security situation has escalated. Unknown to the Arsenal duo, Eastern European gangs reportedly stoked tensions by putting out word that attacks on the players would not be tolerated. Subsequently the club have withdrawn the pair from playing duties.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Rowland Stone, another security expert who once looked after Peter Crouch’s home following a burglary in 2006, described how footballers have become even more vulnerable. The director of Tyler Security, a former Met Police dog handler, said: “No doubt it is getting harder for them.

“In some ways I take my hat off to Kolasinac. I think he could have taken them. But I think this is something that will be raising its head at club level more and more. There’s so much in the public domain now, so much on social media, addresses are known. They know about the glamour lives. It’s just out there.”

Ozil has hired a security firm to patrol his north London home and the 30-year-old was pictured there for the first time on Wednesday since two men were arrested at the £9 million property on Thursday night. As first disclosed on Saturday by The Telegraph, Ferhat Ercan and Salaman Ekinci, both 27, were charged with a harassment offence on Friday and are due to appear at Highbury Corner magistrates’ court next month. The players, meanwhile, have already missed the club’s Premier League-opening 1-0 win over Newcastle on Sunday and are now doubts for Burnley on Saturday.

“There is only so much a club can do,” Stone says. “The likes of Ozil have taken on a security company and unfortunately that’s the way it’s going for many others.”

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Seven gang swoops on sport stars
​- Last month German World Cup winner Ozil and Arsenal teammate Sead Kolasinac were targeted by knife-wielding attackers in a moped raid in Golders Green. Security has since been stepped up for the pair amid reports they have been caught in the middle of gang warfare.

- In November 2016, Andy Carroll was left fearing for his life after an armed robber riding a motorbike attempted to steal his £22,000 watch. The then West Ham striker was driving back from training with his teammates, when he was chased by two motorcycles.
Steven Gerrard’s wife Alex, as well as the couple’s children, were threatened by a masked gang in their home in Formby, Merseyside, in 2010. She had confronted the raiders, who demanded she hand over jewellery and the contents of a safe.

- Former F1 champion Jenson Button praised the quick actions of his police driver in November 2010 after gunmen threatened him in Sao Paulo. At least three men brandishing machine guns ambushed his car as he was returning from practice for the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos.

- In August 2016, Wayne Rooney's home was targeted while he was playing in his testimonial match at Old Trafford. The alarm at the £6m property was triggered, and nothing was stolen.

- Peter Crouch and his wife Abbey Clancy have been targeted twice by burglars during his playing career. A former home in Alderley Edge was raided in 2006 while he played a Champions League fixture for Liverpool. In 2011, thieves struck again on a property in Cheshire, after he had moved to his current club Stoke.

- The former home of Arsenal manager Unai Emery, then of PSG, was burgled in 2017 as he watched his side beat Strasbourg 4-2 in the French League Cup. In an £18,000 raid on his seventh-floor apartment, intruders stole signed Neymar shirts, a £6,000 Rolex watch and two Chanel bags belonging to Emery's wife Louisa Fernandez.

[Chester Perry]

It will come as no surprise to virtually anyone that now FIFA are in Charge at the Confederation of African Football they wan to take charge of the sale of television rights and the Executive in charge appears to have reneged on the promise to step down on her FIFA role during this sabbatical

https://apnews.com/7a9e21ef77fb4f54a5767aa8664d1ec4" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chester Perry]

Another review of the summer transfer window and one which a number on here could use to make their point against club, board and manager

https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/pr ... colas-pepe" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

what is apparent is that we have to work slightly differently to the rest - I will note that following the departure of Crouch, Heaton, Ward and Walters our squad is a little younger looking at the top end

[Chester Perry]

You have to say that Leicester's owners continue to invest in the club - as the final touches are added to the new training complex (£80m -£100m depending on which report you read) they are now looking at expanding the ground

https://www.lcfc.com/news/1303637/king- ... ss-release" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

the detail they are seeking from the fans in consultation is rather different from what a number of ours are used too

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/spor ... ns-3208439" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chester Perry]

That penalty save in the Super Cup tonight to win the shoot out saw Liverpool earn another euros 1 million or letting a young striker take your 5th penalty cost Chelsea euro 1 million - whichever way you look at it this is a lot of money for a glorified friendly

https://twitter.com/CIESsportsintel/sta ... 4384245760" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chester Perry]

