Football's Magic Money Tree

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Jul 15, 2019 12:53 pm

And on the subject of @EFL and the Owners and Directors test - I somehow missed out on this little morsel about new Huddersfield Town owner Phil Hoddgkinson who less than 2 weeks after being fined for over 90 betting offences whilst being a football agent and owner of Southport was cleared by the EFL to take over at Huddersfield

https://www.fourfourtwo.com/news/incomi ... g-breaches" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Jul 15, 2019 1:07 pm

Informative article about the hidden problem of Recreational Substance abuse in professional sport

https://sustainabilityreport.com/2019/0 ... n-problem/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Jul 15, 2019 2:26 pm

As Police Crime Commissioner's seek to change the law on funding for football and other sport's policing (they want to charge for the service and effectively become a privately funded service rather than a publicly funded one) the Football Supporters Association raise a number of concerns - this is likely to become quite politically charged I am afraid

https://twitter.com/FSA_FairCop/status/ ... 7522167808" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Jul 15, 2019 2:31 pm

you couldn't make it up - following on from post #1676 (http://uptheclarets.com/messageboard/vi ... start=1675" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) and the new Huddersfield Town owners recent FA fine for illegal betting on football matches - his club announce PaddyPower as their new shirt sponsor

http://fcbusiness.co.uk/news/huddersfie ... rtnership/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Jul 15, 2019 4:42 pm

Yet more on the corruption at CAF under Ahmad Ahmad

http://www.insideworldfootball.com/2019 ... ilgrimage/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://uptheclarets.com/messageboard/vi ... 1#p1050411" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Tue Jul 16, 2019 1:52 am

A large part of what is wrong with modern football in a single tweet by the owner of League 1 Peterborough

https://twitter.com/DMAC102/status/1150799027803439104" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

and then you get this from Liverpool - £15m for a kid you have never played (and can't get a work permit for) and got on the cheap and likely earned a lot from on his 5 loan spells

https://www.football365.com/news/liverp ... t-to-debut" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Tue Jul 16, 2019 2:32 am

The Head of sports rights is to leave BT - he led them into Premier League rights

https://media.sportbusiness.com/news/bt ... e-company/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Tue Jul 16, 2019 1:36 pm

We now know how Barcelona managed to pay that up front money for Antoine Greizmann (days after paying their own staff 3 days late http://uptheclarets.com/messageboard/vi ... start=1622" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) - they borrowed money, Now they have either to sell or swap players if they want to bring anyone else in.

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

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Wed Jul 17, 2019 4:58 pm

A detailed research paper on the rise of gambling sponsorship in British football - a subject of much recent discussion on the board

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10 ... 18.1425682" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Wed Jul 17, 2019 5:22 pm

Sometimes you see something online and think - nah that cannot be real - but having found nothing to disprove it - I give you the fans of Juventus

https://twitter.com/ESPNFC/status/1151464353905987584" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chanting the name of the man that took almost half of the fee Utd paid for Pogba and who in 2 to 3 years will take De Ligt (the reason they are happy) to Spain or England to make himself more money

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Wed Jul 17, 2019 5:59 pm

It might just be an age thing, having had the time to reflect on what has happened and the effort involved in growing and developing. From time to time (usually in the transfer window, but not always) we have posters demanding that the board/club do more push harder, bet the ranch almost to make the next step. For others it is about sticking together, working together and sharing the pain - @AndyhHolt is certain what he values at the club he controls

https://twitter.com/AndyhHolt/status/11 ... 5977552896" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Thu Jul 18, 2019 12:50 am

The new season is rapidly approaching - one thing you will notice is the massive merry-go-round of written word journalists that has taken place this summer - Primarily triggered by http://www.TheAthletic.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; who have made a very aggressive move into reporting on English Football and it's largest teams - much will be behind a paywall I expect.

https://twitter.com/MarkDiStef/status/1 ... 0801905664" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Thu Jul 18, 2019 12:44 pm

Announcement from the Premier League that last season it's cumulative audience increased to 1.35 billion and 11% rise

https://www.premierleague.com/news/1280062" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

sounds great doesn't it - until you realise that averages out at 3.5 million total global live audience per match - none of that 600 million or 1 billion watching the Manchester derby of Liverpool v Utd you routinely hear thrown about -

Now consider that against the TV deals and that suggests many are overpaying for their rights

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Thu Jul 18, 2019 12:54 pm

You will no doubt have heard of the transfer speed dating event at Chelsea this week - http://uptheclarets.com/messageboard/vi ... =2&t=40541" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

@TariqPanja from the New York Times was at the event - here is his report

Seeking Soccer Talent, Club Executives Turn to Speed Dating - By Tariq Panja - July 18, 2019

LONDON — It had all the hallmarks of an afternoon of speed dating. Strangers hoping to find that right match.

On a gloriously warm Tuesday this week, a group of soccer executives, from clubs large and small from across Europe and even as far afield as Brazil and the United States, were getting to know each other at 15-minute intervals inside a banquet hall at Stamford Bridge, the West London home of Premier League giant Chelsea.

Outside, tourists visiting the stadium frolicked in the sunshine of the stands. Inside the cloistered, carpeted Centenary Lounge, executives were getting down to the serious business of negotiating player trades as the summer transfer window, an annual multibillion-dollar marketplace, reaches its climactic rush to fill rosters or find new or temporary homes for unwanted or untested talent before the window slams shut in a matter of weeks.

With tables numbered and organized in rows, executives wielding brochures and tablets showed off their inventory in short introductory meetings that ended with the sound of a bell and the appearance of two women armed with boxing-style cards announcing the start of the next round of talks.

The event, a novelty in the often opaque and secretive world of soccer player trading, is the brainchild of Jonas Ankersen, 33, of Denmark, who launched a player trading platform called Transfer Room two years ago. The idea was to wean clubs off the largely inefficient and long-held practice of sourcing and selling players via the closely guarded networks of agents or intermediaries, some who can take a multimillion-dollar cut in the biggest deals.

