Football's Magic Money Tree

[Chester Perry]

Manchester United explain why the Ratcliffe bid won out over the Qatari bid in their latest filings with the SEC

Controversial Qatari bid for Manchester United failed to provide financial guarantees
Sir Jim Ratcliffe bought a minority stake in Manchester United
https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/foo ... 80333.html
https://archive.ph/lJmQT

the filing

https://otp.tools.investis.com/clients/ ... _HTM_tI2IA

[Chester Perry]

Matt Slater of The Athletic, interviews La Liga boss Javier Tebas, who is always good for a soundbite

Javier Tebas: ‘It’s more likely I play in the Premier League than the Super League is launched’
https://archive.ph/3vz1G

[Chester Perry]

Grim, but hardly a surprise given the absence of the owner not meeting the oblifations he committed to - the management on the ground have effectively been forced down this route

Reading implement drastic cost-cutting measures as financial crisis deepens
Club rejig training plans to avoid paying for undersoil heating
Nineteen redundancies made and about £4m owed to suppliers
https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... is-deepens
https://archive.ph/i7u8q

[Chester Perry]

Matt Dickenson in the Times shows that he understands the issues re financial controls in the Premier League/football in general, but falls well short of the solutions or indeed in noting just what crazy spending occurred at Everton or the fact that Newcastle's owners threw in excess of £170m at the club last season in share capital and loans

We need spending rules, just not self-defeating points deductions
Extreme extravagance affects everyone through the divisions — fines and embargoes, not emotional responses, are surely the best way of handling first-time offenders
https://archive.ph/DpLwd

[Chester Perry]

This has the potential to be explosive

from The Times

French police raid finance ministry over PSG’s Neymar transfer
Judges investigating tax avoidance in 2017 transfer deal with Qatari-owned club and links with Macron’s government
https://archive.ph/wlVx1

[Vegas Claret]

This has the potential to be explosive

from The Times

French police raid finance ministry over PSG’s Neymar transfer
Judges investigating tax avoidance in 2017 transfer deal with Qatari-owned club and links with Macron’s government
https://archive.ph/wlVx1

wow that's nuts

[Chester Perry]

wow that's nuts

Not when you understand how much Qatar has spent/committed to spend on French technology, goods and services in the last decade or so, never mind the inward investment, a small price to pay in some people's eyes.

I keep saying these countries prefer to do deals rather than abide by a western structure of rules, it almost feels inevitable. We know the UK government is not adverse to such shenanigans

[Vegas Claret]

Not when you understand how much Qatar has spent/committed to spend on French technology, goods and services in the last decade or so, never mind the inward investment, a small price to pay in some people's eyes.

I keep saying these countries prefer to do deals rather than abide by a western structure of rules, it almost feels inevitable. We know the UK government is not adverse to such shenanigans

100% sure, brown paper envelopes being passed around for fun

[RammyClaret61]

100% sure, brown paper envelopes being passed around for fun

More probably solid gold envelopes!!

[Chester Perry]

An interesting look back at how the three day week caused by an energy crisis led to professional league football being played on a Sunday for the first time - now it is a day when everyone expects games to be on so that they can watch them on tv - and as can be expected from those times, Bob Lord was not short of an opinion or two

from The Times

How three-day week paved the way for football on Sundays
As clubs were unable to use floodlights for rearranged matches in 1974 they had to come up with an alternative — including a crafty way to raise income despite a ban on demanding an entrance fee
https://archive.ph/JZV3C

[Chester Perry]

It is interesting to contrast the above with how the media is responding to the situation at Nottingham Forest

here we have The Telegraph

Nottingham Forest sailed too close to wind – after 30 signings this charge is self-inflicted
Forest's spending has resulted in plenty of wastage with some signings yet to kick a ball for the club
https://archive.ph/69Br2

and here The Times

Nottingham Forest owners acted like children in a sweet shop
From signings without staff’s approval to deadline-day splurges, the club’s breaching of profit and sustainability rules is indicative of careless recruitment
https://archive.ph/GumBl

and here The Guardian

Nottingham Forest the latest club in crosshairs over football short-termism
Signing 31 players in the summer after promotion to the Premier League has left Forest facing the prospect of a points deduction
https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... rt-termism
https://archive.ph/wQTyU

and yet for the most part we have the crap about FFP/PSR that has being doing the rounds of late most of which appears to be in support of state owned paupers Newcastle United, the team that received a big check from those same owners that allowed them to rescue what looked like a relegation season in part by vastly over paying to weaken a relegation rival of their best striker.

indeed we have had more of it this very evening from Jason Burt in The Telegraph - his second such commentary in a few days

Premier League should encourage ambition – PSR rules risk it losing its most competitive tag
Possible points deductions for Forest and Everton would leave the table festooned with atersisks but the punishment should fit the crime
https://archive.ph/yMh7B

fortunately we have the likes of Miguel Delaney in The Independent who sees a much bigger picture and understands all the detail. The following article was published at virtually the same time as Burt's and contains what appears to be a simple and elegant change to the rules. There would be issues for the biggest clubs involved in European competition and expecting to go deep into domestic cups, but squads could be altered to fit those competitions, with a number of players allowed only to play in those competitions - a point we are heading towards anyway.