Missed this last week - Part 4 of that Man City Fan Chat on Football Finance - the prevalence of Betting sponsorship

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVoxzDAoScM" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chester Perry]

In post #1861 (http://uptheclarets.com/messageboard/vi ... start=1860" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) I linked a tweet about the number of kids China is seeking to enrol at football orientated schools - here is the paper that that tweet also mentions - warning it is for an Academic journal so will be very dry reading - fascinating stuff though


https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bxTE7k ... 67hfP/view" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chester Perry]

UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin postpones the September meeting to discuss the post 2024 European Club Competitions format as the Clubs and Leagues continue to squabble in public

https://apnews.com/acf6283284254cfe965946f35d51785c" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The ECA Executive meet in Liverpool tomorrow

https://www.ecaeurope.com/news/eca-exec ... 16-august/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chester Perry]

Man Utd - who gave birth to this thread - haven't just been spending in the transfer market this summer - Old Trafford has had £20m of upgrades including work on their disabled facilities (much work and money still to be spent on those, will the work due to finish next season) as well as committing £50m to their training facility upgrades

http://www.sportspromedia.com/news/manc ... m-upgrades" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It truly is a different world, and their hoping to improve matchday income even though capacity is going to decrease by a couple of thousand when those disable facilities are complete

[Chester Perry]

While we at Burnley will wait until next April to learn the financial results from the 2018/19 season, Dortmund have published theirs

https://www.soccerex.com/insight/articl ... es-of-369m" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chester Perry]

The new issue of FC Vusiness is out - you can view the online edition here - as usual there are a few articles pertinent to this thread

https://cloud.3dissue.com/6374/7271/131 ... .html?r=49" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chester Perry]

ITV have won a very short deal to screen La Liga games starting tomorrow - following La Liga having difficulty selling the rights

https://www.itv.com/news/2019-08-15/itv ... w-evening/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chester Perry]

Kind of surprised this took so long, given it's infamy, though very pleased it is not a betting company - Bielsa's bucket has a sponsor

https://sponsorship.sportbusiness.com/n ... ited-deal/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chester Perry]

Another day another disheartening report on Mental Health in football and it's inadequate approach to dealing with it

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/20 ... ng-mental/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chester Perry]

I did not know this existed - the 2019 Premier League injury index - looks at the number of injuries and the costs involved - last season cost us over £6m - here is a detailed summary - the totals are huge

https://www.jlt.com/industry/sports-med ... index-2019" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

at the link their is the opportunity to download the full report for those who may be interested - you have to register but it appears to be free

[Chester Perry]

Once upon at time loaning a youth player from a big club was a case of using your networks to get access to a player and a manager to manager agreement and a contribution to wages, from that it went to loan fees and wages (often in excess of those earned by your own players, then all kinds of addon's from luxury accommodation, sky subscription and cleaners to guarantees of playing time. Now it seems to have gone a step further - clubs are being asked to make sales pitches

https://trainingground.guru/articles/pr ... -committee" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

all this for helping develop a player for his parent club - because that is what is should be about not an opportunity to generate income as a number have been doing for far too long.

[Chester Perry]

Time for some fun - mapping the birthplaces of all Premier League players - you can narrow it down by club

https://www.skysports.com/football/stor ... ers-mapped" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

looking at us it confirms something that I have suspected for a long time - our recruitment is increasingly focussed on players who have grown up in the north of England - it probably helps in selling the club

[Chester Perry]

The Football Supporters Association reveal a pretty astounding T&C that came with a season ticket at an unnamed club

https://twitter.com/FSA_FairCop/status/ ... 4032397312" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Suratclaret]

Time for some fun - mapping the birthplaces of all Premier League players - you can narrow it down by club

https://www.skysports.com/football/stor ... ers-mapped" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

looking at us it confirms something that I have suspected for a long time - our recruitment is increasingly focussed on players who have grown up in the north of England - it probably helps in selling the club

Given that the age of prospective footballers being recruited by clubs is lower and lower nowadays, could this be a factor in more local recruitment in terms of distance that parents have to bring their children. Not many clubs could afford the Manchester City approach. Of course, there was a time when the North East was a very rich recruiting area for Burnley.