“I wanted to give the clubs a chance to take back control of the transfer market,” Ankersen said as snippets of negotiations started to fill the air following a break for lunch.

To be sure, this is not the place where Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi will move from one club to another, but rather where useful, reasonably priced players change teams. The most expensive player on Ankersen’s platform is valued at around £20 million, or roughly $25 million, he said.

“That’s just a little bit out of our price range,” said Mick Harford, the director of football at Luton Town, a team from just outside London that was promoted last season to the second tier Championship division. Harford spoke as he pored over a list of young players being made available for loan by Paul Konchesky, loan manager at the middling Premier League club West Ham.

Harford, a towering former striker, was in the market for players elite teams were looking to loan out — either young players needing the experience of first team soccer or older athletes who were unlikely to make the roster this season. The loan market is a backbone for clubs like his, Harford said.

Executives in the room included representatives of Manchester City, last season’s Premier League champion, and Italian champion Juventus, which each summer is among soccer’s biggest buyers of talent. Juventus is also known to send more players out on loan than almost any other rival in European soccer. They were joined by a dozen other Premier League clubs and a bevy of others from across soccer’s global pyramid, including Internacional, a stalwart of Brazil’s top league, known for creating the type of talent suited to European soccer.

While the executives ranged in seniority and function, they were all club employees. They shared a mutual frustration, bordering on antipathy, for another critical cog in the wheels of the soccer market: agents.

“If you can progress talks with the two clubs then you’re in a stronger position than an agent trying to broker deals, getting in this, getting that,” said Tony Coton, head of recruitment at Sunderland, a third-tier English team that was previously in the Premier League but was demoted twice.

“Here I will hear it from the horse’s mouth now,” he continued, “exactly how much the player’s earning at that club and I can say, ‘Yes we can go to that,’ or ‘No we can’t go to that,’ without the agent getting involved because invariably the agent will inflate what he’s on to try and increase his wages and for a loan I don’t think that’s right.”

Coton, a former goalkeeper for Manchester City, was in town like Harford to pick up a few loan players and to try to find buyers for two players from Sunderland’s Premier League days whose wages the club can no longer afford to finance.

Fueled by an explosion in television rights revenue, the player trading market globally has doubled to $7 billion annually since 2014, according to FIFA, a rise that requires a more organized and serious approach than the relationship-based business that has historically existed, according to Rasmus Ankersen, Jonas’s brother, and the director of football at Brentford, which plays in England’s second-tier Championship division.

That informal structure has led to waste of as much as 10 percent, Rasmus Ankersen said, which would represent as much as $700 million based on FIFA’s total figures. The savings, he said, could come with more transparency in the marketplace, with clubs more easily knowing which players are available and the needs of other teams.

“There will always be a need for someone to represent the player, an agent, and who can market the player, negotiate his contract. Where the waste in football is, is in what we call ‘club intermediaries’ — these guys that are in the middle, connecting clubs, holding the information, brokering the deals, that is in many cases an unnecessary cost,” Rasmus Ankersen said.

Club-to-club meetings on a global scale like the one held in London remain uncommon. The scarcity is related to the baked-in paranoia of the soccer world, where clubs eye rivals’ motivations with great suspicion.

“If you stick a for sale sign up, you can weaken your stance in the market,” said Dan Ashworth, director of football at Brighton, a small club that will compete in the Premier League for the third straight season.

Ashworth has recently returned to club soccer after six years with England’s national federation. His club hired a new coach, Graham Potter, at the start of the season, and that’s likely to mean more changes than usual as Brighton tries to build a squad matching Potter’s preferences. When such changes occur, players who would once have been seen as indispensable may no longer fit. Such conversations can be delicate, requiring careful handling before a player’s availability for transfer can be communicated to the market, said Ashworth.

“You are dealing with human beings, it’s not a product,” he said, sitting in the calm of a quiet corner of Stamford Bridge, during a rare lull in a full day. “So when you put a for-sale sign up for a person, that person might not know they’re for sale, might not know that you’re looking to move them on, might not agree to move away. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t.”

A short while later, the bell sounded and Ashworth jumped to his feet. He had another date.

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Thu Jul 18, 2019 1:11 pm

yesterday saw the release of a report that highlighted the depth of gambling in shirt sponsorship in the coming season of the Premier League http://uptheclarets.com/messageboard/vi ... =2&t=40568" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - Post #1684 (http://uptheclarets.com/messageboard/vi ... start=1683" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) had a report of the history of such sponsorship in the British game.

Here we look at previous years Shirt sponsorships starting with last season and incorporating links to data all the way back to 2010/11 season

http://www.sportingintelligence.com/201 ... 6m-290701/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Thu Jul 18, 2019 1:30 pm

Brighton follow Liverpool's example (http://uptheclarets.com/messageboard/vi ... &start=551" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) of commissioning a report into their Economic value to the local area

https://www.brightonandhovealbion.com/n ... ocal-area/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

full report - https://www.brightonandhovealbion.com/s ... imised.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Thu Jul 18, 2019 1:50 pm

@KieranMaguire has been doing a series of 1 tweet 10year financial summaries of clubs (some on request) this week

West Ham
https://twitter.com/KieranMaguire/statu ... 5438374912" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Newcastle United
https://twitter.com/KieranMaguire/statu ... 3711162368" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

his beloved Brighton
https://twitter.com/KieranMaguire/statu ... 6669585415" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

PNE
https://twitter.com/KieranMaguire/statu ... 2832028672" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Norwich
https://twitter.com/KieranMaguire/statu ... 9346605056" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It Started with Sheddield Wednesday
https://twitter.com/KieranMaguire/statu ... 7370220545" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Thu Jul 18, 2019 2:12 pm

It has taken a while for a club of their size and newly bought stature - Man City TV is launched by the club

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

Royboyclaret · Post by **Royboyclaret** » Thu Jul 18, 2019 2:51 pm

Chester Perry wrote:yesterday saw the release of a report that highlighted the depth of gambling in shirt sponsorship in the coming season of the Premier League http://uptheclarets.com/messageboard/vi ... =2&t=40568" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - Post #1684 (http://uptheclarets.com/messageboard/vi ... start=1683" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) had a report of the history of such sponsorship in the British game.

