Football's Magic Money Tree

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Chester Perry
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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Wed May 25, 2022 12:19 am

I am recognising a pattern in the story about the Government urging/persuading the Premier League to allow the takeover of Newcastle United

https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... SApp_Other

the same government that was supportive of the Super League - and some think that the Government will give them an Independent Football Regulator that will remove the ills from the game
Chester Perry wrote:
Sun Apr 25, 2021 9:33 pm
There are reports suggesting that Ed Woodward's meeting with Downing St officials in the week prior to the Souper League announcement included discussion of Super League and that he was given an ok by then - you always hope in these circumstances that someone was actually recording the conversation

https://twitter.com/cazjwheeler/status/ ... 5871827970
Chester Perry wrote:
Mon Apr 26, 2021 11:54 pm
As we know Downing Street have been denying that anyone spoke to Ed Woodward about a Super League let alone gave it the ok when he met with them to discuss the return of fans - however and yes it could be coincidental but how about this for a piece of investigative work from @TariqPanja

his last 3 posts on this thread

https://twitter.com/tariqpanja/status/1 ... 1915156480

A Daily Mail article from the 25th of April https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... eague.html names Dan Rosenfeld (No 10's Chief of Staff) as meeting with Ed Woodward prior to the Super League announcement

a quick search on Rosenfeld revealed this https://twitter.com/tariqpanja/status/1 ... 68/photo/1 his father in law is Daily Mail journalist Alex Brummer

on the night of the Super League announcement Brummer published an article in full support of the Super League idea https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... eague.html

as I said it is all fantastic coincidence
Chester Perry wrote:
Tue Apr 27, 2021 2:31 pm
More on this meeting between Ed Woodward and Downing St officials
1 he did not inform Premier League it was happening
2 the DCMS were unaware
3 EW has not discussed fans return even with the Premier League...

From the Times

Ed Woodward kept meeting at Downing Street a secret
Martyn Ziegler, Henry Zeffman
Tuesday April 27 2021, 12.01am, The Times

The Manchester United executive Ed Woodward did not inform the Premier League that he was meeting officials at No 10 in the days leading up to the launch of the European Super League.

Woodward, United’s executive vice-chairman, met Boris Johnson’s chief of staff, Dan Rosenfield, at Downing Street on April 14, four days before the launch of the Super League, which collapsed less than 48 hours later.

Downing Street has insisted that Rosenfield and Woodward discussed only the return of fans to stadiums, and that the Super League proposals were not raised.

However The Sunday Times has quoted sources saying that Woodward felt “emboldened” after the meeting, which included a brief introduction to Johnson, to proceed with the Super League’s launch, which precipitated the biggest crisis in the game for decades.

The suggestion that Woodward was talking about the return of fans came as a surprise to Premier League chiefs, according to sources, given that the United executive has not pushed the issue with them significantly, is not on any of the working groups planning for their return and did not inform the league of what could potentially have been such an important meeting.

It is understood that the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, which has taken the lead on the return of fans, was also unaware of the meeting.

Woodward resigned from his United position last Tuesday with the Super League proposals collapsing as Chelsea and Manchester City became the first of England’s “big six” clubs to pull out. The government, including Johnson, had threatened a “legislative bomb” to prevent the breakaway.

A No 10 spokeswoman said: “Ed Woodward had a meeting in Downing Street last week with officials. The meeting was to discuss the safe return of fans and Covid certification, as part of ongoing work on events pilots. The Super League was not discussed.”

At a separate briefing for reporters, Johnson’s spokesman was asked whether Rosenfield knew about the Super League plans before they became public. “No,” the spokesman replied. Asked about the possibility that Rosenfield told Woodward the government would not oppose the Super League plan, the spokesman answered: “No, that’s not correct”.

Sources said that Woodward had been introduced to the prime minister only briefly when he and Rosenfield bumped into Johnson in a corridor. One source said that Rosenfield was as angered as the rest of the government when the plans were unveiled, and that it was his idea for Johnson to meet fan groups last Tuesday.

Before the No 10 briefing, Labour’s Jo Stevens said Johnson needed to explain exactly what had transpired during Woodward’s visit.

The shadow culture secretary said: “If Boris Johnson gave the European Super League his backing and then publicly turned on the plan, then the British people deserve a full, clear and immediate explanation and apology.”