Why the arguments against Financial Fair Play are wrong - but just one change is needed
There has been a push for changes to the current financial fair play regulations from some in the Premier League
https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/foo ... 79030.html
https://archive.ph/ScRAX

Another voice for sanity and the needs for fiscal rules in Football - even with the Tottenham love in

from The Athletic

Levy, Tottenham and PSR: What other clubs’ problems tell us about Spurs
https://theathletic.com/5198441/2024/01 ... -levy-ffp/

[Chester Perry]

we never stop hearing from the world of football about the fears it has about the Premier League's dominance - what football doesn't really register (and remember English football is already greatly subsidised by the Premier league) is that more or less all other forms of sport in this country have already been crushed into niche oblivion by the Premier League

from The Times

Premier League juggernaut is squeezing the life out of other sports
Every sport is fighting for an increasingly smaller share of the public eye, and the media’s obsession with clicks is perpetuating the problem
https://archive.ph/gRqVm

[Chester Perry]

Tuesday's DCMS hearing which turned out to be a bashing session of the Premier League though it probably felt more personal than that to Richard Scudamore had many references to the prospective Independent Football Regulator (note the MP's were not allowing anyone to demand that happened a greater pace, even as they were ripping into the Premier League for perceived lethargy)

Earlier thins month, Fair Game, who have their supporters on the DCMS panel) released their own study into what they think should be the 'Nine Pillars needed to make independent regulator a success'

report media release

https://www.fairgameuk.org/press-releases/regulator

The actual report

ENGLISH FOOTBALL REGULATION – MAKING IT WORK
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/ ... y+2024.pdf

[Chester Perry]

It feels like it has been some time since we have heard anything that could be considered negative about those that own/run Newcastle United - this lawsuit in Canada puts an end to that

from The Athletic

Newcastle chairman Al-Rumayyan faces $74m lawsuit for ‘carrying out’ malicious instructions of Bin Salman
https://archive.ph/I9EGz

Not surprisingly the above has lead to more column inches about the rights on wrongs of the Saudi 'assault' (not sure that it really is that) on global sport, this weeks announcement of a new special 'unique' snooker tournament that allows for a 167 break with a new golden ball that is worth 20 points appears pointless until you realise that the invitational tournament (just 8 players I think) has a $1m prize pot. Still as we have seen in golf again this week there are some who continue to think sport is more than just about money

from The Guardian

Sport can’t afford to look away from damage done by deals with Saudi Arabia
Allegations against Newcastle chairman Yasir al-Rumayyan could mean potential reputational cost to myriad sports
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/ ... udi-arabia
https://archive.ph/tWkdM

[Chester Perry]

Rory Smith takes a slightly tongue in cheek look at a future Premier League with out any fiscal controls, it is mainly a dig at those who seem to be championing such a scenario

from The New York Times

A Message From the Premier League’s Rules-Free Future
Clubs of all sizes complain about cost-control rules and their implementation. But what would soccer look like if they went away?
https://archive.ph/GGPyb

[Chester Perry]

It appears that this latest and much revised bid has squeezed through approval from member clubs to find a media investor for a new German Football media start-up

Private Equity Gets New Shot at German Football’s TV Rights
https://archive.ph/2kzJY

last Thursdays edition of the Price Football podcast had an interview with German Football journalist Matt Ford (https://twitter.com/matt_4d?ref_src=tws ... r%5Eauthor)

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/p ... 0638506054

I am forever in admiration of the fans of German footbal ans their desire to uphild their trasitions and what they expect of their Football Clubs

from Reuters

German fans hurl chocolate coins in protest against media rights deal
https://www.reuters.com/sports/soccer/g ... 023-12-16/
https://archive.ph/jIUbl

[Chester Perry]

Every few months this board has a thread or a discussion about replacing stands at Turf Moor - there are still a few that argue for a completely new ground outside of town (this years traffic chaos will no doubt bring a few more to that view). All of these discussions always feature a few posts about the the prohibitive costs (usually from someone like myself) and then countered by others saying that they would be quite cheap, So which is it?

