Football's Magic Money Tree

[Chester Perry]

Final announcement at the FT Football Business summit today is the full value of the PL overseas rights announced by PL Interim Chief Exec Richard Masters - £4.2bn

https://twitter.com/JonathanPDyson/stat ... 5756821504" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

that gives us the long suspected total of around £9bn or £3bn a season

Edit: almost right - £9.2bn (suspect that includes radio and internet clips)

https://twitter.com/Lu_Class_/status/11 ... 5897080832" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Royboyclaret]

Final announcement at the FT Football Business summit today is the full value of the PL overseas rights announced by PL Interim Chief Exec Richard Masters - £4.2bn

https://twitter.com/JonathanPDyson/stat ... 5756821504" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

that gives us the long suspected total of around £9bn or £3bn a season

Edit: almost right - £9.2bn (suspect that includes radio and internet clips)

https://twitter.com/Lu_Class_/status/11 ... 5897080832" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So, if I'm reading this correctly, an annual increase in overseas rights from £815m to £1.4bn.

On the old system that would equate to £70m per club from £40m previously, but we now know an element of that will be merit related. Is that figure 35% merit related, Chester? ......with the rest split equally?

[Royboyclaret]

Struggling to find any confirmation of this 35%/65% split, merit payment/equal split.

Based on those figures, and assuming we finished in 15th again next season, there would still be a significant increase from the season just ended.

65% of £1.4bn split equally over 20 clubs........£45m.

35% of £1.4bn based on merit payments and using the same formula of £1.9m per place as per the current domestic rights.......£11m.

So a total of £56m for '19/'20, which represents an increase of some £15m on the '18/'19 figure.

[Chester Perry]

Roy everything over the £40m is merit related - that is the base level going forward - merit rewards are calculated on the same basis as the domestic merit rewards http://priceoffootball.com/new-tv-distr ... -a-winner/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So if £585m / 210 = £2.785m then

1st = £55.714m
2nd = £52.928m
3rd = £50.142m
4th = £47.357m
………….

17th = £11.142
18th = £8.357m
19th = £5.571m
20th = £2.785m

you get the picture - remembering that the domestic deal has dropped considerably so effectively the bottom 6 at least are expected to be worse off in comparison, as will those relegated and those receiving solidarity payments as these are calculated on the last place earnings

[Chester Perry]

Chelsea appear to have lost their battle with Antonio Conte (see post #616) over his dismissal and will have to pay him £9m outstanding in his contract

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

I expect him to take a role in Italy very soon, with this now settled

[Chester Perry]

@KieranMaguirre in his regular column for offthepitch.com tries to figure out just who is the most profitable PL club - these are usually behind a paywall so enjoy

https://offthepitch.com/a/which-most-pr ... t-sweating" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chester Perry]

@AndyhHolt with part3 of his "what is wrong with fit and proper"

https://twitter.com/AndyhHolt/status/11 ... 9333404672" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Royboyclaret]

@KieranMaguirre in his regular column for offthepitch.com tries to figure out just who is the most profitable PL club - these are usually behind a paywall so enjoy

https://offthepitch.com/a/which-most-pr ... t-sweating" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The graph of the most profitable PL clubs at the link makes for incredible reading for us on lots of levels, not least the direct comparison with Man United the club we are constantly told is arguably the biggest club side in the world.

So United had a pre-tax operating profit of £44m while Burnley's was £45m with our figure representing a far greater percentage of Income. The Glazers took out £22m in dividends and £24m in interest on loans compared to zero numbers at Burnley on both fronts.

Which club would you most prefer to be associated with?

[Chester Perry]

What happens when a country keen to raise it's profile and produce a different story about who and what it is, then gives it's authority to so few in a diverse range of roles - the Chief Exec of Bein Media is charged with corruption during the bidding process for the 2019 world athletics championships that are to be held in Qatar in September. His Chairman at Bein Media is also President of PSG, No 2 at the ECA and on the exec committee at UEFA among other things. Is this Sportswashing writ large.

https://apnews.com/c8b65f267a474850b148d29692a37c27" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chester Perry]

The club appears in strategic disarray even the share price has dropped $400m as analyst wake up to the fact that there is no Champs League next year (approx. £50m lost revenue even with a Europa League win) and a huge rebuild that may include paying off the likes of Sanchez (3 years left on his contract) and selling Pogba (their biggest asset in Eastern markets). Yet the matchday fans appear happy with Ole as they sell out their season tickets in record time

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

that share price thing

https://twitter.com/KieranMaguire/statu ... 0811255810" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chester Perry]

He wasn't always liked when in charge at the FA, but what Mark Palios is doing at Tranmere gives hope that people in charge at the various football authorities will understand the pain within the game

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/foo ... 23846.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chester Perry]

Scrutiny of the Adjudicatory panel presiding of the Man City case at UEFA has begun and immediately picked out one potential conflict of interest

http://www.espn.co.uk/football/manchest ... f-interest" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As we have learned. this is the way business is done in the East and they will not understand the cause for concern (see post #697) - it is a tangled web that has been allowed to grow unabated and probably too late to stop

[Chester Perry]

Following the previous post about the lieutenant the boss has now been charged with the same offences - this could get very complicated

https://apnews.com/09f2a1ddafa149b29cbb00fd6920e6a5" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chester Perry]

And following on in the corruption vein - The only African member of FIFA to publicly support Gianni Infantino when he came to power at FIFA has now been banned from the game for 10years by FIFA - now that is gratitude for you

https://apnews.com/02a7e56925f0429dbc4a51ab9c067c5e" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chester Perry]

An excellent article from Miguel Delaney in the Independent on the State of the EFL pyramid - It could have been written by @AndyhHolt and he is not mentioned once

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/foo ... 26126.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


a bit more data behind those EFL losses mentioned in the article on a club by club basis


https://twitter.com/KieranMaguire/statu ... 2788077568" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


and the view from The Times -behind a paywall so transcribed


Football League clubs lost £388m last season as cash crisis is revealed - Martyn Ziegler, Chief Sports Reporter

The growing gap between the Premier League and lower-league clubs has been starkly illustrated by figures that show nearly three quarters of English Football League sides are losing money.

