Football's Magic Money Tree

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Thu Sep 05, 2019 9:15 am

Not expecting any English clubs to post financial results for last season any time soon - though that doesn't stop people speculating - 3 such pieces I would love to read in full from offthepitch.com but most of the content is behind a paywall

Brighton expected to post a loss
https://offthepitch.com/a/seagulls-set- ... d-spending" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Man City expected increased profits after domestic treble - probably not as much as you would expect
https://offthepitch.com/a/citizens-set- ... tic-treble" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Tottenham are expected to post new world record profits - remember that the FA lost money in 2017-2018 on Tottenham's rental of Wembley while the club posted record revenues and a world record profit (a point no one in the press seemed to question at all)
https://offthepitch.com/a/spurs-set-pos ... ive-profit" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Thu Sep 05, 2019 9:20 am

Another proposal for the revamped Champions League post 2024 - known as the Copenhagen plan

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/foo ... p-18968055" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The curious thing about this is Ajax CEO Edwin van der Sar is an Executive President of the ECA and this goes against everything in their proposals that he was advocating only 2 months ago

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Thu Sep 05, 2019 10:00 am

@KieranMaguire offers is views on the EFL's elite barn door closing squad's investigation into the ground sales at Derby, Sheffield Wednesday and Reading via the Yorkshire Evening Post

https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/ ... -1-9976354" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

you do get a sense from the city of Leeds that everyone believes it is now or never for them to get promotion and they crave positive opinion on how they are doing it as much as will they do it

Tricky Trevor · Post by **Tricky Trevor** » Thu Sep 05, 2019 8:03 pm

http://www.skysports.com/share/11803041" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
EFL review following Bury demise.

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Thu Sep 05, 2019 10:58 pm

Well this is a surprise - the Premier League are to lok at the sale of Villa Park in a parallel investigation to that of the EFL on Serby Sheffield Wednesday and Reading

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49600851" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Thu Sep 05, 2019 11:00 pm

Tricky Trevor wrote:http://www.skysports.com/share/11803041
EFL review following Bury demise.

Well that seems reasonably structured at first glance

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Thu Sep 05, 2019 11:05 pm

Department of Culture, Media and Sport to have autumn hearings looking into the regulation of football

https://www.parliament.uk/business/comm ... ent-17-19/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

it will help focus minds in the EFL, PL and FA if nothing else - though I suspect it has much to do with the flurry of investigations and reviews announced this week

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Thu Sep 05, 2019 11:16 pm

Seems like some people around Franchise FC are getting worried about their finances - they are losing about £10k per day totalling £16.8m over the last 6 seasons that actually saw them make a profit in one of them

https://twitter.com/KieranMaguire/statu ... 4263638017" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

https://www.miltonkeynes.co.uk/sport/fo ... -1-9058904" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Fri Sep 06, 2019 11:24 am

Following on from yesterday's post speculating on the 2018/19 financial results of some premier league clubs (see post #2063 http://uptheclarets.com/messageboard/vi ... start=2062" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)

Bournemouth predicted losses of £30m - again mostly behind a paywall but you can get the jist of it
https://twitter.com/KieranMaguire/statu ... 0575783936" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://offthepitch.com/a/mounting-loss ... fer-window" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I will add that they have taken a total of £10m in loans recently against staged payments of players sold this summer (that means they have cash flow issues - all clubs bar ourselves and Man Utd in the top tier do the same

https://twitter.com/KieranMaguire/statu ... 4009549829" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://twitter.com/KieranMaguire/statu ... 7513881602" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I have posted elsewhere on this thread about the increasing prevalence on such financing in both buying and selling

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Fri Sep 06, 2019 11:29 am

@KieranMaguire gives some forthright views re the news of the EFL investigating Derby, Sheffield Wednesday, Reading and the PL investigating Aston Villa re ground sales to related parties

https://twitter.com/KieranMaguire/statu ... 4865925120" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Fri Sep 06, 2019 11:30 am