Here we look at previous years Shirt sponsorships starting with last season and incorporating links to data all the way back to 2010/11 season

http://www.sportingintelligence.com/201 ... 6m-290701/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Some very interesting numbers at the link there, Chester.

It would appear that in just three seasons we have trebled our level of sponsorship from £2.5m with Dafabet in 2017/18 to a potential £7.5m next season with Lovebet. Therein lies the dilemma for our BoD as the percentage of sponsorship to Total Turnover increases with each passing season, do they accept the criticism of being 'morally bankrupt' while at the same time taking what appears to be the sensible financial approach?

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Thu Jul 18, 2019 3:12 pm

Royboyclaret wrote:Some very interesting numbers at the link there, Chester.

It would appear that in just three seasons we have trebled our level of sponsorship from £2.5m with Dafabet in 2017/18 to a potential £7.5m next season with Lovebet. Therein lies the dilemma for our BoD as the percentage of sponsorship to Total Turnover increases with each passing season, do they accept the criticism of being 'morally bankrupt' while at the same time taking what appears to be the sensible financial approach?

It really is a significant growth which no one other industry will match unfortunately (for us it equates to the wages of 2 of the first team) and it is part of a much needed growth in commercial revenue (without spending much to acquire it - unlike ground development say) as this is predictable budget revenue as opposed to the prize money. I can only hope that the club are working hard to bring in other commercial opportunities.

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Thu Jul 18, 2019 3:57 pm

Salford City showing their intent for the coming season - with a £2.1m share issue

https://twitter.com/KieranMaguire/statu ... 9510715392" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Thu Jul 18, 2019 6:03 pm

The Price of Football say selling yourself your stadium is not cricket

http://priceoffootball.com/selling-your ... t-cricket/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Thu Jul 18, 2019 6:27 pm

And here we see the problems that can emerge when a club sells/splits ownership of it's ground - The North Stand is not owned by the club and now it's use is the subject of commercial disagreement

https://www.oldhamathletic.co.uk/news/2 ... statement/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The owners response (they want to buy the rest of the ground

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

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Thu Jul 18, 2019 6:32 pm

Callum Hudson-Odoi has found his magic money tree at the tender age of 18

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

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Thu Jul 18, 2019 7:13 pm

More on the subject of Gambling and PL Shirt Sponsorship - @DavidConn of the Guardian looks a SportPesa the sponsors that Everton laud for their community engagement activities with the club

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

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Thu Jul 18, 2019 7:35 pm

More on that post #1687 (http://uptheclarets.com/messageboard/vi ... start=1686" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) and the phenomenon of this summers transfer window for football journalists

https://www.buzzfeed.com/markdistefano/ ... ring-spree" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Thu Jul 18, 2019 8:19 pm

If you thought that story about SportPesa was disturbing (see Post #1700 http://uptheclarets.com/messageboard/vi ... start=1699" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) - try this from the Times

Gambling, Africa’s new child plague - by Andrew Gilligan, Nairobi - July 14 2019, 12:01am
Super-rich Premier League stars are heroes to the children of Kenya’s slums and UK betting firms harvest millions from their obsession

British betting companies and football clubs are “luring” hundreds of thousands of African children into an illegal gambling craze that Kenya’s government says is “destroying” their lives.

Using techniques banned in the UK, the companies appeal to youngsters by using cartoon characters and free branded merchandise. At a British company’s betting shops in the Nairobi slums, The Sunday Times witnessed children as young as 14 gambling freely, in breach of Kenyan law.

Tracey Crouch, who resigned as sports minister in protest at the government’s lack of action over gambling, said she was “deeply concerned” at the revelations, adding: “It is reminiscent of the way that tobacco companies are seeking new markets among young people in Africa.”

Top English football clubs, which have millions of fans in Africa, are closely involved in the promotional efforts. Arsenal sent its former star, Sol Campbell, to Nairobi for children’s coaching sessions with SportPesa, a Kenyan betting company that is its African sponsor. Hull City players went to a Nairobi shanty town, where they handed out SportPesa-branded wristbands and football strips to schoolchildren.

One British company, Editec, which trades in Kenya as PremierBet, made pre-tax profits of £17m on a turnover of £51m in 2017, almost entirely from Africa.

Children in Kibera, Nairobi, Africa’s biggest slum, told The Sunday Times that PremierBet staff let them gamble knowing that they were underage. The Kenyan government last week launched a crackdown on foreign and local betting companies, suspending many operators’ licences, banning mobile payments to them and threatening to deport or even arrest foreign managers. As of yesterday, however, the firms continued to operate.

In the middle of Kibera, Africa’s largest urban slum, almost the only proper buildings are a school, a church — and the betting shops: islands of brick and concrete in a tin-and-plywood sea.

The Kibera branch of PremierBet is clean and well lit, with video screens showing English football. For Geoffrey Mwicha and his friends, aged 14, 15 and 16, it is their gateway to a better world. “If you get money, you just take it for betting, because you may win there,” he said. “You don’t have another mind but for betting. You don’t even think to eat. If you have a good luck, then you eat.”

Geoffrey, 15, once won 200 Kenyan shillings (£1.55) betting on Chelsea. “I only put 10 bob on,” he said, his face lighting up at the memory. In a video on its YouTube channel, a PremierBet manager says the company’s purpose is to “change people’s lives”.