Premier League teams had record revenues of £8.4 bill!

on and 12 of the 20 top-flight clubs made a net profit in 2017-18. By contrast, 52 of the 72 clubs in the Sky Bet Championship, League One and League Two ended the season in the red.

Taking into account all profits and losses, the 20 Premier League clubs made a surplus of £304 million while the 72 EFL teams had a collective net deficit of £388 million.

The financial struggles of lower-league clubs have been brought sharply into focus in the past season. This month Bolton Wanderers became the first English league club since 2013 to go into administration and the situation has resulted in unpaid staff being provided with a food bank. Bury are also in a financial crisis, with players saying they have not been paid for 12 weeks, and the club facing a winding-up petition next month over unpaid taxes.

The biggest losses have occurred in the Championship, with several teams enduring tens of millions of pounds in losses as they chased a place in the lucrative top flight, where income of at least £100 million a season is guaranteed. The four biggest loss- making teams in England were all in the Championship — Birmingham City and Queens Park Rangers, along with Fulham and Wolverhampton Wanderers, who were both promoted to the Premier League.

Derby County have balanced the books by selling their stadium to Mel Morris, the club’s owner, for £80 million, creating an on-paper profit.

Kieran Maguire, a lecturer in football finance at the University of Liverpool, said: “The gap is now so big between the Premier League and the rest that the Championship clubs are prepared to gamble on getting to the Promised Land.

“If you look at it as a three out of 24 chance of winning the lottery then many people might think it’s good odds and so raise the stakes. Club owners who might be sensible in other areas seem to lose their business sanity when it comes to football.”

Maguire said that the financial gap between the Championship and Leagues One and Two was also growing.

An insolvency expert said that most clubs outside the Premier League are technically insolvent and believes that more will go into administration before the end of next season.

“The expenses in terms of player wages are too high and there is not enough income coming in,” the expert said. “It’s unsustainable.”

The situation at Bolton has led to calls for the EFL to toughen its owners’ and directors’ test. Ken Anderson, who bought the club three years ago and paid himself £525,000 in consultancy fees in the first year, had previously been banned as a company director.

He attempted to sell the club to the former Watford owner, Laurence Bassini, who had a three-year ban from any football involvement imposed in March 2013, but was still given the go-ahead by the EFL. The takeover collapsed for other reasons.

Anderson will not end up out of pocket from his time in charge. He is one of several secured creditors who will be paid in full any money owing.

Paul Appleton, the joint administrator of David Rubin and Partners, said that he was hopeful of finding a buyer by the end of June. Interested parties have until 4pm on June 7 to make a declaration of interest and pay a non-refundable £25,000 fee, which will give them access to all the financial information about the club. Four or five potential buyers are expected to pay the fee but they must also provide proof of funds of at least £25 million and have confirmation from the EFL that those involved have passed the owners’ and directors’ test.

Bolton’s players have not been paid since March but have agreed their wages will be deferred until a new owner takes over. “We have had talks with the players via the manager Phil Parkinson,” Appleton said. “They understand the situation and the difficulties we are facing.”

The 92 League clubs ranked in order of profitability

Accounts for last season reveal a gulf in wealth in the English game, with 52 of the 72 EFL clubs losing money.

2017-18 Net profit and loss
1 Tottenham £113m
2 Liverpool £106m
3 Chelsea £62m
4 Arsenal £57m
5 Burnley £37m
6 Southampton £29m
7 Newcastle £19m
8 Hull £19m
9 West Ham £17m
10 Norwich £15m
11 Barnsley £13m
12 Huddersfield £11m
13 Brighton £11m
14 Manchester City £10m
15 Exeter £2.4m
16 Leicester £1m
17 Preston £1m
18 Port Vale £1m
19 Stevenage £0.8m
20 Luton £0.6m
21 Peterborough £0.5m
22 Forest Green £0.4
23 Accrington £0.4m
24 Fleetwood £0.4m
25 Burton £0.3m
26 Shrewsbury £0.3m
27 Gillingham £0.1m
28 Plymouth £0.1m
29 Newport £0.1m
30 Yeovil £0.1m
31 Walsall no profit/loss
32 Barnet no profit/loss
33 Grimsby -£0.04m
34 Cheltenham -£0.1m
35 Carlisle -£0.1m
36 Mansfield -£0.1m
37 Bradford -£0.3m
38 Rochdale -£0.3m
39 Crawley -£0.3m
40 Morecambe -£0.4m
41 Oldham -£0.5m
42 Rotherham -£0.5m
43 Wimbledon -£0.5m
44 Wycombe -£0.7m
45 Crewe -£0.8m
46 Cambridge -£0.8m
47 Chesterfield -£1.1m
48 Lincoln -£1.1m
49 Derby -£1.1m
50 Portsmouth -£1.4m
51 Notts County -£1.5m
52 Swindon -£1.8m
53 Sheffield Utd -£1.9m
54 Northampton -£2m
55 Oxford -£2m
56 Blackpool -£2.1m
57 Coventry -£2.5m
58 Doncaster -£2.8m
59 Bury -£2.8m
60 Swansea -£3m
61 Southend -£3.1m
62 Colchester -£3m
63 Bristol Rovers -£3m
64 Scunthorpe -£3.6m
65 Brentford -£3.9m
66 Leeds -£4.3m
67 MK Dons -£4.6m
68 Millwall -£4.6m
69 Ipswich -£5.2m
70 Bolton -£5.4m
71 Nottingham Forest -£5.6m
72 West Brom -£6m
73 Middlesbrough -£6.6m
74 Wigan -£7.7m
75 Sunderland -£10.2m
76 Charlton -£10.4m
77 Bournemouth -£11m
78 Everton -£13m
79 Blackburn -£16.8m
80 Reading -£21m
81 Sheffield Wed -£21m
82 Bristol City -£25m
83 Watford -£31m
84 Stoke -£32m
85 Aston Villa -£35m
86 Cardiff -£36m
87 Crystal Palace -£36m
88 Manchester Utd -£37m
89 Birmingham -£37m
90 QPR -£38m
91 Fulham -£45m
92 Wolves -£57m