Chester Perry
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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Wed May 25, 2022 3:01 pm

Chester Perry wrote:
Sun May 15, 2022 2:20 am
How many of you recognised that the last week or so has seen further Americanisation of English Football, particularly of the Premier League and I am not just talking about the pending takeover of Chelsea

American involvement in clubs is as follows
Control
- Arsenal
- Burnley
- Chelsea
- Crystal Palace
- Liverpool
- Manchester United

Shareholding
- Leeds
- Manchester City
- West Ham
- Wolves

of course Americans own newly promoted Fulham and may yet own Sheffield United who are reportedly up for sale for over £115m thanks to their parachute payments

Americans also own domestic broadcast holders Sky, Amazon and now have a partnership with BT Sport Warner Bros/Discovery) that includes an option to takeover BT Sport.
Chester Perry wrote:
Mon May 16, 2022 5:51 pm
and on that US owned Football Clubs theme

54 clubs in Europe now owned by US interests - no surprise to see that England leads the way

28 in the last two years and 7 (25% of that number) this year

https://twitter.com/CIESsportsintel/sta ... mM960qAAAA
Just to carry on a theme - here is a thread from the Vysyble chaps yesterday after the not surprising news that the Premier League had approved the takeover of Chelsea - includes some of their long held views

https://twitter.com/vysyble/status/1529181249973231618

Here was @AndyHolts take on the news

https://twitter.com/LancasterIsHome/sta ... CH77gqAAAA

and a more general comment from Holt on the the American approach including the sharing of a popular take on what Mike Garlick (an old classmate at Burnley Grammar) did with our club

https://twitter.com/AndyhHolt/status/15 ... 4794449923

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Wed May 25, 2022 3:31 pm

Just to add to the top post on this page - this from Tariq Panja

https://twitter.com/tariqpanja/status/1 ... 8253057024

There are some close links between the Government and the Premier League

Chester Perry
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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Thu May 26, 2022 2:44 pm

Interesting piece from Huddle Up on how Barcelona are hoping to get out of debt

https://huddleup.substack.com/p/barcelo ... gn=cta&s=r

it is not even worth comparing and contrasting with our situation - we live in a different universe to these types of clubs

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Thu May 26, 2022 8:34 pm

Interesting article at TheConversation,com by Simon Chadwick about the financial worlds of the two protagonists in this years Champions League Final

https://theconversation.com/champions-l ... rid-183246

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Sat May 28, 2022 1:05 am

With not much going on at the moment you may have some reading time

I am not known as someone who has much faith in the Independent regulator of football - mainly because I believe it will cement in perpetuity the financial status quo re the the UEFA monies of which it will have no authority

Here a group of Charlton fans who are very much in support of the notion have discovered that there are Lobby groups actively trying to stop it happening

The Charlton have posted a real rant about it
https://thecharltondossier.com/outsourc ... irty-work/

and particularly against the "academic" feel paper the lobbyists have produced
https://iea.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2 ... -FINAL.pdf

a summary is here
https://iea.org.uk/publications/red-car ... regulator/

RVclaret
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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by RVclaret » Wed Jun 01, 2022 12:31 pm

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... om-elliott

More private equity and American ownership in football. AC Milan taken over by Redbird Capital for around $1.3bn.

Chester Perry
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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Wed Jun 01, 2022 12:54 pm

RVclaret wrote:
Wed Jun 01, 2022 12:31 pm
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... om-elliott

More private equity and American ownership in football. AC Milan taken over by Redbird Capital for around $1.3bn.
Also part of an interesting trend where ownership groups in a Premier League club have separate interests in other clubs

Red Bird own circa 10% of FSG - you would think UEFA will be looking at that closely re the Champions League

David Blitzer one of the co-owners of Crystal Palace has interests in 6 other clubs (on his own)

John Textor the major shareholder in Palace has two other clubs on his own and is looking for more

Fosun the major shareholder in Wolves have a club in Switzerland

Silverlake who have a 10% share of Man City owners CFG have a share in the ownership of the A League (where CFG also have a team - mind boggles)

There will be more and there certainly is in the EFL notably at Swansea, Barnsley and also possibly Ipswich

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Wed Jun 01, 2022 4:46 pm

I have been posting about the fact the Premier League is essentially a Super League for a wile now - I missed this piece about how the Premier Leagues financial domination is starting to tell in Europe in the FT last week - it is worh a reas as is the twitter thread associated with it