Here The Athletic ask

Why are football stadiums so expensive to build?
https://archive.ph/eUwb1

Sam Wallace of The Telegraph looks at the difficulties Chelsea will/are facing in the development of a new stadium

Stamford Bridge is stuck in the past but Chelsea need billions to move on
Problem of outdated stadium could come to define Todd Boehly’s ownership, but club look further from solving it than they have ever done
https://archive.ph/bPIef

[Chester Perry]

This is a a positive move, even if it opens itself up to exploitation

from The Guardian

Fifa demands forfeit for teams with racist fans after ‘abhorrent’ incidents
Gianni Infantino speaks as Milan leave field for reported racism
Coventry’s Palmer complained of Hillsborough monkey noises
https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... -wednesday
https://archive.ph/HRuvo

[Chester Perry]

So do you believe the government on this?

from The Telegraph

Man City’s Premier League charges ‘not discussed’ in meeting with sports minister
City have been charged with 115 breaches of profit and sustainability rules spanning 14 seasons
https://archive.ph/4Vxom

I ask because previous iterations of this government said that they had not talked about and given their tacit consent to Super League in the run up to be announced - that proved to be incorrect. As did claims that they had not got involved with the takeover of Newcastle United by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund amid the Premier Leagues reluctance to allow it to go ahead

[Chester Perry]

Matt Slater of The Athletic, interviews La Liga boss Javier Tebas, who is always good for a soundbite

Javier Tebas: ‘It’s more likely I play in the Premier League than the Super League is launched’
https://archive.ph/3vz1G

The Guardian take their turn to interview Javier Tebas - who has been in London and appears somewhat relieved that Financial rules English style are finally starting to bite, naturally he thinks la Liga's real time version best, though it too has it's problems as Covid and its fallout have illustrated

Interview
La Liga’s Javier Tebas: ‘The big clubs want the rest to live on handouts’
The league president insists he won’t stand idly by while football is threatened by wanton spending and financial mismanagement
https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... n-handouts
https://archive.ph/oyh2t

[Chester Perry]

It is no surprise that the Premier League is likely to be dominated by American owners or that the league as a whole is looking at North America as its prime source of fiscal growth

from The Athletic - the title is not actually true, though it is direction of travel, as the article goes on to explain

How the Premier League grew into the biggest soccer league in the United States
https://archive.ph/fyXB8

[Chester Perry]

Jonathan Liew is a very clever chap and one of a handful of really gifted sports writers in the media but he seems to have got himself in a muddle by saying four clubs are being investigated by the Premier League (three of whom are already facing charges) for breaching its rules. But the premier League is have let its members be unregulated - is that not a contradiction? It would reasonable to say that the Premier League has been relatively lax (in comparison to its current approach) previously

from The Guardian

In football’s crisis of trust the Premier League as referee is hard to stomach
A fifth of Premier League clubs are being investigated for financial misconduct by the very body that enabled this unregulated free-for-all
https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... to-stomach
https://archive.ph/hVmb4

the above forms part of a somewhat late follow-up to the proceedings of a DCMS hearing last Tuesday

So it was no surprise that today's select committee started with direct focus on Richard Masters

you can watch it here
https://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/c ... 70b3a32ae3

much like this in The Independent from Miguel Delaney this lunchtime

Premier League ‘yet to offer’ financial deal to EFL but have spent extra £500m on wages
EFL chair Rick Parry is frustrated that the Premier League haven’t engaged in negotiations over a deal but the new football independent regulator may force their hand
https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/foo ... 83214.html

[Chester Perry]

A wide ranging interview with UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin - a cynic might think he is trying to deflect from the impending vote to change UEFA rules so that he might serve another term (maybe more), current ones, which he introduced, will not allow that. All standard procedure in modern sport where it has become the norm to elect by acclamation. Of course, his organisations application of its rules were discredited by CAS in the Manchester City case

from The Telegraph

‘We know we were right’: Uefa chief Aleksander Ceferin sure of Man City’s FFP guilt
Exclusive: In a wide-ranging interview, Uefa’s president discusses the ongoing battle with City, Saudi Arabia and his Euros security fears
https://archive.ph/pgw3c

[Chester Perry]

It is the topic du jour in these claret and blue environs, but no one has yet really made a multi-club model work coherently. The following article asks a question, but fails to give a definitive answer about what appears to be a logical premise that has yet to bear consistently repeated results in practice.

from The Times

Are multi-club groups the best way to develop young talent?
Loaning out players does not always work out well for either side of the deal, so is using another team which shares a footballing philosophy the solution?
https://archive.ph/58bJf

[Chester Perry]

A bit of forward planning from Tottenham major shareholder Joe Lewis, who is 85, he has put the club under the control of a trust

https://twitter.com/KieranMaguire/statu ... zPsvQrAAAA

and now we know why - he knew he was guilty and would be in breach of the owners and directors rules of conduct

Joe Lewis pleads guilty to insider trading and securities fraud while Tottenham owner
Lewis is the 316th-richest person in the world and his family owns a majority share in Tottenham
https://archive.ph/XNl8Q

[Chester Perry]

I said it was that time of year last week

today Deloitte have published their annual money league report - the 26th edition.