Huddersfield have been fined £50k for the Paddy Power shirt stunt

https://twitter.com/FAspokesperson/stat ... 1287390208" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Sat Sep 07, 2019 4:40 pm

It was the SoccerEx Europe conference in Portugal thise week - as ever there were lots of plenary sessions and forums - here The head of the European Leagues gives the details of what he is proposing for European Club Competition post 2024

https://twitter.com/Soccerex/status/1169944637525647360" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Sat Sep 07, 2019 4:50 pm

Article on why 32Red are investing heavily in Derby's signing of Wayne Rooney - plenty of spin but some insight into the marketing benefit

http://www.sportspromedia.com/interview ... NM.twitter" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Sat Sep 07, 2019 5:04 pm

A look at the leap in the average player cost tin the Premier League during the current decade - it was only £3.7m at the beginning!!!? - the article has some length but plenty of detail

http://www.sportspromedia.com/interview ... NM.twitter" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Sun Sep 08, 2019 9:38 am

The Price of Football investigate to find out just how bad Bury's finances were and in comparison to others in the lower leagues

http://priceoffootball.com/bury-another ... -the-wall/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Royboyclaret · Post by **Royboyclaret** » Sun Sep 08, 2019 10:26 am

Chester Perry wrote:The Price of Football investigate to find out just how bad Bury's finances were and in comparison to others in the lower leagues

http://priceoffootball.com/bury-another ... -the-wall/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Been a sad and sorry decline at Bury, but looking at those financial results, even as little as ten years ago, they were still in reasonable shape posting break-even or even small profits.

The downward spiral seems to coincide with Stewart Day's lofty ambitions for the club and it's been downhill ever since. Scandalous figures for the last three years of resuts and the fact they have not published figures at all to May'18 suggests an even sorrier tale of bad management.

Now, it's a long road back.

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Sep 09, 2019 11:04 am

I have posted before about the role of sponsors in bringing players to a club, for their own commercial gain, here we learn of one preventing a player move between to clubs it sponsors as it was felt to be detrimental to them commercially. The role Adidas played in blocking Pogba's move to Real Madrid.

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

the internecine interests of non football reasons impacting the game and it's clubs never ceases to amaze me

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Sep 09, 2019 11:22 am

This will strike a note with a few readers - the always readable John Nicolson asks have you got the hindshite virus

https://www.football365.com/news/have-y ... ng-you-ill" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Sep 09, 2019 12:02 pm

In post #2071 (http://uptheclarets.com/messageboard/vi ... start=2070" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) I mentioned Bournemouth taking out £10m in loans against future transfer payments to ease cashflow - an increasingly common occurrence in the game as I have posted a number of times across the summer - Here @MartynZeigler of the Times reports on one of the key financial institutions in all this and the source of Bournemouth's loan Macquarie of Austrailia - known as the "Vampire Kangaroo"

English clubs make deals with ‘Vampire Kangaroo’ by Martyn Ziegler, Chief Sports Reporter

Increasing numbers of English football clubs are handing over the rights to future transfer fees worth tens of millions of pounds to an Australian investment bank in exchange for up-front cash sums.

Several clubs have done deals with Macquarie — nicknamed the “Vampire Kangaroo” because of its ruthless focus on profits — so that they can immediately bank money owed for transfer fees, instead of waiting for the cash if the fee is being paid over several years. Macquarie receives a hefty commission for paying the cash up front as it takes over the debt and is paid directly by the buying club.

Bournemouth are the latest club to do a deal with Macquarie: £12 million still owed by Aston Villa for the defender Tyrone Mings, who was called up by England for the first time this week, will be paid by the Midlands club to the Australian bank in two chunks, £6 million in August next year and another £6 million in August 2021 as well as “any default interest payable by Aston Villa”.

Bournemouth also have a £4 million agreement with Macquarie for Lys Mousset who was sold to Sheffield United.

Leicester City did the same with the money owed for Riyadh Mahrez — Manchester City paid Macquarie £18 million of the £60 million transfer fee in July with the final £18 million due next year. Middlesbrough have also entered into similar deals.

