Football's Magic Money Tree

[Chester Perry]

There is a lot to like about Grimsby Town co-owner Jason Stockwood, though I do not always agree with him. In this months column for the Guardian he makes a lot of strong points about the path being taken by the ownership team at Birmingham City. The criticisms could be stronger, but there is much about football in this country that will remain an anathema to American owners, even as they exploit it for their own gain - I have yest to see one that is truly a custodian, in the traditional English sense, of the club that they own

Birmingham owner’s vision could transform city but football clubs are not just balance sheets
Knighthead’s ambitions are big but it will be telling to see how a profit-driven approach collides with an independent regulator
https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... nce-sheets
https://archive.ph/KO0vM

[Chester Perry]

This has been a popular cross-topic of discussion over the last 18 months, but what are the numbers

from The Athletic

Premier League clubs, PSR and £1.9bn in academy sales since 2020: How much has each club made?
https://archive.ph/NaaFf

[Chester Perry]

It is kind of nice to know that some American owners really do know how to boost commercial income. If we look at our own club, the best Velocity have achieved is just over £14m which scrapes in as the 3rd best in the clubs history (thanks to Covid repayments in 2019/2020 or it would have been 4th, the suggestion is that year will be much better. It is likely that Wrexham will (at least) double what we do.

For the sake of fairness, Wrexham will also likely outperform (at least) half the Premier League) in commercial revenues, we will be in the relegation zone with Brentford

from The Financial Times

Wrexham commercial revenue set to rival Premier League clubs’
Distribution deals after Disney documentary mean Welsh football team’s shirts will be sold in US retail chains
https://archive.ph/JjAoB

[Chester Perry]

It can be all well and good for people (yes I include myself) to criticise how are clubs are run - but could we run the boardroom of a Premier League club? - I know I could not/ should not

Anyhoo the Financial Times have a new game where you can test yourself

https://ig.ft.com/football-game/

[Chester Perry]

I am far from sure that this premise is true - Betting sponsors can go on the sleeve and it is quite likely that the income from sleeve sponsorship is going to grow significantly, as will training kit sponsorship and perimeter advertising rates I suspect - there may still be a deficit (which will be disproportionate for the smaller clubs) but I would not be surprised if it is less than half the sum being mentioned

from The Athletic

Premier League clubs face £100m black hole left by betting sponsors – who will fill it?
https://archive.ph/CkiEc

[Chester Perry]

It is just possible that by this time next month Josimar Football may cease trading due to financial pressures (they need £50k of subscriptions) so this may just be their last report on the whole sorry affair of 777 Partners and their failed financial actions within football

Collateral damage
Roll up. Roll up. 777 Partners are being forced to auction off all of their shares in all of their football clubs, with a sale to be completed this week.
https://josimarfootball.com/2025/06/05/ ... al-damage/
https://archive.ph/530UP

The flights of fancy/nightmares that was 777 Partners ownership of Standard Liege (amongst others was though to have come to an end when Standard announced a takeover by a local consortium fronted by the ex CEO - and all 777's football remaining football assets went to auction. As ever in this case (and probably many other cases), all is not as it initially seemed. A-CAP ended the auction with all 777's assets in their holding and it now seems that it they who still own Standard too. It kind of makes sense for A-CAP as they would have had to write off a lot of debt otherwise, but is made murkier by the involvement of a certain Chris Farnell,who is well known and ill-considered on these shores. The articles includes some updates on his recent other activities too.as well as the legal cases still ongoing related to 777 Partners

from Josimar Football

Standard operating procedures
Giacomo Angelini may be the new owner of Standard de Liège but his ‘takeover’ was funded entirely by A-CAP. How is this possible, and what does it mean for the Pro League club?
https://josimarfootball.com/2025/09/03/ ... rocedures/
https://archive.ph/Kj3Kb

[Chester Perry]

As much as many fans want tight control over football club owners, I cannot be the only one who believes that this approach is fraught with unforeseen problems. there are some good reasons why the games authorities have not gone down this route in the recent past, and I am not talking about the punishment in the headline.