Premier League clubs form:

- 3 of the top 5
- 6 of the top 10
- 11 of the top 20 and
- 16 of the top 30

you can access it here

Deloitte Football Money League 2023
Get up, stand up
https://www2.deloitte.com/uk/en/pages/s ... eague.html

It is that time of year again - The Deloitte Money League 2024 is out and one wonders why Florentino Perez and Real Madrid are so desperate for Super League and its embedded bias towards them (in earnings) when they are already the club that brings in the most revenue - and that in a year when they did not win either their domestic league or the Champions League. European clubs appear to be making a bit of a recovery as the impacts of Covid begin to wear off. it also pays to understand which Premier league teams participated in the Champions League

Premier League teams make up:
2 of the top 5
6 of the top 10
8 of the top 20
14 of the top 30

There is no pdf version for the first time this year - which is a shame

Deloitte Football Money League 2024
Breaking new ground
https://www2.deloitte.com/uk/en/pages/s ... eague.html

[Chester Perry]

A wide ranging interview with UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin - a cynic might think he is trying to deflect from the impending vote to change UEFA rules so that he might serve another term (maybe more), current ones, which he introduced, will not allow that. All standard procedure in modern sport where it has become the norm to elect by acclamation. Of course, his organisations application of its rules were discredited by CAS in the Manchester City case

from The Telegraph

‘We know we were right’: Uefa chief Aleksander Ceferin sure of Man City’s FFP guilt
Exclusive: In a wide-ranging interview, Uefa’s president discusses the ongoing battle with City, Saudi Arabia and his Euros security fears
https://archive.ph/pgw3c

The unease at Ceferin's plans to redefine his own rule has been bubbling under for a few months now, with the vote just weeks away the dissent is now being heard clearly

from the Telegraph

Uefa turmoil deepens after director of football resigns over Aleksander Ceferin's bid to stay in power
Zvonimir Boban has resigned as Uefa’s chief of football as the row over term limits and Ceferin's position intensifies
https://archive.ph/72Uf4

from The Guardian

Zvonimir Boban quits as Uefa football chief in protest at ‘fatal’ Ceferin plans
Ceferin may change statutes on how long president can serve
Former Croatia international ‘not pretending to be a hero’
https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... ns-protest
https://archive.ph/Y6bLD

from The Independent

The ‘mutiny’ and key resignation behind Uefa’s pending civil war
Former Milan star Zvonimir Boban has resigned from his position as chief of football to, as Miguel Delaney argues, leave president Aleksander Ceferin exposed to a challenge of power, which could shift the trajectory of the sport’s future
https://archive.ph/ESa9z

from The Athletic

Zvonimir Boban resigns as UEFA chief in protest over Aleksander Ceferin’s plan to extend his presidency

from The Times

Uefa in crisis as Boban quits over Ceferin’s bid to extend term limits
European football’s president wants to extend term limits to allow him and other officials three more years in power — going back on rules he created
https://archive.ph/Ks8o0
https://archive.ph/uz2Qg

[Chester Perry]

Much has been made about how football has, is and probably needs to change, forums such as this see that point brought up regularly. This article highlights how some are doing it, better than others.

The only way up, is left: How innovation is driving growth in football
https://worldfootballsummit.com/this-is ... -football/
https://archive.ph/NznHO

[Chester Perry]

It is not a knew story but one that gets retold in different guises - iy is good to know that more writers are understanding that sports washing is just inadequate as a term in these circumstances

from The Guardian

The Saudi takeover of European football is about power, not sportswashing
Saudi buying up the Italian and Spanish Super Cups has legitimized the nation’s regime, at home and around the world
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/ ... rtswashing
https://archive.ph/m0Wo7

[Chester Perry]

A topical subject in these parts given the recent announcement in regards of the ALK relationship with Dundee FC
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=74070

from The Athletic

EFL loans and the Premier League: Who are the winners and losers in an evolving system?
https://archive.ph/AS788

[Chester Perry]

When we look at the EFL and the national League or to the situation in European club football we know that any form of football that as hopes on relying on the biggest fish/Premier League/Super League is in for a rough ride

from The Guardian - there is an appropriately bewildered paragraph about our club's ownership actions and it's invisible track record and an acknowledgement that Scottish football had done an all to successful job in strangling itself

Scottish strugglers turning to English clubs for investment looks desperate
As Hibs bank on a merger with Bournemouth, the prospect of teams being subservient to Premier League masters is grim
https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... -desperate
https://archive.ph/w9Eyx

[South West Claret.]