[Chester Perry]

Meanwhile the Premier League's revenues climb and climb

https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... Bundesliga" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

@SwissRamble gives his breakdown - This season's TV payments https://twitter.com/SwissRamble/status/ ... 0102292481" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

to understand how far the PL has come here were the payments after the first PL season in 1992/93

https://twitter.com/sportingintel/statu ... 3492474880" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


the compare that to The Scottish Payouts for the Season just finished


https://twitter.com/RockSportDAB/status ... 6116139008" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chester Perry]

In the next step in outlining his issues with the game @AndyhHolt takes aim at the Big Six, how the will manipulate OTT (Over the Top = streaming) media to the exclusion of everyone else, and how the authorities both Football and Government will allow them to as they are mistaken in their one size fits all approach

https://twitter.com/AndyhHolt/status/11 ... 6403293184" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chester Perry]

In a timely announcement (see posts #1179, #1180 and #1181) FIFA is returning "corruption" to it's code of ethics following it's controversial removal only last year.

https://apnews.com/9280058c39d74bcabc4faaf9bf46a79d" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chester Perry]

The FT Football Business Summit this week certainly managed to capture a few headlines and yet one of my links in post #1158 made mention of Claire Enders prediction that following the dip in domestic rights this cycle the next will make another 20% fall and the Champions League one may drop as much as 40% didn't seem to capture them in the same fashion. Her advice, get your wages in order

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

[Chester Perry]

Yet get promoted with a late charge, some exhilarating football and a narrow 1 -0 victory in the play-off final. Then you spend well in excess of £100m on new talent and don't play the players that got you there, it doesn't work out, you sack not one but two managers and still do not seem to have a footballing strategy or even someone with the slightest understanding of the game in charge of all Football matters, inevitably you are relegated and appoint your 3rd manager of the season (at least he seems to care). Do you lick your wounds and seek to control you finances, no you kick on with that new stand you have been planning (with the seemingly insane confidence that you will be promoted soon)


http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2019/may/2 ... evelopment" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chester Perry]

I have posted a number of times about Real Madrid's finances (a particular hobby horse of the Telegraph - for good reason) - we have heard about their planned renovation of the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, but questioned just how they ere going to finance it - well now we know - they have sold the next 4 seasons TV rights to raise euro 200m for the upfront costs

http://www.sportspromedia.com/news/real ... 4g.twitter" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

so the question now is - what are they going to use to buy all those new players they want and what about their wages that only get paid every 6 months - just after the TV monies have been paid

[Chester Perry]

In the spirit of post #1182 BT have commissioned a documentary looking at the state of the game - it will air next week - should be fascinating stuff and features contributions from a numbrr of those I regularly refer to on this thread - It is called State of Play

here is a taste - https://www.youtube.com/embed/DCAUdooR3KU" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It airs after the Europa League final next Wednesday - I just hope it is broadcast via youtube like the match itself

another clip from the programme https://twitter.com/btsportfootball/sta ... 1962149889" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chester Perry]

Offthepitch.com looks at the wider implications of the French case against PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi in relation to the 2019 World Athletics Championship (see posts #1179 and #1180) - Transcribe as their articles tend to fall behind paywalls

PSG owner’s corruption charge raises bigger questions for European football

French prosecutors charge Qataris sportsbroker with corruption. Nasser Al-Khelaifi says that the payments were a non-refundable deposit for the event’s commercial rights.

Nasser Al-Khelaifi under investigation by Swiss and French authorities.

Possible implications for broadcast deals and sports politics.

by James Corbett

French prosecutors have announced that Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi is under investigation for corruption in a move that potentially holds wider implications for European football.

The charges, which Al-Khelaifi denies, relate to Qatar’s bids to host the 2017 and 2019 track world championships.

As well as holding the PSG presidency, Al-Khelaifi sits on the boards of both UEFA and the European Club Association (ECA) as well as serving as the chairman of one of football’s largest TV rightsholders, BeIN, and Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), which is linked to the Qatari government.

The charges raise yet more questions for UEFA and the ECA, who are currently allied in a battle to control the future of European club competitions. Since October 2018 Al-Khelaifi is under separate criminal investigation in Switzerland, where both bodies are domiciled.

Suspect payments
In the French investigation, the CEO of beIN, Yousef Al-Obaidly, was also handed preliminary charges of corruption, while former IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) president Lamine Diack is also being probed for “passive corruption” in the same case.

The case facing PSG president Al-Khelaifi is based on documents showing that Pamodzi, a company owned by one of Diack’s (The former IAAF president) sons, received two payments totalling $3.5million from Oryx, a Qatar Sports Investments owned company, days before the vote to host the 2017 IAAF World Championships. Oryx, was set up to handle the sponsorship and rights for Qatar’s bid.

Avoid a doping ban
Qatar eventually lost to London but was later awarded the 2019 World Championships. Diack’s son, Papa Massata Diack, a former IAAF marketing consultant, has since been banned for allegations of extorting money from a Russian marathon runner to avoid a doping ban before the 2012 Olympics and is subject of an Interpol wanted notice.