For Geoffrey and his friends this is a promise kept. After they started betting, they dropped out of school: there was no money to pay the fees. Their parents abandoned them. Now they fetch and carry for a local water dealer — most of Kibera’s supply is controlled by gangs — earning £8 in a bad month. But still they clutch their dream. “You want money and you want to enjoy your life,” said Alfred Otieno, 14. “If you bet every day, God may give you a chance of good money.”

For some British companies, and several of England’s best-known football clubs, this is a new African gold rush. In recent years betting has exploded in Kenya and among its children, surfing the wave of a fanatical following for English Premiership football. Betting adverts plaster buildings, vehicles, even the hi-vis vests worn by the motorbike taxi drivers. Families watch television adverts featuring Arsenal, which is sponsored by a betting firm. The slogan is “They play, you win”.

Kenya’s interior minister, Fred Matiang’i, said 76% of his country’s young people now gambled and 500,000 Kenyans, most of them young, had been blacklisted by credit reference agencies for gambling debts.

Jennifer Kaberi, a youth rights activist, said: “My own children say, ‘Mummy, why don’t we bet and then we can get a lot of money?’ People don’t realise that only one person in a thousand can win — they think it’s a shortcut out of poverty.”

It is a route to riches for some companies such as Editec’s PremierBet. Its enviable margins are achieved with the help of practices not permitted in the UK: companies appeal to youngsters by using cartoon characters and free branded merchandise for school and youth sports teams.

Kenyan law bans gambling by under-18s but enforcement is sporadic. “You can go there [PremierBet] and play if you have 10 years,” said Stephen Bukomi, 15.

“On the weekend they don’t want children,” said Geoffrey. “In the week there’s no people for betting, so we are being allowed because we bring money.”

Do the staff know how old they are? The boys all laugh. “They know,” said Jackson Nzomo, 15.

“They want our money,” said Geoffrey.

The “casino” section of PremierBet’s Kenya website has cartoon-character gambling games that appeal to children. They have names such as Lucky Pirates, fronted by a friendly toucan, Spellcraft, with smiling witches, and Rainbow.

To get children hooked, the games can be played in “fun” mode, betting notional money. It is these casino games, among others, the boys say, that they play for real money in the Kibera betting shop. Such games have been removed from UK gambling sites to protect youngsters.

In Cameroon, PremierBet has even sponsored a school, with its corporate logo on the wall. In Malawi, its national marketing manager, Fady Younes, said in a video: “We hope that everyone who places bets will win up to 20m [kwacha — about £21,000].”

Editec describes itself on its website as “able to manoeuvre through landscapes of unregulated markets, setting highest and marketleading standards”. A spokesman said it was “extremely disappointed” by The Sunday Times’s findings, which it said were “totally against our culture and our values . . . We can assure you, our customers, partners and all stakeholders, that we will investigate and act accordingly.” It said its school support was “giving disadvantaged people opportunities to better themselves”, not promoting gambling.

PremierBet is not the only British-linked gambling company involved with African youngsters. Six of the eight betting shops that The Sunday Times visited in Nairobi had children in them, some so young they struggled to reach over the counters to place their bets. At the Betin outlet in Kibagare, Ian Odielo, 16, had just won 250 shillings (£1.95). “I lose many times but this time I won,” he said. “I put 50 back on and I lost it. The rest will keep me alive today, just for today.”

Arnold Okote, 15, who goes to the same shop, has learnt that the television adverts are wrong. “The amount you lose is more than the amount you win,” he said. Why does he keep doing it? “It is an addiction.”

Betin is closely linked to a company called Logispin, domiciled in Malta and with back-office functions in eastern Europe but apparently run from West Byfleet, Surrey. Betin is variously described as operated or licensed by Logispin. Senior Betin staff, including its head of sportsbook trading, are based at Logispin’s West Byfleet offices. Logispin did not respond to questions.

Betway, another Malta-registered but British-based company in the Kenyan market, gives sponsored kit to youth football teams including Kibagare FC, many of whose members are under 18. The team’s coach, Johnson Ntali, said about half the child players had started betting as a result. “They like Betway because they gave them the strip,” he said.

Betway said it did not sponsor any children’s teams and “the shirts in question were explicitly donated for over-18 use only”. But the most interesting British players of all are the Premier League and Championship football clubs that take millions to promote gambling firms. In Nairobi, the Tottenham and England star Harry Kane stares out from giant billboard adverts for 1xBet, Spurs’ “official betting partner for Africa”.

As of last month, 1xBet’s Kenya site was offering odds on children’s sport, including under-16s basketball and games that appeared to be taking place in school gyms. Tottenham has not been involved with promotional activities for children in Kenya.

In 2016 Arsenal sent Sol Campbell to Nairobi for children’s coaching sessions with SportPesa, a Kenyan betting company that is the club’s African sponsor. It is the one that makes the “They play, you win” ads. The event, which received saturation coverage in local media, was plastered with SportPesa branding and the children wore strips with the company’s “JengaGame” slogan.

“SportPesa and Arsenal have put together a collaboration . . . for young kids, identifying young talent,” Campbell said during the trip. “For me, teaching the coaches and the players the Arsenal way, that’s why I’m here.”

SportPesa also sponsors Hull City and Everton, to which it is paying a reported £48m. Everton visited Kenya last weekend, where several players, in SportPesa-branded kit, took part in an event at a project for slum girls, Let Our Girls Succeed, funded by Britain’s Department for International Development. Everton said players and staff wore club kit to club-related activities but the event was not associated with or sponsored by SportPesa or aimed at promoting gambling to youngsters.

Last year Hull City players went to Kibera, picking their way gingerly across the open sewers with a police escort. The squad and the manager, Nigel Adkins, handed out SportPesa-branded kit and wristbands to children.