“Burnley’s owner, ALK Capital, has confirmed a “strategic partnership” with Dundee. “The Scottish Premiership is an excellent proving ground to progress young and emerging talent, as well as providing a potential gateway to European competition,” said the Burnley chairman, Alan Pace. Dundee last played in Europe in 2003. In 2022, Ayr United launched a claret and blue third strip to mark a strategic partnership with Burnley. Nobody seems to know what happened next. Rather than eyeing Europe, Burnley are bound for the Championship.”

[Chester Perry]

There is an interesting section in Martin Zeigler's column in the Times today - not least because it brings up an issue which Interpol regards as one of the 3 key methods of money laundering international football transfers (the others being gambling and the art market).

Of course there is a simple way to be more transparent on this issue - declare the fee and agent commissions publicly - though even that doesn't stop illegal activity as we have witnessed at Juventus, perhaps the club historically most open in declaring fees commission and salaries.

EU clampdown means football clubs face same regulations as casinos

Professional football clubs in the EU are to be subject to the same tough money-laundering laws as banks and casinos from 2029.

Under new legislation, it will be a criminal offence if clubs do not implement systems to detect suspicious transactions and report them to the police, or fail to have regular audits of those systems.

Because of concerns about clubs being used to launder money through transfer fees, Dutch banks refused to operate the accounts of a proposed Fifa clearing house in Amsterdam for international transfer fees. Fifa went to Paris and a French bank instead.

[Chester Perry]

Another section from a Column this time from Matt Slaters Football business column for The Athletic - it raises the interesting point of the increasingly cosy relationship between the EFL and Parliament as both find capital in having a go at the big bad wolf of the Premier League - we have to believe that won't last long as the likely limitations of the Independent regulator for Football become apparent to the EFL and fans/public.

In essence the EFL are both knowing and fawning of the politicians, serving up political scapegoats on a plate for them to all make short term political capital from (is there any other form these days). Parry is an old hand and has been playing his part well, Masters shouldn't be on this political stage, he was a a deputy of Scudamore who took his role by default after 3 separate candidates accepted and then rejected the role following Scudamore's resignation (it was the role nobody wanted when they understood what was behind the curtain). then there is the issue of the Premier League Chair refusing to attend DCMS hearings because she knows what will happen, Masters is in an invidious position at the behest of his paymasters.

‘New deal’ for football? Don’t hold your breath
With January being the tail end of the British pantomime season (“Oh no, it isn’t” etc), The Athletic was delighted to be invited to a show at the House of Lords in Westminster on Monday.

Jointly presented by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Football and the English Football League (EFL), the main attractions were secretary of state for culture, media and sport Lucy Frazer, EFL chairman Rick Parry, and daytime television star Dion Dublin.

The audience was packed with EFL club executives, football administrators and politicians, and they roared along to gags about independent regulation, owner-funding and parachute payments.

It was good knockabout stuff but it was missing something: a Captain Hook, an Evil Queen, a Richard Masters (the Premier League chief).

So, instead of the back and forth we have seen in other recent versions of “The New Deal for Football” panto, this one was a bit one-sided.

That said, there were some cracking lines.

For example, Parry pointed out that when he started his campaign for another look at how English football distributes its wealth in 2020, he thought an extra £285million a year would solve the EFL’s sustainability problem. The Premier League’s 20 clubs earned £4billion more than the EFL’s 72 and spent £1.6bn more on wages every year than any other league in Europe at that time.

Since then, the Premier League’s clubs have decided to increase their wage bills by a total of £500million, the funding gap to the EFL has grown to £5billion and they are collectively spending £2billion more on wages every season than their nearest European rival.

Parry also came up with a neat response to those who ask why the Premier League should share any of “its money” with the rest of the pyramid.

He noted that only six clubs have been ever-present in the Premier League since its creation in 1992. Of the remaining 14, the average length of stay in the Premier League is 13 years. The EFL has 30 teams that have spent some time in the Premier League. Can you guess what the average length of stay is for the top 14? Yep, 13 years.

For Parry, that means they have played as big a part in the Premier League’s 32-year success story as the majority of the clubs currently in the league. So whose money is it really?