The article link uses an archive to avoid the paywall

European football now belongs to the highest bidder
The widening financial gulf between Premier League clubs and the rest is shrinking the pool of competition


https://archive.ph/ywayn

https://twitter.com/jburnmurdoch/status ... 6545335296

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Wed Jun 01, 2022 5:25 pm

A great piece from Martin Cloake about the experience of travelling abroad and attending matches in UEFA competitions - which clearly shows that problems in this season finals a not knew just the norm under UEFA

https://martincloake.substack.com/p/fin ... gn=cta&s=r

The Truth about the fan experience in UEFA competitions
The appalling scenes outside last weekend's Champions League Final were not a one-off. The reality of attending games organised by UEFA is far from the slick marketing hype


Martin Cloake
2 hr ago

The reality of the fan experience in European football competitions is that it is too often a squalid, unpleasant and downright dangerous one. In the aftermath of yet another game organised under the auspices of UEFA in which scenes that simply should not happen unfolded, it’s time to call it very clearly. What happened at the 2022 Champions League Final wasn’t a one-off. Poor treatment of fans and poor organisation is systemic and it has been going on for years. And the responsibility rests with competition organiser UEFA.

I’m wary of snap judgements and trenchant takes designed to catch the eye before the brain is engaged. Especially in light of some of the disgraceful but sadly predictable nonsense being spouted after last weekend’s Champions League Final. And especially in the knowledge of how the social media cesspit makes most reasoned discussion almost impossible. But the opinion I’ve expressed above is no snap judgement. It’s based on 30 years’ experience of travelling around Europe following my club, and by eight years as a supporter rep.

These are some of the things I have experienced or had to deal with.

• Being held in stadiums for over two hours after games finish.

• Leaving the stadium after a long hold back and walking an hour back into town in the pouring rain because all public transport has closed.

• Finding toilets that are little more than holes in the ground with faeces smeared up the walls.

• Lack of basic refreshment facilities in away ends.

• Being kettled by police.

• Being kettled and batoned by police and stewards.

• Disorganisation and lack of communication leading to crushing at gates.

• Dealing with fans who have been tear-gassed and pepper-sprayed while being crushed at gates.

• Viewing the game through filthy, smeared perspex screens or netting that makes following play difficult.

• Being subjected to intrusive and invasive personal searches.

• Being required to turn up hours before the game with ID to collect tickets and then make a return journey to the same venue.

• Being required to carry original passport documents at all times.

• Arguing for common sense to be applied to bag policies for fans who have travelled long distances over several days.

• Avoiding local police “taxing” operations where passports are checked, confiscated and a charge made for their return.

• Being allocated the worst seats or sections in the stadium.

• Being subject to ticket price hiking.

• Disabled supporters being batoned by riot police.

• A complete ban on the presence of fans wearing colours or “behaving like a fan” within the boundaries of a town where a match is being played on the day of the game.

In 2019, I went to watch my team, Tottenham Hotspur, play in the Champions League Final. The showpiece game of European football. The jewel in UEFA’s crown. Some of my experiences were atypical as, at the time, I was co-chair of the Supporters’ Trust, and we were involved in many aspects connected with getting our fans to and from the game, working alongside our Club, the FSA and Football Supporters Europe. But I’m setting this down to give an indication of what fans face when attending UEFA’s showpiece event.

• In the runup to the game, we spent a lot of time pushing for a greater number of tickets to go to fans of the competing clubs, and challenging the eye-watering prices of some tickets. We had limited success.

• Two sets of English fans going to the same city for a major final was a major travel logistics challenge. We spent a lot of time working out deals to ensure fans could attend, as did our colleagues at Liverpool’s Spirit of Shankly. Both Clubs, to be fair, were also extremely helpful.

• Many fans take a chance through sites such as Booking.com to book accommodation in advance, but premises regularly cancel bookings and hike prices when they know demand will be high. Finding and affording accommodation is a major worry for many fans ahead of these games.

• On the night before the game we had to deal with the aftermath of Spanish riot police attacking a bar where Spurs fans were drinking.

• On the day of the game, a major worry was the need to carry match tickets for which no duplicates would be issued if they were lost or stolen. So you’re constantly on edge as theft and pickpocketing is rife.

• On the approach to the stadium, local criminals who had obtained UEFA bibs and fake stewarding accreditation were asking to check tickets and then running off with them. Police were simply not interested in dealing with this.

• For this game at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium, fans had to get through an outer cordon onto the main concourse before entering the stadium, enabling the area immediately around the ground to be secured for ticket holders. UEFA had promised water would be available but, in 40-degree temperatures, the water ran out. There was no cover. Fans were passing out.