“We want to share, we want to give back, we want to help,” Adkins told them. “SportPesa, Hull City, kits for Africa.” Hull’s “multimillion-pound” deal with the company, “the most lucrative in the club’s proud 112-year history”, was nominated for partnership of the year at the 2018 Football Business awards. The club said it “takes its role in promoting responsible gambling seriously, regardless of territory”.

In Kenya there is growing alarm over the partnership between betting, football and addiction. “Uncontrolled gambling has reorganised the financial lives of poor Kenyans in very drastic ways,” said Matiang’i. “Let us stop pretending. We must stand up and call sin by its name for the sake of our children.”

The Kenyan government now appears set on a showdown with the betting firms, announcing last week that it would suspend 27 companies’ licences, including those of

SportPesa, Betway, Betin and PremierBet. It has also suspended their ability to accept money through the country’s popular mobile phone payments service and threatened to deport or even arrest foreign managers. As of yesterday, however, their websites were still operating.

Patrick Lumumba, pastor at the Everlasting Gospel Mission Church in Nairobi, said his church was caring for a child whose father had killed himself because of gambling debts, some run up by the boy.

“He took a piece of paper and wrote to me, ‘I am leaving this family for you to take care of,’ and then he took rat poison,” Lumumba said. “The betting companies lure them in.”

He added that he spent a lot of time trying to sort out the chaos that gambling caused in his congregation’s lives.

“When they are given money to pay school fees, they rush to the betting shop,” he said. “Then they have to steal. You ask these children, ‘What do you expect to do when you grow up?’, and they say they will live by winning money on the betting.

“What I say to these [betting] companies is that they should stop doing this. It is ruining the lives of our children.”

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Fri Jul 19, 2019 1:27 pm

In post #1688 (http://uptheclarets.com/messageboard/vi ... start=1687" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) we saw the premier league bigging up it's 11% growth in global audience for it's programming that showed that actually it equated to an audience average of just 3.55m a match. Here Nick Harris of @SportingIntel offers a much more detailed insight and context.

https://twitter.com/sportingintel/statu ... 7800998914" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Fri Jul 19, 2019 1:34 pm

More on gambling sponsorship - this thread from a Wolves fan is perhaps the most resonant I have seen piece I have seen on the subject so far

https://twitter.com/SPQR_10/status/1135983925313114114" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Fri Jul 19, 2019 2:37 pm

I have posted a piece about global sport sponsorship behemoth and Chinese Telecoms giant OPPO before (see post #1511 http://uptheclarets.com/messageboard/vi ... start=1510" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) that time it was a question of whether China was using sport as a tool for data surveillance. Here Simon Chadwick looks at just how wide this company's sponsorship net is cast

https://twitter.com/Prof_Chadwick/statu ... 5533693957" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Fri Jul 19, 2019 4:14 pm

More on that that story on Everton shirt sponsors SportPesa (see Post #1700 http://uptheclarets.com/messageboard/vi ... start=1699" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) which was done in partnership with FinanceUncovered.org - this is a parallel piece by them

https://www.financeuncovered.org/uncate ... a-everton/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Fri Jul 19, 2019 5:11 pm

The Guardian does a piece on how Egypt has failed to exercise the soft power benefits it was hoping for by hosting the African Cup of Nations

https://www.theguardian.com/football/bl ... soft-power" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Sat Jul 20, 2019 12:10 pm

@OliverKay of the Times discusses why Leicester think Harry Maguire is worth £90m - The power is with the sellers -

Wilfried Zaha for £80m? Harry Maguire for £90m? Prices prove power rests with sellers this summer

Huge TV income means Premier League clubs such as Leicester City can demand £90m for prized assets, resulting in a flat transfer window, writes Oliver Kay

What price Harry Maguire? No, really, what price Harry Maguire? Eyebrows were raised in 2017 when Leicester City paid £12 million, potentially rising to £17 million, for a 24-year-old who had been part of the Premier League’s worst defence that season at Hull City.

The same is happening now, two years and 20 England caps later, with Leicester warning Manchester City and Manchester United that they will not sell him for less than £90 million.

Is he worth it? By any kind of objective analysis, the answer would be an emphatic no, particularly given that Juventus paid “only” £67.5 million this week to sign the outstanding young Ajax captain Matthijs de Ligt. As impressively as Maguire has developed in recent years, he still looks like the rough-and-ready type rather than a footballer who may change hands for £90 million.

It is not easy to imagine him as the most expensive defender in the game’s history or sitting behind beguiling, fleet-forwards such as Neymar, Kylian Mbappé, João Félix, Philippe Coutinho, Antoine Griezmann and Ousmane Dembélé as the seventh-most expensive player overall.

Manchester City were prepared to break their £62.8 million transfer record for Maguire, such is Pep Guardiola’s regard for him, but they have been put off by Leicester’s asking price. Manchester United appear willing at this stage to go higher than their cross-city rivals, but even their executive vice-chairman, Ed Woodward, appears mindful of the lessons learnt when he gleefully blew Manchester City out of the water in the desperation to make the “statement” signings of Paul Pogba and Alexis Sánchez.

Manchester City are considering alternatives, among them the Bournemouth defender Nathan Aké. He would not come cheap either, though, with Bournemouth looking for at least double the £20 million they paid Chelsea for him in June 2017.

So, to repeat the question, what price Maguire? The CIES Football Observatory, a Swiss-based research group which continuously monitors performance data and transfer valuations, proposes £49.3 million. That sounds reasonable enough, with their algorithm taking into account the economic strength of the selling club and of the most likely buyers for the player.

What no algorithm can fully reflect, though, is the realities of a market in which Leicester have no cause to sell. They took £120.1 million in Premier League broadcast revenue and prize money alone last season, so they can effectively name their price. It is not like those days when clubs’ business plans revolved around attendance figures, cup runs and the need to cash in when offered a big cheque for a star player.