Al-Khelaifi’s lawyers have said the payments made by Oryx were transparent and were simply a non-refundable deposit for the event’s commercial rights if Qatar’s bid was successful.

In that event a further $29million would have been payable. They further claim that Pamodzi has paid $3.2million of the Oryx payment back to master rights holders, Dentsu and the IAAF.

Tainted business
The new charges again call into question Al-Khelaifi’s judgement.

Last October Swiss prosecutors named him a criminal suspect in a case in which he is accused of bribing the former FIFA secretary general Jérôme Valcke to secure World Cup 2026 and 2030 TV rights for BeIN. Al-Khelaifi has denied thosee accusations and voluntarily met with the Swiss authorities.

The Qatari had previously been in negotiations to buy the South American rights company, Full Play, until its founders were found to be among those charged for paying millions of dollars in bribes for rights to TV contracts in the US Department of Justice’s FIFA corruption investigation.

Owed him millions for his vote
During testimony in the subsequent trials in Brooklyn, the Qatar 2022 World Cup was referenced on several occasions by witnesses and defendants.
One witness testified that Julio Grondona, the late head of the Argentinean FA a senior vice president of FIFA, had complained that the Qataris owed him millions for his vote.

Qatar 2022 has repeatedly denied wrongdoing in its successful bid to host the World Cup.

High influence
What happens next in the French case may hold wider implications for a game in which Al-Khelaifi has become one of its key power brokers.
In February he was appointed as one of the ECA’s two representatives to the UEFA Executive Committee, where his influence has been felt as the two bodies collaborate to reshape the future of European club competition. His possible withdrawal – whether involuntary or not – may impact this debate.

Questions have also been raised – most recently by this publication – about QSI’s willingness to keep pumping money into PSG. Could this development shift the debate further towards a strategic withdrawal?

Moreover, sensitivity about Qatar’s image at a time when it is embroiled in a significant regional conflict with its neighbours, may force a rethink about its overall role in football if wrongdoing is proven.

Given its expansion into the game in the past decade, this could encompass any part of Al-Khelaifi’s portfolio: club ownership, broadcast rights holder, or political power-broker.

[Chester Perry]

Wow - Is Steve Gibson confident or just very angry - From the Telegraph

Exclusive: Middlesbrough to sue Derby over alleged breaches of financial rules - John Percy 24 May 2019 • 7:36pm

Middlesbrough have stunned Derby by announcing their intention to sue the Championship club, days before the play-off final at Wembley.
Steve Gibson, the Middlesbrough owner, has taken drastic action in his dispute with Mel Morris by vowing to take legal action over what he insists are clear breaches of financial rules.

Gibson is alleging that Morris has broken the English Football League’s profitability and sustainability rules and Middlesbrough officials contacted Derby on Friday to inform them of their stance.

Boro are understood to be furious that Derby reported a £14.6m profit in their 2017/18 accounts, after Morris sold the club’s Pride Park stadium and then leased it back. Gibson believes that Morris has flouted the rules.

Derby are adamant they have been fully compliant, and the timing of Middlesbrough’s shock move has surprised the club ahead of their play-off final against Aston Villa on Monday.

Morris also twice invited Middlesbrough officials to look at Derby’s accounts in a meeting of all EFL clubs at Nottingham Forest’s City Ground in March.

He said: "Middlesbrough were offered by us in writing to come with their advisors to go through our submissions for profitability and sustainability, [but] they declined."

Gibson’s attempt to force an independent inquiry of club finances was also rejected by all of the Championship clubs in another meeting last month.

Villa and Sheffield Wednesday have also been in Gibson’s sights but his row with Derby is now threatening to turn ugly.
Derby were unavailable for comment.

[Chester Perry]

In post #951 I suggested Sunderland was for Sale again - In post #1035 it was suggested that they may have had a buyer. Sunderland's owners have only been in charge for a year and they seemed to have seduced the fan's with a long term strategy - the first step of which may come on Sunday against Charlton. But are things what they seem?

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

Once again Stewart Donald denies everything

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

Sad to say we may only find out the truth if things go belly up at Wembley

[Chester Perry]

That thread from The FT Football Business Summit in post #1158 I then referred to in post #1186 also contained a discussion about the viewing football engagement and viewing habits of young teens (bitesize follow stars etc - I posted a few things before and they are behaving very similarly to the Eastern audiences). This bitesize engagement is provided by platforms like TikTok and it has been signing up clubs around Europe to host their own channels - now Liverpool have become the first in the Premier League to sign such a deal

http://www.sportspromedia.com/news/live ... ons-league" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chester Perry]

In post #1085 Burnley had dropped 5 places in Brand Finance 50 - Now The POWA Index for England's top clubs has been published showing the best performance for sponsorship in English Football - we are 19th behind the likes of Villa, Leeds, Stoke and West Brom - no points for guessing who is still the clear front runner though

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

this is important because it is fed by and driven by our ability to derive commercial income and make a return on that sponsorship for the sponsor - more information on POWA Index here https://powaindex.com/#!/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; but not the report sadly

[Chester Perry]

Following a fair bit of discussion on this thread about our own valuation (and Liverpool University saying we were the 7th most valuable club in the PL) I await with interest to see if/where we sit in KPMG's annual list of the 32 most valuable clubs in world football (I will say I don't think we will be in) - just as interesting (if not more so ) will be the formula they employ to arrive at these valuations - the report is expected next week

https://twitter.com/Football_BM/status/ ... 0351633414" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Royboyclaret]

Following a fair bit of discussion on this thread about our own valuation (and Liverpool University saying we were the 7th most valuable club in the PL) I await with interest to see if/where we sit in KPMG's annual list of the 32 most valuable clubs in world football (I will say I don't think we will be in) - just as interesting (if not more so ) will be the formula they employ to arrive at these valuations - the report is expected next week

https://twitter.com/Football_BM/status/ ... 0351633414" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Highly unlikely that Burnley would feature prominently on any list provided by KPMG. It's fair to say that when we parted company with KPMG as auditors of our annual accounts we certainly did not part on the best possible terms.