• Inside the ground it was also clear that drinking water had run out. The mobile hawkers we had been promised would be dispensing water were nowhere to be seen.

• We were still aware of one flight full of our fans that had been delayed taking off, with those fans almost certain to miss kick-off. In the end, they got to the ground with the aid of a police escort fast-tracking their journey from the airport, but they missed the first 15 minutes.

• Signposting to the stadium from local transport links was inadequate, and as crowds built up, even the VIP guests were being seen to abandon cars and walk.

• Five minutes into the game I was being texted reports of one of our fans being beaten up by Spanish police in a toilet on the upper tier. I spent a large part of the first half trying to contact Club stewarding staff so that this could be addressed. (Clubs are allowed to take their own stewards, which is helpful, but they have no jurisdiction inside another club’s ground).

• After the game, we again had to negotiate poor signposting and inadequate exit processes.

• We were directed to a Metro station that was closed, leaving thousands of fans milling about on a major road. We didn’t get back into the town centre until around 1am.

That experience is not unusual. Talk to fans at a clutch of major finals and they will tell you the same stories. As I’ve said, these are not one-off events, and when the same problems happen at event after event run by the same organisation, questions have to be asked about that organisation’s ability to deliver.

Of course, there are some factors beyond UEFA’s control, the most obvious being the behaviour of police. In Spain and France particularly, the police seem to be a law to themselves and operate on a default setting of full force response – deploying batons and tear gas far too readily. There are numerous reports of poor policing tactics across Europe, and while I have no wish to fuel any Brexitesque arguments about the merits of the UK versus the European approach, the fact is that the majority of UK police have a far better approach to the dynamics of crowd control than their European counterparts.

But UEFA still has a duty of care to its customers, and the only conclusion I can draw after three decades of experience is either that it is incapable of carrying out that duty, or it simply doesn’t feel it is important enough. So something has to change.

The immediate aftermath of the events surrounding the 2022 Final has been both depressing and then potentially encouraging. The first response of the bodies who staged the event was to blame the fans. Because problems in football are always the fans’ fault. Problems with fans of English clubs in Europe in football also come with much historical baggage connected with past bad behaviour, meaning that ‘blame the fans’ has helped various authorities avoid having to confront any issues relating to their own culpability for many years. And it’s also led a good number of English club fans to conclude that we will never get a fair deal. All which leads to what is at best a sullen standoff and at worst ratchets up tensions.

What’s been encouraging is how quickly the blame the fans narrative has been shot down. Within hours of UEFA and the French authorities reaching for the standard getout, accounts from eye-witnesses, journalists, UK police observers and the UK government had countered that. And efforts to pin the blame on Liverpool’s fans finally fell apart when reports of Real Madrid fans experiencing similar problems emerged.

Any fan of an English club who has ever travelled to a game in Europe should also have recognised a pattern and empathised with the experiences of those at the game – due to what I have said above. But a combination of tribalism, the cesspit of social media and a particularly unpleasant attitude to Liverpool fans in particular led to the emergence of a lot of self-appointed experts seizing on fragments of information to reinforce existing prejudices. I have recently given up attempting to engage in rational debate on Twitter, and nothing I saw in the days following the Final changed my willingness to stick to that decision.

The FSA and Football Supporters Europe have spoken clearly and well on the issues, with FSE’s Ronan Evain being particularly blunt about some of the nonsense the French authorities attempted to peddle before they had to backtrack. But the efforts of fan organisations are undermined by the determination of too many fans to pursue tribal agendas. Rivalry is part of the game, but a failure to recognise that what happened to Liverpool and Real Madrid fans could have happened to any of us – because so many similar incidents have happened to many of us – makes us all losers.

The investigation that’s now been announced provides an opportunity to face up to and confront some fundamental problems. UEFA clearly does not rank ensuring fans have a safe and enjoyable experience at the match as a priority. That must change. So too must the attitude of police forces who see themselves not as servants of the people but as imposers of order – although that involves tackling more deep-seated problems. And finally, ordinary fans have to be better at realising the common problems we all face override tribal rivalries.

The French authorities are now taking a lot of, very well-deserved, flak for their initial response. This is allowing UEFA to avoid the spotlight. In hundreds of matches over many years, that body has overseen conditions that simply should not be experienced by the customers of any business. And for some years now, the experience of attending its flagship final has fallen far short of all the hype. Things have got so bad that the reality is now intruding upon the slick marketing operation. Even those with vested interests in preserving the myth of the football family enjoying an elite event are unable to ignore the grim reality.