from The Guardian

Independent Football Regulator could seek prison sentences for rogue club owners
Destroying documents sought by IFR will be a crime
Other sanctions include fines and compelled sale of clubs
https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... ompel-sale
https://archive.ph/zgkiK

[Chester Perry]

It is an idea abhorrent to many so called 'legacy supporters', yet is one that has long been talked up by various leagues as the financial power of the Premier League has grown = this summer outspending all the other big five leagues combined. Some will tell you that the final opportunity to prevent it occurs in the next few weeks, The reality however, is the battle was lost two years ago when Relevent came to an out of court settlement with FIFA (it was clear the American courts were going to rule against them) and at the same time further deepened it's commercial partnership with UEFA. To my mind there is no room for manoeuvre. All of which was posted on this thread at the time

from the Guardian

Uefa has last chance to keep genie of domestic matches abroad in its bottle
Domestic game risks being ripped from its fabric as La Liga and Serie A seek approval from Uefa to play fixtures abroad
https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... its-bottle
https://archive.ph/ZaL4j

[Chester Perry]

we have seen it in this country a number of times, even at our own club and now it is becoming a feature in France, where the problems with a succession of failed TV deals, remind us of how the Football league was hit by the collapse of ITV Digital, the parrallels of which I have remarked on previously.

As the following article eventually states - "When all else is lost, turn to the only people who can be trusted to put their clubs first, sell them a share of what they already own, emotionally speaking...." the words immediately following have been a truth on occasion (and that includes our club) "then ignore them again".

from The Guardian

Vive les Socios: struggling French clubs open doors to shareholder fans in tough times
https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... ans-socios
https://archive.ph/Fp4Fc

[Chester Perry]

More on that Manchester City threat of the new rules - I have a suspicion we have either abstained or changed tack from the previous vote

from The Telegraph

Man City believed to be behind Premier League legal threat over ownership rule changes
Premier League clubs such as Chelsea, Newcastle and City have most to lose from a redrafting of multi-club ownership rules
https://archive.ph/Qnx7D#selection-2681.0-2769.217

from The Times

Premier League tightens sponsorship rules despite Man City legal threat
Vote exposes split among top-flight clubs on issue of associated-party deals, with champions believed to have threatened a legal challenge
https://archive.ph/DpZ5P

If this accord between the Premier League and Manchester City lasts then it will save both parties a considerable sum, However, I suspect that Manchester City's owner will be all to willing to start new actions if the Premier League makes decisions he disagrees with. It is worth noting that Manchester City have likely won this battle because of the costs associated with the many parallel cases between the two, Sheik Mansour carried out his threat and seemingly won - at least for now

from The Times

Premier League backs down in sponsorship row with Manchester City
Top flight will let club complete lucrative Etihad deal and in return City have dropped their legal challenge against new rules on Associated Party Transactions
https://archive.ph/EAUQ3

[Chester Perry]

If this accord between the Premier League and Manchester City lasts then it will save both parties a considerable sum, However, I suspect that Manchester City's owner will be all to willing to start new actions if the Premier League makes decisions he disagrees with. It is worth noting that Manchester City have likely won this battle because of the costs associated with the many parallel cases between the two, Sheik Mansour carried out his threat and seemingly won - at least for now

from The Times

Premier League backs down in sponsorship row with Manchester City
Top flight will let club complete lucrative Etihad deal and in return City have dropped their legal challenge against new rules on Associated Party Transactions
https://archive.ph/EAUQ3

A bit more detail on this and what it could mean

from The Athletic

Explained: Manchester City and the Premier League’s APT settlement and what it means for everyone else
https://archive.ph/C0ZjK

While Martin Zeigler highlights how a particular nuance in the legal situation could see state backed clubs and those others with lots of commercial related parties could/will benefit disproportionately effectively making some question the value of APT rules (other than for owner funding via loans

from The Times

Some clubs fear state-backed rivals will cash in after Man City settlement
Associated party transaction rules aren’t being abandoned but City’s settlement with Premier League will make it much easier for them to secure market-busting deals
https://archive.ph/T8qOY)