That £49.3 million valuation would put Maguire outside the CIES’s top 100 highest-ranked players across Europe’s top five leagues, which includes 12 central defenders (Virgil van Dijk, Aymeric Laporte, John Stones, Clément Lenglet, Samuel Umtiti, Milan Skriniar, Antonio Rüdiger, Raphaël Varane, Joe Gomez, Davinson Sánchez, Marquinhos and Thilo Kehrer) and, reflecting market trends, is dominated by forwards, wingers and creative midfielders.

Another player just outside the top 100 is Wilfried Zaha, who is valued at £52 million under the CIES system. That would put him much closer to the £40 million figure offered by Arsenal a fortnight ago than the £80 million demanded by his club, Crystal Palace.

It is obvious, though, why Palace felt so insulted and enraged by Arsenal’s opening bid. Zaha, 26, is widely regarded as the outstanding attacking talent outside the Premier League’s “big six”. Arsenal can cite the CIES valuation of £52 million as evidence that their opening offer was reasonable, but the significant factor here is that Palace’s business plan is about staying in the Premier League and accruing more than £100 million in broadcast revenue and prize money year after year — and that Zaha’s importance to the club, integral to their on-pitch game plan and their wider ambitions, goes far beyond any objective valuation.

Premier League economics, with clubs guaranteed upwards of £100 million for every year they stay in the competition, make it a seller’s market. Palace have already demonstrated that by selling Aaron Wan-Bissaka to Manchester United for £45 million, potentially rising to £50 million, after one full season at first-team level. CIES valued the 21-year-old at £35 million — a fairer-looking price, which takes into account Wan-Bissaka’s outstanding performance data in his breakthrough season but a figure that, realistically, was never going to be acceptable to Palace.

These days, many clubs in Palace’s position, whose only financial pressure is to stay in the Premier League, would rather keep a star player than cash in. It is why the market for trading between Premier League clubs is so flat. How would Palace even think about trying to replace Zaha?

They identified Max Aarons, the England Under-19 full back, as a possible replacement for Wan-Bissaka, but rumours of a £10 million bid met with as much derision at Norwich City as Arsenal’s offer for Zaha did at Selhurst Park. Aarons, 19, signed a new contract with Norwich instead. He has not yet kicked a ball in the Premier League but if and when he moves on from Carrow Road, it is likely to be for an awful lot more than £10 million.

Manchester United are still sniffing around Sean Longstaff, the Newcastle United midfielder, whom CIES value at £7.2 million based on the potential he showed when breaking into the first team and making eight Premier League starts last season. Newcastle, though, would want more for Longstaff than the £30 million they raised when selling the 25-year-old forward Ayoze Pérez to Leicester. Manchester United, understandably, have cooled their interest.

Finding value, or perceived value, is increasingly difficult but it can be done. Manchester City’s deal to sign the Spain midfielder Rodri from Atletico Madrid cost them £62.8 million — a club record — but CIES valued him at £78.8 million. Similar applies to Tottenham Hotspur’s club-record £54 million signing of Tanguy Ndombele from Lyons. The midfielder is valued at £61.8 million under the CIES formula. No deal in football comes with guarantees, but Rodri, 23, and Ndombele, 22, both impressed at Champions League level last season and both are young enough to improve.
The flip side of the inflated sums demanded by Premier League clubs, though, is that there tends to be more certainty about whether a player will adapt both on and off the pitch. Maguire has shown over the past couple of years that there were hidden depths to the talent he showed at Sheffield United and Hull, but at 26 he strikes you as the what-you-see-is-what-you-get type. He does what it says on the tin.

Is that worth £90 million or anything close to it? Surely not, but, in this crazy market, you are unlikely to get him for much less.

Most expensive transfers
1 Neymar Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain, 2017 £198m
2 Kylian Mbappé Monaco to PSG, 2018 £116m
3 João Félix Benfica to Atletico Madrid, 2019 £114m
4 Antoine Griezmann Atletico to Barcelona, 2019 £107m
5 Philippe Coutinho Liverpool to Barcelona, 2018 £105m
6 Ousmane Dembélé Borussia Dortmund to Barcelona, 2017 £97m
7= Paul Pogba Juventus to Manchester United, 2016 £89m
7= Eden Hazard Chelsea to Real Madrid, 2019 £89m
9 Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid to Juventus, 2018 £88m
10 Gareth Bale Tottenham to Real Madrid, 2013 £86m

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I think he may be over-egging the level playing field on revenues - the big six earn so much in commercial. UEFA and match day revenue, that they are still miles and miles ahead

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Sat Jul 20, 2019 12:37 pm

Article and Podcast with Liverpool CEO Peter Moore from Forbes.com on the subject of future for Fan Experience

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesinsi ... 8d4511acba" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Swizzlestick · Post by **Swizzlestick** » Sat Jul 20, 2019 1:55 pm

Not sure if this has been posted yet or not, but the Open University do a free online course about the business of football, complete with free certificate at the end! Pretty good if you're a beginner to all this.

https://www.open.edu/openlearn/money-bu ... iption-tab" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Sat Jul 20, 2019 3:28 pm

for those of you who like to know these things - squad churn stats ahead of the new season based on minutes played last season - for all 4 divisions - includes link to the underlying data

https://twitter.com/experimental361/sta ... 5392578560" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Sun Jul 21, 2019 12:25 am

I have only touched on the implications of Brexit for English football and the Premier League a few times of note (see posts #789 http://uptheclarets.com/messageboard/vi ... &start=788" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and #254 http://uptheclarets.com/messageboard/vi ... &start=253" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) - there was also the thread last summer based on comments from our Chairman in this article https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/45206066" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Premier League is now less fearful it seems - from the Telegraph

Premier League convinced Brexit will not prevent clubs signing European players - Luke Edwards, Shanghai - 20 July 2019 • 10:30pm

The Premier League do not anticipate any threat to English clubs being able to sign European players after Brexit following discussions with the Home Office.