[Chester Perry]

There have been a lot of changes at Southampton in the last 12 months - Offthepitch.com looks at 3 and believes it knows exactly why they have occurred - transcribed as likely to fall behind a paywall

Lack of transfer assets prompt Southampton changes

Three Southampton executives departed as the price for a lack of bankable stars.

The Saints financial model is built on finding, developing and selling top talent.
by Alex Miller

A lack of bankable playing talent at Southampton was a major cause for three high profile departures from the club.

Sources close to the club have revealed that concerns over a lack of sellable assets, plus criticisms over a lack of young players coming through into the first team, led club shareholders Gao Jisheng and Katharina Liebherr, to take drastic action.

“The perceived lack of obvious top talent and emerging stars has caused the club to make dramatic changes to the structure of the club, as well as changes in personnel”, said a source.

Southampton recently issued a statement saying it was time to take “constructive action" and confirmed a review into the club's football operation.

No extension
Chairman Ralph Krueger’s six-year stay at the club officially ends on June 30th. His contract has not been extended.

His departure follows that of vice-chairman Les Reed, who became the Football Association's new technical director in December. Reed leaving was the removal of the final link to former owner Markus Leibherr.

Reed joined Southampton in April 2010 with the club in League One. He oversaw a period in which the club won promotion to the Championship, then the Premier League and they reached the EFL Cup final in 2017.

Martin Hunter followed Reed in leaving Saints. Hunter joined Southampton two months after Reed in July 2010 as the under-21 head coach and has since held a variety of roles in his eight-year tenure.

Hunter was the Technical Director of Saints and oversaw the development of the under-23 side, managed by Radhi Jaidi.

Nurture players
The club’s model over the last decade has been built on employing coaches to nurture players and selling them for big fees. Over £300 million has been recouped in that time.

In recent years the club nurtured and sold playing talent including Virgil van Dijk, Sadio Mane, Adam Lallana, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Theo Walcott, Gareth Bale, Dejan Lovren, Luke Shaw, Nathaniel Clyne, Victor Wanyama, Toby Alderwireld, Morgan Schneiderlin and Calum Chambers.
Now the owners are keen to avoid having a single figurehead in charge of football, and so are looking at a total of three appointments to head various departments.

First piece in the jigsaw
Ross Wilson, the club’s director of football operations, is overseeing the club’s transfer business, alongside Martyn Glover.

Wilson’s role is to manage the scouting and recruitment of players. He was instrumental in the signing of van Dijk from Celtic for £13 million in 2015.
Glover recently joined as the club’s Head of Scouting and Recruitment. He had been chief scout at Everton since 2016. His appointment is seen as the first piece in the jigsaw of Saints’ restructuring of the football side of the club.

A third member of the new structure is still to be confirmed. A new Head of Football Operations has been touted, with several names tipped to arrive at St Mary’s.

Bankable talent
The return of Paul Mitchell, now at RB Leipzig, has been mooted, while Stuart Webber currently Technical Director at Norwich City, has also been linked.

Ex-Brentford chief executive Mark Devlin was linked to the club before his appointment as Dundalk CEO.

For whoever else arrives at St Mary’s, the brief is clear - bring in and nurture a stream of young bankable talent.

[Chester Perry]

@KieranMaguire looks at the crux of Steve Gibson's case against Derby (why not Sheff Wed and Villa as well?)

https://twitter.com/KieranMaguire/statu ... 3175350272" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It don't give him much hope I feel

[Chester Perry]

The Times takes a look at the growing push for a European Super league and despite the PL clubs officially speaking out against it one of them in particular is very gung ho in the push towards it becoming a reality - transcribed as a result of paywall (that's my free articles for another week)


The European Super League is an existential threat to domestic football - Matt Dickinson, Chief Sports Writer

The vision of Ferran Soriano, the chief executive of Manchester City, is modern football hurtling inexorably towards an elite of super clubs. And if you think we are already there, you lack his boundless ambition.

For all the magnitude of Manchester United, Barcelona, Real Madrid and, increasingly, City, Soriano thinks these giants still have a long way to go on the journey from a local sporting circus to “global entertainment companies like Walt Disney”.

As he once explained to The Guardian, how can the biggest clubs have turnover of just €500 million when the grandest claim to have about 500 million fans worldwide? Monetising one Euro from each of them annually is terrible failure to a smart businessman like him in a world where City can have franchises in the United States and Australia, and partner clubs in Japan, Uruguay, Spain, and China while also looking at India and other opportunities.

The global ambition is vast. And that worries other clubs around the Premier League table far more than whether Pep Guardiola’s team are winning the treble, crushing domestic opposition like Watford 6-0 in the FA Cup final, or even if they are breaching financial fair play rules (a charge City deny) to hoover up the best players.

follow Soriano’s thinking through for this elite and inevitably you end up with a Super League and that is no longer some mythical creature — a Loch Ness monster, all rumour — but something that is, scandalously, being given credibility even at Uefa.

This is the real existential threat to domestic football and one that cannot be ignored. It could arrive, with destructive consequences for the game as we love it, via the side door, given proposals for a Champions League overhauled to enrich and protect the elite.

In short, the plan would have only four out of 32 Champions League places dependent on finishing position in a domestic league, and an expansion from six to 14 group matches. It would be a revolution, ending the primacy of the major European leagues. If the top 24 teams in the Champions League each season keep their place, why should United, City or Liverpool sweat for the top four in the Premier League?