Kieran Maguire, a lecturer in football finance at the University of Liverpool, said: “We are seeing this more and more where clubs are looking for cash immediately, but of course it costs them a premium to do so.”

edlass · Post by **edlass** » Mon Sep 09, 2019 12:18 pm

Chester Perry wrote:
Kieran Maguire, a lecturer in football finance at the University of Liverpool, said: “We are seeing this more and more where clubs are looking for cash immediately, but of course it costs them a premium to do so.”

What benefit is there to having actual cash but at a premium? I don't really know what "cashflow" is!

But if they do need it now then couldn't the owner just give Bournemouth the £10m and then they pay it back next year? Then there is no premium and everyone gets all there money? (except the vampire guy). It seems complicated!

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Sep 09, 2019 1:00 pm

I can think of a number of posters on here that could tell you about the importance of cashflow in many ways better than I could (Royboy, Aggi, Tall Paul especially) - There was also an @AndyhHolt thread on it over the summer which I can't find at the moment

From my perspective without a ready cashflow (including overdraft facility to cover spikes and troughs in revenue - lower league football normality) you cannot cover your regular outgoings as you have overspent/over committed - wages not being paid on time is usually the first indicator in the game of much worse to follow (Bolton and Bury anyone)- hence the recent campaign to dock points for failing to pay wages on time - it will then create added focus on financial commitments and ability to adhere to them, thereby (in theory) encouraging clubs to make more sensible decisions on transfers and wages.

Basically all the clubs mentioned have spent big and in the short term they are not able to meet the financial commitments as a result of selling players on HP - they may have built in the loan cost into the selling price to get the sum they need

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Sep 09, 2019 1:19 pm

The Price of Football takes a closer look at the finances of Scunthorpe United after the owner claimed recently claimed they are one of the better run clubs in the lower leagues

http://priceoffootball.com/scunthorpe-u ... out-of-me/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

they look destined for a nasty fall at some point to me

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Sep 09, 2019 3:56 pm

Juventus continue to enjoy the commercial return of signing Cristiano Ronaldo

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

you will note that the increase in shirt sales that led to the additional Euro 15m does not cover his salary let alone his 100m transfer fee - the signing was supposed to help them win the Champions league. Also none of this begins to explain why they have felt the need to/try to sell thei brightest younger players

Tall Paul · Post by **Tall Paul** » Tue Sep 10, 2019 9:36 am

edlass wrote:What benefit is there to having actual cash but at a premium? I don't really know what "cashflow" is!

But if they do need it now then couldn't the owner just give Bournemouth the £10m and then they pay it back next year? Then there is no premium and everyone gets all there money? (except the vampire guy). It seems complicated!

With almost perfect timing, Swiss Ramble has put out this Twitter thread analysing the cashflow of all PL clubs.

https://twitter.com/SwissRamble/status/ ... 3445666816" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Tue Sep 10, 2019 10:00 am

Cheers Tall one - brilliant as ever from the maestro

a few takeaways
- as many of us know, our club are definitely doing things the right way, even down to good citizenship on the tax front, you would think HMRC like us at the moment given the proportion of tax to revenue we pay
- Newcastle (for all the fans complaining) appear to be a very health club financially speaking
- West Ham are increasingly improving their financial position (though hard not too with that deal on the London Stadium - I suspect they will own it in the next 10 years)

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Tue Sep 10, 2019 10:20 am

Back to a favourite on-off topic on this thread, football club valuations - here Forbes.com look at the story that Britain's richest man Sir Jim Radcliffe looked at buying Newcastle over the summer but, like many before him, was put off by the asking price (you can add Chelsea to that too)

https://www.forbes.com/sites/harrydecos ... 22f3ab20b1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I suspect the writer of this article has not bothered to look at the underlying finances, or looked at the number of independent valuations of Premier League clubs that have been published this year alone (even though I have questioned them myself)