There had been fears that Britain’s exit from the European Union, which is due to happen on October 31, would make it far more difficult for clubs to sign players from European countries because of the end of freedom of movement.

But it seems as though football will be treated as a special case, with the Premier League’s interim chief executive, Richard Masters, once again voicing his opposition to any attempt by the Football Association to increase the homegrown player quota.

“Our clubs want to have full access to talent – and that is our focus,” said Masters, from the plush Shangri-la hotel in Shanghai, his base to attend China’s Premier League’s Asia Trophy.

“I think the government and politicians appreciate what English football in general and the Premier League, in particular, brings to the country.

“The Premier League is an important part of 'Brand Britain' around the world and I don't think the government would want to do anything that has a negative impact on the Premier League or the English national team.

“That's why I am sure we will sort it out. We have to come to an arrangement with the Home Office at some point.

“Obviously, no-one knows when Brexit is going to happen. And so, we're in constant dialogue with the Home Office and the FA and making sure that our clubs can continue to get access from talent from Europe and beyond.

“I don't think there is a scenario where the Premier League will be badly affected by Brexit. I think we will find appropriate accommodation and our clubs will be able to recruit the players they want from abroad.”

England manager Gareth Southgate has repeatedly warned of the risks to the national team caused by the Premier League’s fascination with foreign signings who are ready to go straight into the first team.

That has helped fuel the FA’s desire to use Brexit as a means to force clubs to have more homegrown players in their squad as they would no longer be restricted by EU laws.

That will be forcefully resisted by the Premier League who continue to blindly argue the Academy system already works well enough, even though there were only 113 British players used by top-flight clubs last season.

“We are developing a cohort of players through the academy system and we have to keep the balance right,” added Masters.

“We have a team of people involved in those conversations, looking at it, talking to all of the different stakeholders involved.

"We aren't convinced by the arguments that limiting the number of foreign players and increasing quotas on homegrown players will benefit the England team.

“We certainly think something like that would have a negative impact on the Premier League – and that's what we are talking to the FA about.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Are you convinced? - I know I am not

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Sun Jul 21, 2019 12:32 am

It would appear that Man United have not learned the lessons of the Alexi Sanchez stupidity - as they agree to pay an underperforming star so much for so long that no one will ever want to buy if you need to sell - Pogba will be after the same at this rate - From the Telegraph

David De Gea agrees six-year Manchester United contract worth £117m to become world's highest-paid goalkeeper - James Ducker, Northern Football Correspondent, in Singapore - 20 July 2019 • 10:30pm

David De Gea will become the world’s highest paid goalkeeper after agreeing a new six-year contract with Manchester United worth around £117 million.

But Romelu Lukaku remains determined to quit United and is hoping Inter Milan come back with an improved offer after the Italian club had an opening £54 million bid rejected.

De Gea - who made his first appearance of pre-season in United’s 1-0 win over Inter Milan in Singapore on Saturday - will put pen to paper on the new deal, which is believed to be worth around £375,000 a week, once he returns to Manchester from the tour.

Yet while the United manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, will be relieved about the clarity over De Gea’s future, Lukaku remains stuck in limbo.

Teenage striker Mason Greenwood again took full advantage of Lukaku’s continued absence with the only goal against Inter in the International Champions Cup at Singapore’s National Stadium, three days after claiming his first senior goal in the 4-0 victory against Leeds United in Perth.

Solskjaer has ruled out any prospect of Greenwood being loaned out as the 17-year-old further boosted his chances of starting United’s opening Premier League game against Chelsea on August 11.

Solskjaer suggested for the first time on Saturday that United are able to play “a different way” without Lukaku but the manager risks being stuck with the Belgium striker unless Inter find a way of getting closer to his £90 million valuation. The Italian club need to offload Mauro Icardi, who is interesting Juventus, to free up cash.

“If you’re a player and don’t manage to train for a week - and he’s missed three games now - I think he’ll be concerned,” Solskjaer said. “He’s working to get back on the pitch and let’s see how long that takes. It’s his ankle.

“I think we have done really well without Romelu but we all know he’s one of the top, top strikers in the world. We’ve played a different way maybe with Anthony [Martial], Marcus [Rashford], Mason, so you adapt to the players who are available.”

Antonio Conte, the Inter coach, remains hopeful an agreement can be reached. “I like him because I consider him a player who could improve our team but on one side it is my hope, my will, on my other side we will see what we find with the club,” Conte said.

De Gea is believed to have thought long and hard about his future this summer after a dismal last season, when United finished sixth in the Premier League, 32 points adrift of champions Manchester City.

United’s willingness to make him the club’s highest paid player after Alexis Sanchez and the support he received from Solskjaer and the coaching staff in the final months of the campaign, when his form nosedived, had a significant bearing on his decision.

De Gea, 28, was said to have been at a very low ebb by the end of last season and needed his spirits lifting but he likes working with goalkeeping coach, Emilio Alvarez, and believes United can get back to challenging for top honours.

United would not sanction the England Under-21 goalkeeper, Dean Henderson, returning to Sheffield United on loan until De Gea’s future was resolved. But a meeting between Henderson’s agent, Sean McDaid, and United’s head of corporate development, Matt Judge, in London on Monday over a new contract for the goalkeeper went well and another loan deal with Sheffield United should be agreed soon. Henderson has attracted some interest from Bayern Munich but United regard him as a potential future No 1.

Solskjaer said the situation with Greenwood reminded him of the one Sir Alex Ferguson faced with Ryan Giggs almost 30 years ago as he insisted the youngster’s development would be carefully handled.