Uefa protests that it is only a consultation. Given that organisation’s responsibilities, it should have been dismissed at one glance but the biggest clubs have so much wealth, and therefore power, that the governing body finds itself being bullied from within.

The idea can, and must, be resisted but Javier Tebas, the president of La Liga, spoke in London this week of the real dangers of complacency “if we stay at home sipping tea”.

At the Premier League, a statement was released from the 20 clubs which said that the domestic division had to be protected. But, understandably, Tebas rolled his eyes at that and said that the top English clubs should be pushed to be honest about where they stand. There are good reasons to think that public words and private actions can be contradictory.

Thankfully, we have had Football Leaks to unearth just what plotting has been going on behind the scenes. In recent months, Der Spiegel in Germany disclosed meetings, starting in 2016, which involved a secret coalition led by four clubs — Barcelona, Real Madrid, Juventus, Bayern Munich — who were joined for part of the journey by United, Arsenal and AC Milan.

According to hacked emails, there were discussions about how a Super League may work, including the 17 teams with the strongest television presence from England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France permanently, plus one from a knockout of Portugal, Russia, Holland or Turkey.

Bayern were said to have even explored how to break from the Bundesliga, checking the legality of player contracts. Given the documents said that football already earned over $16.7 billion from global TV rights, more than twice American football, there was plenty to back up Soriano’s notion that these big clubs could become so much wealthier. They just have to work out how, among themselves.

After the leaks, there were lots of frantic rebuttals, saying it was just informal chats, but in Spain, they do not have to pretend. As long as a decade ago, Florentino Pérez, the president of Real Madrid, spoke openly of “a new European Super League which guarantees that the best always play the best”.

When Barcelona came to Old Trafford recently, their directors made it plain that they felt 11 years since their previous visit to Manchester had been way too long and there was a need to find ways to play more regularly.

In England, this is not a discussion for public. It is bad for business to be seen to be undermining the collective, which is why all 20 put their name to that statement. But it leaves the majority of Premier League clubs looking at their leading rivals with suspicion, and City in particular.

They find Soriano a difficult customer in any case. Aloof would be the kindest way of putting it. One executive from a mid-ranked Premier League club said that the Spaniard, fiddling on his phone during club meetings, never gave the impression that he looks below the top four in the table. Another said that, of the big clubs, City under Soriano were felt to be the most nakedly aggressive about pushing the claims of the elite.

Given what he was hired to do, with a declared ambition to make City the richest club in the world, Soriano could argue that he would only be doing his job if he was pursuing all possibilities. It is his task to ensure City do not lose out. United can rely on their long-established clout, as a club and brand, to be on the list whenever the invites are sent out to plot how to shaft the rest of the football pyramid. City had no such certainty until the past few years of their massively ambitious strategy.

For some of the top clubs, even if they harbour their own doubts about protected places in the Champions League, this may be less about greed than the fear of missing out.

But there is no defence for plans which are even more of an affront in a year when Tottenham Hotspur are finalists. Spurs would almost certainly have to win the Premier League to qualify for the Champions League if this went ahead in 2024.

As Steve Parish, the Crystal Palace chairman, wrote in an excellent column for The Sunday Times, there would be “no more rising up. No more Tottenhams”. No wonder he called it “the greatest threat for decades”.

This is not scaremongering when Aleksander Ceferin, the Uefa president, seems to regard these plans, championed by Andrea Agnelli, the Juventus chairman and head of the European Club Association, as a compromise to stop a full-blown breakaway. That the idea is not being instantly dismissed tells you everything.

Twenty years after a Super League was first mooted, this would lurch dangerously close. It is instructive to recall that, at that time, Leeds United were on the ascendancy. City were tumbling into the third tier of English football.

In the age of the super club, and Soriano’s vision of global entertainment corporations, perhaps those cyclical transformations simply will not happen any more. But football undermines the possibility at its peril.

[Chester Perry]

@Matt_Lawton in the Mail looks at the financial tightrope act at Derby and Villa, together with why the Owners of Boro and Leeds are left feeling like they are playing under a different set of rules

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

[Chester Perry]

Stadium sponsors are not that prevalent at the top of British game (where TV money is so abundant and fans demand traditional names be upheld) and usually only feature when a new ground has been built (it is a different story in the lower reaches of the EFL where the income is crucial and used to get around SCMP by ambitious owners). The biggest of clubs famously came out and said it would not do it even though it commercialises everything else. But what could it be worth to Premier League clubs.

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

[Chester Perry]

This graphic encapsulates everything that the European clubs fear about the Premier League and much that the top six would like to do to the 14

https://twitter.com/SBI_Barcelona/statu ... 0661779456" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chester Perry]

First raised the prospect of PSG's owners buying an English club in post #826 - if this comes to fruition the self styled biggest club in the world will be even more insufferable (if that is possible)

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

EDIT - love this from Nick Harris @SportingIntel

Leeds have had their share of dodgy / corrupt / clueless / potless / reckless owners in the past 2 decades (current owner is none of those). Yet already seeing concerns among *some* fans not wanting Qatar takeover, presumably on ethics grounds. Interesting.