Newcastle's biggest sticking point when it comes to a sale is that £110m of debt that it owes Ashley - he wants everything back he has put into the club (understandably), yet he will not bring down that initial debt, though he has got back all the other loans. The only way he is going to sell the club is if he brings down the debt. It is not like they cannot afford too, they made enormous loan paybacks in the last published accounts and are predicted to make a profit of around £46m from last season

https://twitter.com/KieranMaguire/statu ... 6660298752" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Tue Sep 10, 2019 10:35 am

More on the sorry tale at Bury - Stewart Day's Mederco has been in admin for some time and have just published an updated report @KieranMaguirre takes a look

https://twitter.com/KieranMaguire/statu ... 0045246469" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Tue Sep 10, 2019 10:57 am

This has been doing the rounds in the dailies but I will post the source - CIES Football Observatory say that Man City have become the first team ever to invest Euro 1 billion in it's current squad - not it's history, it's current squad at the end of the transfer window

https://football-observatory.com/IMG/si ... /wp266/en/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

by way of contrast ours is Euro 132m and Norwich Euro 32m

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Tue Sep 10, 2019 11:54 am

It looks like Gianni Agnelli's grand plans for European Club football post 2024 have been permanently blown out of the water by the members of the ECA (hooray for them - surely he has to step down now)

https://apnews.com/12399acfc1ee4b028959f50cda096566" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

particularly loved - "When the ECA gathered English member clubs in London last month, an attendee recalled how an executive from Arsenal pointed out the process had achieved something rare: Uniting the Premier League."

the Copenhagen plan seems the most sensible approach I have seen so far - not that I agree with it entirely - as for the Swiss plan - talk about making things complicated

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Tue Sep 10, 2019 11:56 am

breaking news on La liga broadcasts in the UK

https://twitter.com/RobHarris/status/11 ... 2163431424" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Tue Sep 10, 2019 11:58 am

More detail on the Copenhagen plan

https://twitter.com/RobHarris/status/11 ... 1965744128" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

and the Swiss plan

https://twitter.com/RobHarris/status/11 ... 5583508480" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Tue Sep 10, 2019 12:04 pm

This could get interesting - Serie A wages published today in Gazetta della Sport

as @Marcotti says https://twitter.com/Marcotti/status/1171372057029988353" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

while we await the detail here are last years figures

https://imgur.com/r/soccer/wRxKccc" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Tue Sep 10, 2019 12:45 pm

There is a new moneyball podcast - they really have some cracking guests - this week are journalist @RobHarris (whose thoughts and articles I post regularly) and @spcott (who founded Lawinsport.com, another great source of posts for this thread) amongst the topics up for discussion - Is Piracy threatening the future of football? and why the rules of the game off the pitch are now so crucial

https://audioboom.com/posts/7363089-is- ... ters-and-w" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Tue Sep 10, 2019 12:53 pm

first article on those Serie A wages for the current season

https://translate.google.com/translate? ... 19-2020%2F" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

just how does Ronaldo manage to get by - that figure is not just his playing wages from Juventus by the way

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Tue Sep 10, 2019 1:02 pm

coming to a ground near you in the not too distant future I would think

https://twitter.com/DCBlueStar/status/1 ... 5094762501" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

and club shop

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Tue Sep 10, 2019 1:23 pm

Interesting long game from La Liga on building up a global audience for the league

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

of course it could back-fire when your audience is used to getting the content for free

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Tue Sep 10, 2019 1:23 pm

The much maligned SportPesa betting company appear to have resolved their licensing problems in Kenya

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

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Tue Sep 10, 2019 1:30 pm

Bayern Munich announce record revenues and profits for the 2018-19 season

https://fcbayern.com/us/news/2019/09/pr ... iscal-year" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Tue Sep 10, 2019 5:45 pm

We found out earlier today that the ECA have been having their General Assembly in Geneva the last 2 days well it has now finished and there are a number of things that have come out of it