In terms of the elusive “new deal”, nobody in the audience is expecting to see it until after the government brings forward its much-anticipated Football Governance Bill.

As Masters admitted to the Culture, Media and Sport select committee last week, he has effectively given up any hope of getting his clubs to agree on how to fund the extra £900million they have reluctantly agreed to share with the EFL over six years until after they have seen what is in the bill. The league is holding a two-day meeting in early February to discuss all this but no decisions are predicted. The clubs are simply too far apart.

That means EFL clubs are in “no deal” territory, so most of them will continue to receive the same amount of solidarity funding that has them utterly reliant on their benefactors to keep the lights on.

The mood on Monday could be described as stoic but that does not mean there is not real annoyance out there, particularly among those who believed the Premier League when it told them, in various meetings, more money was coming this season.

League One’s Lincoln City, to pick just one, are widely considered to be a well-run club. But they have had to use £500,000 that their owners had earmarked for next season simply to pay this season’s bills.

Masters’ week finished with a letter on Friday from the select committee asking him to clarify the remarks he made last week when he appeared to imply Everton and Nottingham Forest, the league’s FFP bad boys, are “small clubs”.

The committee also wrote to the minister for sport Stuart Andrew to ask him where the football governance bill is (“It’s behind you!”).

[Chester Perry]

Nurad Ahmed is an excellent journalist, it is a shame his career took him away from sport - through is contacts and reputation have allowed him a quite unique opportunity, it is a pity it hasn't gone as deep as it could, this is a lengthy article with a short interview hidden within. Not that it ever pretends to me more than a social piece with a previously discredited individual seeking to re-introduce himself to society in the way only those from generations of vastly inherited wealth and privilege appear able too.

from The Financial Times

Andrea Agnelli on Juventus and the Super League: ‘My conscience is super clear’
The industrial scion on family, football and why there is still life in a breakaway European tournament
https://archive.ph/SOpOz

[Chester Perry]

Interesting move from 777 Partners

777 Partners inject additional $50m into Everton, total funding north of $180m
https://archive.ph/u4ceQ

apparently 777 Partners are still putting in money at Everton according to Alan Myers of Sky Sports News

https://www.skysports.com/football/live ... eblog-body

777 Partners - Everton.jpg (63.38 KiB) Viewed 6271 times

[bfcjg]

If Everton get relegated or the deal isn't ratified Everton could be in real trouble. That said they must have been given an off the record green light that they will be accepted despite their less then impressive record at other clubs to put such money in.

[Chester Perry]

If Everton get relegated or the deal isn't ratified Everton could be in real trouble. That said they must have been given an off the record green light that they will be accepted despite their less then impressive record at other clubs to put such money in.

smells more like they are daring the Premier League to say no, which going off everything in the public arena you would think they should

[bfcjg]

https://www.everton.news/777-partners-m ... s-new-hit/
I just happened to stumble on this story.

[Chester Perry]

The unease at Ceferin's plans to redefine his own rule has been bubbling under for a few months now, with the vote just weeks away the dissent is now being heard clearly

from the Telegraph

Uefa turmoil deepens after director of football resigns over Aleksander Ceferin's bid to stay in power
Zvonimir Boban has resigned as Uefa’s chief of football as the row over term limits and Ceferin's position intensifies
https://archive.ph/72Uf4

from The Guardian

Zvonimir Boban quits as Uefa football chief in protest at ‘fatal’ Ceferin plans
Ceferin may change statutes on how long president can serve
Former Croatia international ‘not pretending to be a hero’
https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... ns-protest
https://archive.ph/Y6bLD

from The Independent

The ‘mutiny’ and key resignation behind Uefa’s pending civil war
Former Milan star Zvonimir Boban has resigned from his position as chief of football to, as Miguel Delaney argues, leave president Aleksander Ceferin exposed to a challenge of power, which could shift the trajectory of the sport’s future
https://archive.ph/ESa9z

from The Athletic

Zvonimir Boban resigns as UEFA chief in protest over Aleksander Ceferin’s plan to extend his presidency

from The Times

Uefa in crisis as Boban quits over Ceferin’s bid to extend term limits
European football’s president wants to extend term limits to allow him and other officials three more years in power — going back on rules he created
https://archive.ph/Ks8o0
https://archive.ph/uz2Qg

all of a sudden Aleksander Ceferin is making himself available for extensive interviews - why on warth could that be?

from The Guardian

‘It was like I became Kim Jong-un’: Aleksander Ceferin on Uefa, Super Leagues and Saudi cash
Exclusive: in a wide-ranging interview, the Uefa president talks existential threats, football in a time of war and Boban’s exit
by Nick Ames in Nyon, Switzerland
https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... e-football