EDIT 2 - Simon Chadwick adds his informed two-penneth

https://twitter.com/Prof_Chadwick/statu ... 4610036736" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chester Perry]

In post #1068 Nick Harris (@SportingIntel) suggested that even though the Championship play-offs are billed as a £170m game, they are likely to be worth even more - today he provides an suitable example of his claim.

https://twitter.com/sportingintel/statu ... 9435219969" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chester Perry]

What I have not seen mentioned yet with this whole Qatar/Leeds thing is that QSI own Bien media while Andrea Radeizzani owns Elevensports - between them they own a lot of European football rights - this could be more of a diplomatic deal to keep prices down - achieving a similar effect to the peace breakout between Sky and BT

[Chester Perry]

Vysyble have made a blog post ahead of the release of their "We are so rich it's unbelievable" report (that title - for the unaware - is an ironic comment on the popular notion of wealth in football in comparison to their beliefs in the far from universally popular Economic Profit theory)

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

Here is the vysyble's view of the match up for tomorrow's Championship play-off final

https://twitter.com/vysyble/status/1131953991510839296" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chester Perry]

Shaun Harvey says that EFL clubs would be lost without their owners - but seemingly doing little at the moment to put regulations in place - just a small whine about the financial discrepancy in the PL

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/48412747" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chester Perry]

Khaldoon Al-Mubarak the Manchester City chairman maintains the punchy stance they have taken of late when defending their actions against the charges against them - in the Telegraph and likely to fall behind a paywall so transcribed

Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al-Mubarak says criticism from La Liga chief over club's spending is 'hypocritical' - Sam Dean - 26 May 2019 • 10:00pm

Khaldoon Al-Mubarak, the Manchester City chairman, has launched a furious defence of the club’s spending and derided the head of Spain’s top tier for his criticism of their business model.

Javier Tebas, the president of La Liga, said last week that City are damaging European football by driving up player prices with their “state-sponsored” cash reserves.

Tebas said that City, who he described along with Paris St-Germain as being run off “one off petrol-money, one off gas”, are inflating the market with their transfer spending.

But Al-Mubarak said it is “hypocritical” for the Spanish league to criticise the spending of English clubs and described it as a “clear attack” on the Premier League.

“He talks about how we distorted the market? There is a hypocrisy in this statement that is ironic,” Al-Mubarak told City TV in his end-of-season interview. “Number one, let’s look at the Spanish league, the time of breaking records on player acquisitions. I mean, who started that?

“Let’s go back to the world records, Figo, Zidane. These huge jumps in these transfers, where did they happen? You have to look back at the history of La Liga, a league dominated by two clubs, and Mr Tebas should look back at the history of that league and distortion that has happened throughout the ages.

“And then you look back at transfers. In the top 10 transfers of all time, Manchester City has not a single player in that, not a single one.”

City are facing the looming threat of a ban from the Champions League after an investigation into an alleged £60 million deception. Yves Leterme, the chairman of chief investigator of Uefa’s Club Financial Control Body, said earlier this year that City faced “the heaviest punishment” if the allegations against them were proven.

The body’s adjudicatory chamber is considering its sentence for the club, who have insisted they are confident any sanctions will be overturned.

Al-Mubarak said he believes “quite comfortably” that City will prevail, provided the process is “judged on facts”. He said: “Am I uncomfortable? No. I respect regulatory bodies doing their job and any regulatory process that asks questions. We have to professionally respond which is what we have done.

“We are dealing with each of these entities as per the process, we have clear answers. I believe, quite comfortably, if the process is going to be judged on facts then unquestionably we will prevail. If it’s not about facts and it’s about other things, then it is a different conversation.”

On Tebas’ comments linking the wealth of City and PSG, Al-Mubarak added: “I think there’s something deeply wrong in bringing ethnicity into the conversation. This is just ugly. I think the way he is combining teams because of ethnicity. I find that very disturbing to be honest.”

The City chairman said there is a “certain level of jealousy” towards their success and insisted that attacks on the club should also be seen as attacks on the Premier League.

He added that those from other leagues are “bothered” by the dominance of English football in this season’s European competitions, with all four finalists in the Champions League and Europa League coming from England.

“Let’s not forget this is the best league in the world and if you look at this season, there is no better testament to this statement where the two European competitions, the Champions League and Europa League, the finals are being competed by English clubs.

“You have four Premier League teams in the two European finals and that’s a fact and that bothers a lot of people in many places. “We have the best league in the world, we have the most commercial league in the world, the most successful clubs in the world, economically, commercially in terms of global presence, and that is why this attack is not just on Manchester City, it is against this league. And I hope people start seeing that and start — I know people don’t want to defend Manchester City — but for God’s sake start defending this league.

“I will not accept for this club to be used as a diversionary tactic on poor investment decisions from other clubs. People make decisions, they’ve got to live by them. We’ve managed ourselves well and we will be judged by facts and facts alone.”

EDIT You can watch an Interview with him here (Warning 22mins long) - https://www.mancity.com/citytv/intervie ... w-part-one" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chester Perry]

Claims that Newcastle have been sold to the man who failed to buy Liverpoo - Sheikh Khaled bin Zayed Al Nehayan, the cousin of Manchester City's mega-rich owner.

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/f ... -16335734l" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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

[Chester Perry]

Following Steve Gibson's decision to litigate against Derby see post #1191 @ Kieron Maguire pokes at Boro's sorry financial record

https://twitter.com/KieranMaguire/statu ... 8689982464" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chester Perry]

following post #1204 more on the financial implications of today's Championship play off final - this time from:

@SwissRamble

https://twitter.com/SwissRamble/status/ ... 2424324096" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Daily Mail points out that a Villa win means former owner Randy Lerner gets some of his money back - £30m is a big hole to start a season with

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

[Chester Perry]

The Telegraph broke the story of Steve Gibson taking Derby to court see post #1191 and they have also given space to Mel Morris to respond - transcribed as likely to fall behind a paywall - this is likely to run for a while yet and deemingly in the public arena - Mel has got you there Steve

Mel Morris accuses Middlesbrough owner Steve Gibson of 'hypocrisy' - John Percy - 26 May 2019 • 10:00pm

Mel Morris has accused Middlesbrough owner Steve Gibson of “hypocrisy” after Derby’s Championship rivals announced their plans to sue them over alleged financial breaches.

As revealed by The Daily Telegraph on Saturday, Gibson has vowed to take legal action against Derby as he claims they have broken the Football League’s profitability and sustainability rules.