[Chester Perry]

Quite a lot was posted on this thread last year when Fair Game posted their index of Football club sustainability - you can refresh your memory here

search.php?keywords=Fair+Game+Index&t=20891&sf=msgonly

anyhow - this years has just been posted, though you have to sign up to access the results - which I disapprove of

https://www.fairgameuk.org/fair-game-index-2024

It is that time again - the Fair Game Index and it is billing itself as say who is regulator ready - not very many

here is what The Independent has to say

Only four of England’s 92 league clubs are ready for football’s new regulator, report finds
The Fair Game index also found that almost half of the 92 clubs have less than one month’s cash reserves to cover operating costs
https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/foo ... 23491.html
https://archive.ph/Cb36a

Here is what Fair Game themselves have to say about it

https://www.fairgameuk.org/fair-game-index-2025

and this is the full report which is easy to access this year

Fair Game Index 2025
Is football regulator ready?
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/ ... t+2025.pdf
https://www.fairgameuk.org/fair-game-index-2025

[Chester Perry]

It is not often we get a deep insight into the investment packs that clubs create to either sell or generate interest in mew investors, so the leak of a recent such pack from 49ers Enterprises around Leeds United is a rare opportunity - though we don't get access to the pack ourselves

Keep an eye out for current valuation and expected turnover this season - it will make your eyes water

from The Athletic

Leeds investment pitch analysed: £1bn future valuation and recruitment system
https://archive.ph/LSNsh

the same is also reported here with many more charts to display what is being talked about

from TBR Football

49ers value Leeds United at £527.5m as document reveals takeover timeline
https://archive.ph/KSpvC

[Chester Perry]

The FA's 74 Charges against Chelsea caused a lot of hoo-haa when they came out, though the notion of severe sanction/punishment was immediately tempered by remembering what an inept organisation that is. Perhaps more important is the Premier League's own investigation into similar issues.

Chelsea under the new ownership claim they have self reported and are arguing for a financial penalty to be covered from funds set aside from the purchase payment at the time of the takeover. All this forgets the in depth investigations by the likes of The Guardian (and reported up this thread - the Abramovich elements of the Oligarch files search.php?keywords=Abramovich+files&t=20891&sf=msgonly)

We are reminded of all this by The Guardian today alongside a statement that a financial fine is not enough

If Chelsea are guilty over Abramovich payments a fine would make a mockery of the rules
The FA cannot swallow the club’s argument that reporting Roman Abramovich’s alleged irregularities wipes the slate clean
https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... ue-comment
https://archive.ph/4tnOf

[Chester Perry]

Far too much about modern football takes place away from the pitch - as this thread proves. Manchester City under it's current ownership are one of the major reasons why this is so. Today marks an anniversary of sorts - it is a year since the hearing of those infamous Premier League charges (variously billed as '115', '122' and '130+') commenced. We still await publication of the outcome, though I personally find that as no surprise/

Here Barney Ronay in The Guardian commemorates this anniversary and treads a knowing path to avoid libel litigation while making a series of references to CFG's approach. He also asks a very pertinent question - though to me it seems like The Premier League is finding that all this legal drama is only enhancing the focus of global interest in footballs most monied league

A year on, Manchester City’s legal experts have the Premier League in a corner
Charges tribunal is still to report on rule breaches, but does the league want to discredit its eight-time champions anyway?
https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... es-charges
https://archive.ph/hxGYf

[Chester Perry]

The Column of Martin Zeigler in The Times suggests that the Premier League will be proposing new finance rules for the newly pro moted clubs - mainly in regard to allowable losses (something which is likely to require EFL approval I would think) when it next discusses it's finance rules. That discussion will include another attempt to introduce squad cost rules whose domestic implementation has already been delayed twice