[forzagranata]

all of a sudden Aleksander Ceferin is making himself available for extensive interviews - why on warth could that be?

from The Guardian

‘It was like I became Kim Jong-un’: Aleksander Ceferin on Uefa, Super Leagues and Saudi cash
Exclusive: in a wide-ranging interview, the Uefa president talks existential threats, football in a time of war and Boban’s exit
by Nick Ames in Nyon, Switzerland
https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... e-football

"I’m not worried about state-owned clubs as long as they respect the rules. I’m more worried about hedge fund-owned clubs. With hedge funds, you never know exactly who is behind them. It’s very hard to know because they are, many times, managing money for investors. Where I see a big difference, and maybe this is a bit simplistic, is that state-owned clubs want to win. Whether it’s also for name-washing or not, I don’t enter into this. But they want to win. With purely financial funds it’s important to get money and winning is not the main goal. For state-owned clubs, the goal is not to take money out, so I think those clubs should be more sustainable. With the others, it’s very hard to know who is behind it. It can also be a hedge fund where a state is behind it. But I prefer that it’s clear ownership. And the rules are clear: if they don’t respect them, they get punished."

[Chester Perry]

It appears that America has determined that it has over-reached itself in trying to clean up FIFA, and a lot of those who pleaded guilty are now trying to clear their names and get their money back

from the New York Times

FIFA Convictions Are Imperiled by Questions of U.S. Overreach
Two Supreme Court decisions and a lower court’s ruling have cast doubt on the legal basis for a host of prosecutions. Several defendants want their records cleared and their money back.
https://archive.ph/KRPCo

[Chester Perry]

I have been reading about this since late December and I still find it fascinating, Even our newly promoted club is going round telling reporters that it has to be careful with its budget, is the club anywhere close to financial peril or is it already thinking about next season and the potential of a new set of rules, which is actually what I think all the other clubs are looking at. That and waiting for one big deal to setoff a manic free for all, which may not happen.

Theoretically the club has around £115m - £125m, probably more when you look at what is not counted under PSR, in leeway this season in respect of cumulatlve losses, thanks to that large profit in our last Premier League season. That would require £69m of new share capital, It still leaves the club an allowance of £45m - £55m in losses over the 3 year period.

Unfortunately, a large repayment on the almost £115m the owners have borrowed would not count as income, however much it would help the cash balance. Though, if ALK/VSL were paying interest, that would count as income and balance off (in part at least) against the tens of £m's the club has paid out in interest on loans, repayments and penalty payments on monies it borrowed to give to ALK/VSL so that they could buy shares.

from The Times

January transfer window: Why clubs are too scared to spend this year
With only three days until the window closes, Premier League clubs have spent less than £50 million combined, compared with last year’s record £815 million, as financial rules bite hard
https://archive.ph/OqCSO

[Chester Perry]

At times I am quite shocked by the scale of the Everton love in and the level of emotional blackmail being employed - ahead of the appeal for their points deduction. Where was all this concern (and Premier League watchdogs) as that club took in all those £m's from USM including training ground sponsorships being substantially more than front of shirt sponsorships and that £30m for a first option on the naming rights of a Stadium still 18 months from being opened (over 3 years from the time of the deal). A sizeable number still have suspicions as to who the real owner of that club is, they think it is Farhad Moshiri's former employer and benefactor Alisher Usmanov, owner of USM and a major shareholder in Arsenal when the Everton takeover occurred, not to mention one of many sanctioned following Russia's illegal invasion of the Ukraine.

from The Times

Mark Carney: Draconian points deduction threatens Everton’s existence
Former governor of the Bank of England and other prominent supporters Sir Brendan Barber and Dame Sue Owen call on Premier League to overturn sanction for breaking profit and sustainability rules
https://archive.ph/Z8gss

It feels shocking that the Premier League have responded, but perhaps the surprise is just that it has been aired publicly, though given the public nature of the initial complaints perhaps it was inevitable.

from The Times

Premier League fires back at Mark Carney over Everton points penalty
League tells trio of prominent fans they were wrong to question integrity of process and rejects claim it should have deducted points from Super League plotters
https://archive.ph/7G5My

[Chester Perry]

given the information in this article, a £1.6bn return and counting, I calculate that the Glazer family have so far had a 5x - 6x return on their own cash investment in there shareholding and time at Manchester United, and they keep around half the club's shareholding. That still leaves them quite some way behind Mike Garlick's return (in multiples of investment), not even halfway yet, though the financial numbers are hugely different.