“Mason’s never been on my mind to send out on loan, he’s one that we have to keep at our place, keep him playing when we feel it's good for him and at the moment he's flying,” Solskjaer said. “He reminds me a little bit of the Giggsy story, you can't really send him on loan and for me he's ready to be in this squad.”

Ashley Young was booed by United fans at the National Stadium and Solskjaer said he would talk to his captain. “I’ve not spoken to him but I’ll have a chat with him yeah,” Solskjaer said.

“I think Ashley is a top professional, he always gives absolutely everything and his delivery today ended up with a goal, we want our fans to support our players and Ash has been a very loyal servant to this club for many years and he will keep on performing when he plays.”

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Sun Jul 21, 2019 1:04 am

An absolutely fascinating Business talk that also tells us a lot about football, and perhaps goes some way to explaining our last 2 seasons

Rasmus Ankersen tells us What Football Analytics can Teach Successful Organisations - lasts about 16 mins

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sy2vc9lW5r0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Sun Jul 21, 2019 1:11 pm

No great surprise and obviously budgets would change downward (as would commercial revenue) - but it is useful to see in this stark format rather than as a percentage of revenue. @KieranMaguirre shows us the losses that would be made in the Premier League without the TV money

https://twitter.com/KieranMaguire/statu ... 2837184512" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Sun Jul 21, 2019 1:22 pm

@AndyhHolt makes yet another case for proper regulation and a new set of financial rules in the pyramid

https://twitter.com/AndyhHolt/status/11 ... 0392621056" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Royboyclaret · Post by **Royboyclaret** » Sun Jul 21, 2019 2:04 pm

Chester Perry wrote:No great surprise and obviously budgets would change downward (as would commercial revenue) - but it is useful to see in this stark format rather than as a percentage of revenue. @KieranMaguirre shows us the losses that would be made in the Premier League without the TV money

https://twitter.com/KieranMaguire/statu ... 2837184512" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Normally I have a lot of time for any analysis that Keiran Maguire undertakes, but in this case the numbers are utterly pointless. For example, without the £119m TV money that we received in our last set of accounts, there's no way our Wage bill would have been £81m. In fact it would have been nearer £8m and we'd be unable to even compete in the PL.

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Sun Jul 21, 2019 2:13 pm

I did make the point Roy it just illustrates our dependence in a different way - I debated about posting it for a few hours and came down on that point with the appropriate qualification

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Sun Jul 21, 2019 7:27 pm

Given all the turmoil of FFP in the Championship especially. @KieranMaguire has begun looking at the position of each of the clubs - this is an initial rough calculation, I believe that a more thorough analysis will following in the coming days. It does seem to show that for all it's failings FFP (and Birmingham City's points penalty) is definitely reining in the rampant overspending - at least to the guidelines.

https://twitter.com/KieranMaguire/statu ... 1649181696" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Jul 22, 2019 2:15 pm

In post #1089 (http://uptheclarets.com/messageboard/vi ... start=1088" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) I linked an article about the online phenomenon of fans blindly defending their club against any negative media articles - it was primarily about Man City's fan's mobilisation against the report of the desire by UEFA's Investigative Chamber to have them banned from the Champions's League (post #1046 http://uptheclarets.com/messageboard/vi ... start=1045" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;). Here I link a very extensive article on the Man City/Abu Dhabi situation around that and more (***WARNING*** set aside at least 20mins to read and digest)

https://medium.com/@NcGeehan/trollerball-188bfad1e63a" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

predictably it is already being hammered by the City online community - https://twitter.com/NcGeehan/status/1153178891915288576" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Jul 22, 2019 2:28 pm

More on football and Brexit (following up on post #1712 http://uptheclarets.com/messageboard/vi ... start=1711" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) this time from Daniel Geey (whose articles I have linked a couple of times in the past) a Football Lawyer and a colleague who specializes in Imigration - this is a transcript of a podcast from back in April

https://danielgeey.com/brexit-and-football-again/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Jul 22, 2019 2:44 pm

In post #1693 (http://uptheclarets.com/messageboard/vi ... start=1692" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) I mentioned that Man City had finally started their own in house TV station. Man Utd have had theirs for well over 15 years) Roy Kean was effectively sacked in 2005 over criticisms he made of players on the channel. Now Utd are looking for it to become a serious financial contributor to their commercial efforts.

https://medium.com/swlh/manchester-unit ... c6a02407d3" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

On the face of it, it just looks like another commercial exploitation by the masters of it all - but if (and it is a big if) content is separated from Premier League content this kind of thing by the biggest clubs may just allow the Premier League collective agreement to survive

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Jul 22, 2019 2:58 pm

In support of the previous post an overview of the current status of OTT (own channel) TV by top clubs and leagues as it currently stands

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

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Jul 22, 2019 7:50 pm

In post #1621 (http://uptheclarets.com/messageboard/vi ... start=1620" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) I linked an article that recommended how visiting clubs should approach tours to China - it appears Man City have not been paying attention

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

Royboyclaret · Post by **Royboyclaret** » Mon Jul 22, 2019 8:12 pm

Chester Perry wrote:Given all the turmoil of FFP in the Championship especially. @KieranMaguire has begun looking at the position of each of the clubs - this is an initial rough calculation, I believe that a more thorough analysis will following in the coming days. It does seem to show that for all it's failings FFP (and Birmingham City's points penalty) is definitely reining in the rampant overspending - at least to the guidelines.

https://twitter.com/KieranMaguire/statu ... 1649181696" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Some interesting figures at the link. Preston continue to run a tight ship, always close to break-even and never in danger of falling foul of FFP. I recall reading some time ago that Trevor Hemmings was a big admirer of the Burnley financial model and their annual figures show a strong similarity to our own when we were in the Championship.

Others are less convincing and it's easy to see QPR following the downward spiral of Bolton now that their owner appears to be investing less and less in the Club.