Plan to change spending rules that could help promoted teams stay up
new
For two consecutive seasons, newly-promoted teams from the Championship have immediately been relegated from Premier League, leading to a discussion over PSR
https://archive.ph/yhLhS#selection-1427.61-1557.222

[Chester Perry]

It reads like a marriage in hell to football traditionalist's, The Financial Times with a story of an unholy marriage of Multi-club football and Crypto treasury that seems intent on only growing the value of a single crypto currency

Cathie Wood and UAE in $300mn crypto bet on football business Brera
Owner of stakes in teams from Italy to Mongolia will begin stockpiling solana tokens
https://archive.ph/4mu2M

[Chester Perry]

More detail here on how anchoring could benefit the other 14 in the Premier League (though I still wonder how long that will last, given the pressure from FIFA/UEFA on the football calendar) put in the context of why Manchester United voted against the idea

from The Athletic

Why Manchester United voted against Premier League spending cap plans
https://archive.ph/rAQic

More potential issues with the concept of anchoring as part of the Premier League's proposed new financial rules - one would imagine that our club is one of those that is hesitant on the issue

from The Guardian

Premier League proposals for spending rules face growing opposition
Plan to cap spending at five times bottom club’s income
Four clubs voted against league proposal last year
https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... o-spending
https://archive.ph/JxpFp

[Chester Perry]

No surprise that the Squad Cost rules are set to remain on the back-burner in the Premier League next season

from The Guardian

PSR era in Premier League to continue after clubs oppose new spending rules
Chances of new rules adopted before next season slim
Perspectives differ according to clubs’ league position
https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... rs-meeting
https://archive.ph/mmwOD

[Chester Perry]

The drip-feed of new financial rules under discussion at the Premier League continues - remember that:
- the Premier LEague executive can male all the proposals it wants, it is the clubs that have to vote them in or reject them
- if new rules are not voted in before the January transfer window then it is unlikely they will be in place for next season

from The Guardian

Premier League wants minimum six-point penalty for serious breach of planned spending rules
League hopes for new squad-cost ratio system next season
Financial penalty proposed for less serious overspending
https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... ding-rules
https://archive.ph/bObbi

[Chester Perry]

I think this all depends in where you sit in footballs finance hierarchy

£1m to Burnley is about 0.75% of revenue in the Premier League, for Manchester United it is 0.15%

Some clubs see competitive value in having the league enforce it's rulebook (or at least how they perceive the rulebook) against the lies of Manchester City while others do not see Manchester City as competition, That said if the Premier Leagues wins the case against Manchester City, many big clubs will be hoping that Burnley win theirs against Everton.

It is true that the League needs to develop new commercial strategies -particularly given that it's major competitor - The Champions League - is run by an organisation that has the power (along with a newly club focussed FIFA) to impact it's structure and operations.

Another aspect that is not talked about in this article is that the governance of the league needs to be much more robust given the presence of the Independent Regulator and ever increasing pressure

from The Telegraph

Premier League facing pressure over spiralling costs
Exclusive: Revenue growth has been outpaced amid legal bills soaring by 325 per cent
https://archive.ph/WeFfr

[Formerbfcmanager]

You sir are a gentleman and a scholar

[Chester Perry]

"The Spirit of the Law" has always had no claim over right and wrong in the eyes of the law, on the other hand the 'Spirit of the game" used to have some real meaning.

There are those, who do not know better, that think Leicester's Premier League title is a fairytale in the modern game, a wonder that breaks all accepted expectations of teams that can win the league and a harbinger of hope.

Then their are those who know that Leicester have been promoted to the Premier League 3 times by using legal devices which gave them huge financial advantages over their fellow teams, each seeing changes in the rules of the game so that others cannot use the same methods, while Leicester themselves have thus far received little in the way of penalty/punishment.