from The Times

Six Glazer siblings to make up to £150m each from Man United sale
New windfall from the Premier League club for the family, who have already shared about £700million since their takeover of the club in 2005
https://archive.ph/T3G9c

[Chester Perry]

An interesting round-up from Matt Slater in The Athletic which also covers the 'New Deal for Football' and multiple bidders for West Brom, which has been dragging on for a while now

Everton’s takeover reaches week 17, 777 loans up to £142m, and fresh questions – The Business of Football
https://archive.ph/RM3cw

Amongst the many issues that Matt Slatter listed re 777 Partners in the above article was a $28m lawsuit re outstanding lease fees at Canadian airline Flair - we now there has been another lawsuit against Flair, this time for other $60m in back taxes - a sane person might suggest that 777 Partners get their businesses in order before trying to take on board yet another one. At times it looks like they are playing a shell game

Flair Airlines agrees to pay $67-million in unpaid taxes after court order
https://archive.ph/NLKnl

[Chester Perry]

A new piece from Martin Cloake's blog 'The Football Fan'. I am not in agreement with everything he says within, but he is right that Richard Masters has an impossible job.

As for 'small clubs' when you look in the context of what he was saying and answering he probably meant to say small cases - though it is also true that in the Premier League who measure in terms of revenue and tv audience demand they are small clubs over the last decade or so, just not as small as ours.

Mission impossible
When did football become so difficult?
https://martincloake.substack.com/p/mission-impossible
https://archive.ph/ZKDdE

The answer to the subtitle is relatively easy, when northern, Lancastrian predominantly, clubs demanded to be able to field 'paid' players in the 1880's.

[Chester Perry]

The unease at Ceferin's plans to redefine his own rule has been bubbling under for a few months now, with the vote just weeks away the dissent is now being heard clearly

from the Telegraph

Uefa turmoil deepens after director of football resigns over Aleksander Ceferin's bid to stay in power
Zvonimir Boban has resigned as Uefa’s chief of football as the row over term limits and Ceferin's position intensifies
https://archive.ph/72Uf4

from The Guardian

Zvonimir Boban quits as Uefa football chief in protest at ‘fatal’ Ceferin plans
Ceferin may change statutes on how long president can serve
Former Croatia international ‘not pretending to be a hero’
https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... ns-protest
https://archive.ph/Y6bLD

from The Independent

The ‘mutiny’ and key resignation behind Uefa’s pending civil war
Former Milan star Zvonimir Boban has resigned from his position as chief of football to, as Miguel Delaney argues, leave president Aleksander Ceferin exposed to a challenge of power, which could shift the trajectory of the sport’s future
https://archive.ph/ESa9z

from The Athletic

Zvonimir Boban resigns as UEFA chief in protest over Aleksander Ceferin’s plan to extend his presidency

from The Times

Uefa in crisis as Boban quits over Ceferin’s bid to extend term limits
European football’s president wants to extend term limits to allow him and other officials three more years in power — going back on rules he created
https://archive.ph/Ks8o0
https://archive.ph/uz2Qg

Looks like Ceferin is going to get his way, the employment of a show of hands vote - a classic tactic in sports organisations that are run in quasi dictatorial fashion, should seal the deal

from The Independent

Uefa growing confident ahead of key vote on Aleksander Ceferin presidency
The proposed amendments have led to the resignation of Uefa’s chief of football as well as talk of a civil war

https://archive.ph/8Slya

[Chester Perry]

I cannot say that it is a surprise that all this is not going to plan

Barcelona’s search for another quick fix – and questions over their ‘$1bn’ media brand
https://archive.ph/WPzjv

this article looks at the financial issues which will complicate life for the manager coming in to replace Xavi this summer - the Barca Media 'SPAC' issue is front and centre, but far from being the only point of concern

from The Athletic

Barcelona’s money worries: What Xavi’s replacement as manager should know
https://archive.ph/AVjpr

[Chester Perry]

Martin Calladine (better known to this thread as @UglyGame) has compiled all his investigations into Crypto and its relationship with football into a newly released book - No Questions Asked: When football met Crypto. Here another favourite The Unofficial Partner Podcast talk to him about the book/

UP368 No Questions Asked: When football met crypto
https://www.unofficialpartner.com/podca ... met-crypto

the blurb

This is the story of when football met the crypto boom.

Spoiler: it took the money, no questions asked.

After that, everything that happened was inevitable.

Martin Calladine's new book looks at how some of the most famous clubs in the world indulged in misleading marketing, grotesque failures of due diligence, unethically monetising fan relations and failed to take responsibility for the damage their new crypto partners did.

As the energy around DeFi picks up again, we ask what the sports business can and should do to avoid a repeat.