If UEFA was not among the world’s most hubristic bodies, it would be facing up to the need for fundamental change in the way it operates. But no one has any confidence that it will. I was one of the fan reps who sat in a meeting with that organisation’s President and heard some very fine words about how UEFA valued the fans. This latest fiasco proves UEFA doesn’t value the fans, other than as compliant extras in its moneymaking machine. We need to see fundamental change if attending games organised by UEFA isn’t to be seen as, at best, an endurance test.

It is quite an achievement to make something that can bring so much joy to so many people such an unpleasant and dangerous experience.

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Fri Jun 03, 2022 12:24 am

It has taken a while but there is finally a date for the European Court of Justice to hear the case of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus (plus the other co-conspirators in Super League) against UEFA's monopoly

https://twitter.com/tariqpanja/status/1 ... rBtMQqAAAA

@tariqpanja
Date set for European Court of Justice hearing into Super League company v UEFA. Feels like a big moment: Is UEFA abusing its monopoly position?

Two day hearing: July 11-12
⚽️ 💰🏫

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Fri Jun 03, 2022 12:45 am

Blackpool have lost their manager - he seemed to be very good and much better than new appointment Simon Grayson

Now it seems that the business of owner Simon Sadler is under scrutiny - here the FT gives an high level view of the situation and Sadler

Simon Sadler: Blackpool’s block trade king
https://archive.ph/CntEy

here is that earlier report from the FT

BofA and Citi suspend equity trading with Segantii Capital on block trade concerns
Hedge fund run by Blackpool FC owner is a ‘priority customer’ in Asia

https://archive.ph/oxjka

all links go to archive views to avoid paywall issues

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Fri Jun 03, 2022 12:58 am

It is interesting just how many clubs that international "investors" wanting to get into football fail to buy before actually succeeding - what is apparent is just how difficult it is to distinguish between the chancers, the tyre kickers and the genuine bidders - here the Athletic looks at the bidder for Sheffield United who has yet to convince the EFL that he has the means to own and run the club (Mike Ashley certainly though he was a time waster when he made offers for Newcastle) - link is to an archive view of the article

Henry Mauriss says he was ‘at the finish line’ to buy Newcastle. Will Sheffield United be different?

https://archive.ph/gm9tG

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Fri Jun 03, 2022 2:00 am

If this thread has shown anything to us that there are a vast multitude of ways of taking the fruit from Footballs Magic Money Tree not all of them legal and even the biggest players can get taken in - When Manchester City announced a new Crypto sponsor earlier in the season questions were raised by observers not the club - the sponsorship was quickly cancelled but it seems that the sponsor was definitely a bunch of 'wrong uns' as they say

no surprise that it is @Uglygame who has uncovered this

Ex-Man City crypto partner linked to alleged £1.1bn+ fraud
https://theuglygame.wordpress.com/2022/ ... 1bn-fraud/

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Fri Jun 03, 2022 6:33 pm

and speaking of wrong uns - using football as a perceived investment to prey on naive markets and individuals when the reality is more of a Ponzi scheme - where have we seen that before - from the Athletic, link to an archive view of the article

Football Index officer running new website trading ‘shares’ in players

https://archive.ph/ytKNe

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Sun Jun 05, 2022 12:13 am

Chester Perry wrote:
Fri Jun 03, 2022 2:00 am
If this thread has shown anything to us that there are a vast multitude of ways of taking the fruit from Footballs Magic Money Tree not all of them legal and even the biggest players can get taken in - When Manchester City announced a new Crypto sponsor earlier in the season questions were raised by observers not the club - the sponsorship was quickly cancelled but it seems that the sponsor was definitely a bunch of 'wrong uns' as they say

no surprise that it is @Uglygame who has uncovered this

Ex-Man City crypto partner linked to alleged £1.1bn+ fraud
https://theuglygame.wordpress.com/2022/ ... 1bn-fraud/
Can you imagine what this session at the PlaytheGame conference later this month will be like - I am just hoping that it will be available for public consumption at some point