Hopefully these years of shenanigans will finally come home to roost with a club who have done more than almost any other in the English structure to bring legal disputes into the game and increasingly overshadow it.

from The Telegraph

The Leicester legal battle that could derail their Championship season
Club’s predicament with the Premier League is complex but ultimately an example of overspending and poor decision-making
https://archive.ph/EABdw

[Chester Perry]

In Politics - as with most things in life - timing is everything

at just after 1pm today this story broke in The Athletic

UK government faces inquiry into appointment of new independent football regulator chair
https://archive.ph/N4EcJ

you may remember that Regulator Chair elect Kogan volunteered his donations to various Labour party figures including the campaigns for the Culture Secretary and the Labour Party Leader - it was covered in the post at the top of this page

just two hours later the Guardian game out with their own exclusive, which seemed more of a response to the above events than an act of conscience

Lisa Nandy removes herself from final decision on leader of football regulator
Exclusive: Culture secretary steps aside after it emerged preferred candidate donated to her Labour leadership bid
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... -regulator
https://archive.ph/g8mUu

It is all a bit of a shame really, because if we are going to have a regulator then Kogan appears an impressive candidate - so impressive that he was actually sounded out and invited to apply for the role for the role by the Conservatives prior to the last General Election.

In less reported news the Government made an interesting amendment to the Football Governance Bill just over a week ago, in relation to the backstop on Parachute Payments, while it has the support of both the Premier League and the EFL there are observers who believe this is a significant win for the Premier League.

From The Athletic

Premier League gets government concession over regulator financial distribution deal
https://archive.ph/fGo0z

It is rare in politics, but common sense appears to have prevailed - remember it was the conservatives who first approached David Kogan for this role/ The regulator should now get down to business next month

from The Telegraph

Labour donor named new football regulator chairman despite cronyism inquiry
David Kogan has now been confirmed even though commissioner for public appointments has yet to report results of investigation
https://archive.ph/RP5qf

[Chester Perry]

As you would expect in this kind of column a lot of different stories going on - most of them have featured in this thread for a long time - I am particular struck that Football Clubs are acting more like corporations everyday, using dispute resolution as means of cheaply offsetting payments is a new one to this thread but not to the corporate world, who as we know are continuing to buy deeply in to the game

from The Athletic

Business of Football: The future is release clauses, the Bank of FIFA, and Leaders takeaways
https://archive.ph/AqfIx

[Paul Waine]

HMRC ("tax man") recovering £90 million un-paid tax from football in UK.

Andrew Ellson, Consumer Affairs Correspondent, Tuesday October 07 2025, 7.03pm, The Times

https://www.thetimes.com/article/5aacbb ... a24e64312f

£90 million tax recovered from (1) football clubs; (2) footballers; (3) agents.

[Paul Waine]

As you would expect in this kind of column a lot of different stories going on - most of them have featured in this thread for a long time - I am particular struck that Football Clubs are acting more like corporations everyday, using dispute resolution as means of cheaply offsetting payments is a new one to this thread but not to the corporate world, who as we know are continuing to buy deeply in to the game

from The Athletic

Business of Football: The future is release clauses, the Bank of FIFA, and Leaders takeaways
https://archive.ph/AqfIx

"Alternative dispute resolution" is common in resolving business disputes. It is aimed at avoiding the enormous costs of going to court. Possibly, a secondary advantage is that the dispute has an opportunity of being resolved outside the "public domain." However, companies will always be required to report the existence and resolution of material disputes in their published accounts.

But alternative dispute resolution is not a way of "cheaply offsetting payments." The interest rates written into football dispute resolution agreements are football's own creation. There's no reason that commercial interest rates couldn't be specified in these football dispute resolution agreements.

[Chester Perry]

I have been saying for quite some time now that The Champions League is the only serious global media competitor for The Premier League - even so it would be good to remember that while the monies being talked about are significant it is a combined sum for all 3 of UEFA's club competitions to be distributed (not very evenly) among many, many more clubs.

from The Guardian

Clubs target groundbreaking £4.3bn TV rights deal for European football competitions
Disney or Netflix may snap up Champions League games
Media rights for 2027 and 2033 could see 10% increase
https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... mpetitions
https://archive.ph/oJpCA