Gibson has been at war with Derby for months and is furious that Morris was allowed to secure a £14.6m profit in the club’s accounts after selling the Pride Park stadium and then leasing it back. He believes Morris has bypassed the rules by unfair means.

Derby were notified on Friday that Boro plan to sue them, days before their Championship play-off final against Aston Villa.

But Morris has hit back and insisted Derby are fully compliant, branding Gibson’s accusations as “bitching”.

Speaking for the first time in detail, Morris said: “I consider the timing of their action to be cynical, an open attempt to try and steal our focus ahead of a crucial game. Fortunately, we are motivated by such actions. I’ll call it out there because I think it needs calling out.

“The sale of fixed assets is allowed in the rules. In 2016 a club [Boro] got promoted who chose to sell the tax loss from the football club to the parent company, because that then makes it revenue which is a positive towards profit, to help remain within Financial Fair Play.

“When I raised that at a meeting in March, the representative from the club said it was allowed in the rules at that time. So is this! What is different? You set the mould and we copied your lead, now you’re bitching. He [Gibson] had the hypocrisy to do that.

“Even his own fans called it out on their forums and said ‘how dare we do this with our own history’. We discussed this issue again in April and there wasn’t a single vote against, including from their own club! They didn’t even vote for their own motion. It is absolutely hypocritical. I didn’t write the rules.

“They had the gall to say to us this is not right. Absolutely unbelievable. Those things to me are just insane."

[Claretmatt4]

Really interesting stuff Chester keep it coming!

[Chester Perry]

Following his interview with @TariqPanja in the New York Times (see post #1135 - thanks again edlass) Aleksander Ceferin has now been speaking to Der Spiegel

https://www.spiegel.de/international/eu ... ml#ref=rss" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chester Perry]

Simon Chadwick comments on the role of face in the Middle East and links that to the Khaldoon Al-Murbarak interview see post #1208 but is it more of a comment on the Newcastle sale (post #1209)

https://twitter.com/Prof_Chadwick/statu ... 6999258113" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I find it fascinating that what we used to call good manners and form (etiquette) and consequently (and to me sadly) rejected is very similar to that still in play across a vast swathe of the globe

[Chester Perry]

In post #1183 I pointed out the difference in TV revenues between the PL and the Scottish game - Here @ Kieran Maguire looks at the overall financial performance of the SPL -

https://twitter.com/KieranMaguire/statu ... 1950974976" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Scots hate it when SPL clubs are compared to EFL League one clubs but half of those teams are on top end League one revenues - Even Rangers are a bottom half Championship budget

[Chester Perry]

The potential buyers of Newcastle has confirmed they are in talks

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/48420387" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

EDIT - more detail from Offthepitch.com

Newcastle takeover ‘terms agreed’ and due diligence completed - 27 May 2019 6:20 PM - Martin Hardy

Sheikh Khaled has already completed due diligence in Newcastle - a sign of the level of seriousness.
The Bin Zayed Group surprised Newcastle by releasing a statement on late afternoon on Monday.
Caution from club insiders after Staveley and Kenyon failures to buy out Mike Ashley.

The potential sale of Newcastle United to Sheikh Khaled Bin Zayed Al Nahyan moved a step closer today when his group issued a statement that the terms of the deal had been agreed.

The Bin Zayed Group, looking to complete a stunning, £350 million takeover of the Premier League side and end Mike Ashley’s 12 years in charge at St James’ Park, said they were bidding to ‘complete the transaction at the earliest opportunity.

There is still caution, however, within St James’ Park, although the club has officially admitted talks have begun for Sheikh Khaled Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the cousin of Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour, to take control.

Recent high profile approaches to buy Newcastle from the Sports Direct owner Ashley, first by Amanda Staveley and then the former Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon, failed to materialise amidst much acrimony.

Due diligence finshed
Offthepitch.com can reveal due diligence has been completed by the Bin Zayed Group, a further sign of the level of seriousness of the latest attempted takeover.

Sheikh Khaled Bin Zayed Al Nahyan failed in an attempt to take control at Liverpool last season and those inside Newcastle insist there is still work to be done before any takeover is completed. It will also have to be agreed by Ashley, who bought the club for £133 million from the Hall and Shepherd families in 2007.

Those close to Ashley insist he will want guarantees that any new owners can move the club forward.

Statement from potential buyer
The Bin Zayed Group surprised Newcastle by releasing their statement on late afternoon on Monday.

It read: “In response to numerous reports in the world media this morning, we would like to comment as follows. We can confirm the representatives of his Highness Sheikh Khaled Bin Zayed Al Nahyan are in discussions with Mike Ashley and his team about the proposed acquisition of Newcastle United Football Club.

"We view it as an honour to have the opportunity to build on the strong support, history and tradition of the club. We have agreed terms and are working hard to complete the transaction at the earliest opportunity. Best Regards, Midhat Kidwai, Group Managing Director, Bin Zayed Group.”

Surprised Rafa Benitez
News of the potential takeover broke late on Sunday evening. The Newcastle manager Rafa Benitez, whose contract ends on June 30, was said to be surprised by the developments.

He has been locked in protracted talks about a possible contract extension and that too has still to reach a conclusion. He will ask for clarification from the club’s managing director, Lee Charnley.

Ashley’s reign has been a controversial one. He stated that he had to clear around £80 million of debt (£50 million of which was a mortgage repayment on the development of St James’ Park) following his surprise acquisition of the club in 2007.

He was initially popular and stood with supporters at away games. The relationship turned sour when he clashed with the then manager Kevin Keegan and lost a constructive dismissal brought against him and the club by Keegan. There was a hiring and then not rehiring of Alan Shearer and a controversial decision to attempt to rename St James’ Park.