As we read earlier they have to go back to the drawing board with Agnelli's original plans https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49652966" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Gianni Agnelli has more front than Blackpool, after the ECA members roundly rejected his proposals he has still gained re-election as Chair of the ECA
https://www.ecaeurope.com/news/andrea-a ... ive-board/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The ECA has published it's annual report
press release - https://www.ecaeurope.com/news/eca-publ ... rt-201819/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Full report - https://www.ecaeurope.com/media/4589/an ... 201819.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Closing media conference https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-uzdddbqlE" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - this was totally dominated by English based journalists who asked a number of challenging questions - Agnelli struggled to hide his frustration with it all

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Wed Sep 11, 2019 12:32 am

Barcelona having previously announced record revenues of Euro 990m for the 2018-19 season say they expect to break the billion euro mark this season, meanwhile project costs are increasing

http://www.sportspromedia.com/news/barc ... 3A.twitter" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Wed Sep 11, 2019 12:37 am

More on that ECA General Assembly - Agnelli has not given up on his initial plan is the feeling of the Associated Press

https://apnews.com/e97a7dced7a246ee86759481a8cb7f3c" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Wed Sep 11, 2019 4:05 pm

@AndyhHolt gets to the point re - falling tv deal values and the rise of the streaming pay model employed by the EFL

https://twitter.com/AndyhHolt/status/11 ... 3919909889" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

the same will happen to us if the Premier League were to adopt a similar model - some of he big six would be keen though it would kill the league

As @Uglygame says

https://twitter.com/uglygame/status/1171765684898021377" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; then add https://twitter.com/SjMaskell/status/11 ... 2122579968" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Wed Sep 11, 2019 4:43 pm

An agent has been arrested in relation to a money laundering investigation in Belgium

https://apnews.com/c561688abff345d2a6d96bc6a598abca" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

specifically linked with deals out of Anderlecht in the past

https://twitter.com/martynziegler/statu ... 3246519296" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

EDIT more links from the BBC
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-49662132" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Wed Sep 11, 2019 4:46 pm

Macclesfield were again given more time to resolve their financial issues by the High Court today as the HMRC sought a winding up order

https://twitter.com/BBCRMsport/status/1 ... 5306181633" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Wed Sep 11, 2019 5:05 pm

A slightly different take on the proceedings of the ECA General Assembly in Geneva

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49653954" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Wed Sep 11, 2019 5:19 pm

The long silence on the long search for a replacement for Richard Scudamore has been interrupted by the Financial Times - I have no access to that so here is a report on that report - basically they have given up on finding a media exec to pick up the poisoned chalice

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

The more I think about this the more I think it needs a diplomat to manage the warring factions and have the commercial guys reporting in

EDIT funnily enough it is one of the key Agenda items in tomorrows Premier League meeting

https://www.skysports.com/football/news ... -on-agenda" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Wed Sep 11, 2019 5:25 pm

One of the lesser reported things to come out of that ECA General Assembly - The Chinese now have a representive on the ECA board as Inter Milan's president was elected

https://www.sportbusiness.com/news/zhan ... eca-board/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Thu Sep 12, 2019 9:59 am

@AndyhHolt clearly demonstrating the machinations of the Premier League and what puppy dogs the EFL are to them

https://twitter.com/AndyhHolt/status/11 ... 7328373760" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Thu Sep 12, 2019 10:06 am

Radio Sheffield did a special on Football finance last night with special guest @DrRob_Wilson - it was promoted with the following tweet

https://twitter.com/mikemccarthy/status ... 7133082624" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

here is the programme on playback from 4:45 in - available for a few days only

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p07kpxzs" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Royboyclaret · Post by **Royboyclaret** » Thu Sep 12, 2019 10:30 am

Chester Perry wrote:@AndyhHolt clearly demonstrating the machinations of the Premier League and what puppy dogs the EFL are to them

https://twitter.com/AndyhHolt/status/11 ... 7328373760" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Wasn't aware of this particular vote by the PL today. Be interesting to see which way it goes, and wonder which method Mike Garlick prefers?.........We clearly called the bluff of the rest of Europe and it failed to work.