[Chester Perry]

Reading appear to have become the fourth championship club in the last year to sell their stadium to their owner so that they can accommodate FFP issues

https://twitter.com/KieranMaguire/statu ... 8818900992" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Reading fan @uglygame is not happy

https://twitter.com/uglygame/status/1163001113928486912" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chester Perry]

Interesting story about how a powerful club owner can get his league to change the rules to suit even how the season starts

https://twitter.com/bigphilua/status/11 ... 2535816192" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

the power of money in full effect

[Chester Perry]

Shouldn't be a surprise given who the owners are - but this has major implicatons - in what is fast becoming a major news issue

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ ... ition-tech" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chester Perry]

This is where we see football catching up with the business world - Real Madrid hire a chief Transformation Officer (future thinking and delivering in a single role is how I see it)

https://www.sporttechie.com/real-madrid ... n-officert" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chester Perry]

Mentioned a few of these things previously (especially the clearing house - a FIFA bank in all but name) but it is nice to get a legal update on FIFA's proposed changes in transfers

https://www.lawinsport.com/content/arti ... mpensation" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chester Perry]

@AndyhHolt clearly explains why failure to pay wages on time should be treated far more seriously in the game - it is a sign of insolvency- and why many clubs take a gamble in the January transfer window, when the threat of relegation is nigh

https://twitter.com/AndyhHolt/status/11 ... 6924865537" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In that thread he talks openly about Sunderland - whose programme noted this astronomical level of spending in league 1

https://www.sunderlandecho.com/sport/fo ... eft-490690" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Andy's tweet annoyed Sunderland fans but not the owner

https://twitter.com/stewartdonald3/stat ... 4006465536" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chester Perry]

Interesting and informative piece on why sky are no longer interested in la Liga rights - those audience preferences also explain the ongoing drop in domestic rights values (per game) which are admittedly helped by the entente cordiale between Sky and BT

https://www.soccerex.com/insight/articl ... iga-rights" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chester Perry]

The mind boggles - La Liga has been showing off the new and improved tech it is utilising - all this for 22 guys kicking a ball around - That Magic Money Tree never stops bearing fruit it seems - even if you are not good at the actual game

https://www.soccerex.com/insight/articl ... ports-tech" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chester Perry]

Daniel Geey (@FootballLaw) talks about how he became involved in what he does and also gives insight into other avenues people have for feeding at Football's Magic Money Tree

https://soundcloud.com/dont-take-out-yo ... l-industry" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

provides some really good insights on Broadcasting rights and social media issues

[Chester Perry]

@KieranMaguire looks at the 4 primary types of financing in football - then looks at the entire history for financial performance in football and finds only 11 clubs have a trading profit over their lifetime - we are one (coming 5th overall - top of the founder members and some £362m more than them down the road), but only as a result of the Sean Dyche/Mick Garlick era

https://twitter.com/KieranMaguire/statu ... 2154244096" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Royboyclaret]

@KieranMaguire looks at the 4 primary types of financing in football - then looks at the entire history for financial performance in football and finds only 11 clubs have a trading profit over their lifetime - we are one (coming 5th overall - top of the founder members and some £362m more than them down the road), but only as a result of the Sean Dyche/Mick Garlick era

https://twitter.com/KieranMaguire/statu ... 2154244096" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Not entirely certain of the source of these "lifetime" trading profits from Maguire but, assuming our £60.7million is accurate, it's interesting to look at our figures since Sean Dyche took over. He became manager in October 2012 so his first financial year end was June 2013 and during that time we have reported a cumulative operating profit of £86.5million comprising (7.8m), (7.9m), 34.6m, (4.8m), 27.3m & 45.1m.

So, it appears, from 1882 to 2012 we made an overall loss of (£25.8m).

[Chester Perry]

Like you Roy I am a little sceptical as to the figures - especially as he has not said what data he has used - can't imagine we have records at companies house going back that far - though I do like the fact we are the only founder member with an overall profit - though it looks like we have swapped places with PNE in the last few years as Hemmings helps them to be slightly more competitive than their revenue allows