‘Billionaires and breakaways: Is that the future of football?’
presented by @SportingIntel with contributions by Philippe Auclair amongst others

https://twitter.com/StanisElsborg/statu ... iGt8QqAAAA

@SportingIntel has already provided this tasty appetizer

https://twitter.com/sportingintel/statu ... 2083449856

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Wed Jun 08, 2022 7:30 pm

Some confusion about just what is happening at Chelsea re the finances and the takeover

today in the Telegraph (link bypasses the paywall)
Chelsea risk FFP investigation as £100m held back from sale after financial liabilities

https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fw ... nancial%2F

Yesterday Companies House revealed a cash injection via a new share issue of £100m

https://twitter.com/KieranMaguire/statu ... de%3Dfalse

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Wed Jun 08, 2022 8:41 pm

Also yesterday @SwissRamble produced this excellent thread on Debt in Football - Chelsea feature quite prominently - unfortunately apart from a quick diversion to look at debt in the Championship, the focus is on clubs in the Deloitte Money List

https://twitter.com/SwissRamble/status/ ... 9801968640

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Newcastleclaret93 » Thu Jun 09, 2022 11:07 am

https://www.lancs.live/sport/football/f ... e-24175301

Interesting that Burnley’s takeover is referenced in this.

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Fri Jun 10, 2022 2:55 pm

Fan Engagement has been a popular topic in recent years, but only because clubs want to find new ways of extracting cash particularly from fans unable to attend matches

Here is another organisation that wants to make money from the game and I take the findings with a little pinch of salt

branding their output as by The Fan Relationship Index they have produce a report that you can sign up for a free copy of here
https://waivglobal.com/fan-relationship-index/

or just read the version I have downloaded
https://waivglobal.com/wp-content/uploa ... 112021.pdf

the Daily Mail have produced this article on it with the usual sensationalism

Premier League 'big six' are missing out on an EXTRA £700m revenue by 'failing to understand their fans', claims new report... with Man United alone losing out on £124m crypto deal, and Spurs fans wanting 'digital banking propositions'!
  • The Premier League's 'big six' are missing out on a potential £700m in revenue

  • This is because the clubs are failing to properly understand their supporters

  • They're not aware of the characteristics and preferences of all their fans globally

  • Man United could make an extra £124million per year from a crypto partnership

  • United could also make £100m from a global content subscription service

By ANDY HAMPSON, PA

PUBLISHED: 06:48, 10 June 2022 | UPDATED: 07:57, 10 June 2022

The Premier League's so-called 'big six' are missing out on a potential £700million in extra revenue by failing to properly understand their fans, a new report has concluded.

Researchers for the latest edition of the Fan Relationship Index believe the likes of Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City, Tottenham and Chelsea are not fully aware of the characteristics and preferences of all their supporters globally.

By understanding fans better, clubs would not only be able to improve their service to them but they could also benefit considerably financially.

For example, the report determines that United could make an extra £124million per year from a crypto partnership as its research suggests their fans are 74 per cent more interested in this sector than the average member of the public.

United could also make an estimated £100million from a global content subscription service, with the five other clubs potentially making more than £50million each.

Yet having analysed supporters in three distinct categories - match-going, casual attendees and global followers - the report states the potential in each sector will vary from club to club. It says Spurs fans, for instance, are actually the most receptive to digital banking propositions.

Project ambassador Louis Saha, the former United and Everton striker, hopes the report can be used by clubs to benefit both them and supporters and eliminate past blunders such as the European Super League fiasco.

Saha told the PA news agency: 'It's definitely a huge opportunity for clubs to clearly understand who are their fans, what their preferences are and the kind of opportunities they have.

'All these numbers, all this research, can really help clubs identify a strategy in terms of a partnership and understand as well from the partner's side.

'Obviously there are commercial targets but there is a need of a win-win approach here where everyone can understand where the targets are.

'That's sometimes the frustration of the fans - on one side they feel used. This is where I think the Super League was a wake-up call for a lot of people. They (the club) forgot the actual values or meritocracy of the sport.'

Since retiring in 2013, Saha has set up his own business to help retired players connect with businesses and find opportunities.

He feels the Fan Relationship Index, which is produced by the CLV Group and is published on Thursday, mirrors his own work well.

The 43-year-old said: 'It completely links. My new approach in life is about getting things improved.

'I'm very passionate. I love my sport and I want to provide a bit more awareness.'

The report also determines virtual matchday 'metaverse' experiences could raise between £36million and £130million, depending on the club.

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Mon Jun 13, 2022 5:15 pm

Interesting piece today on Crypto sponsorship in sport from the Huddle Up Newsletter

https://huddleup.substack.com/p/crypto- ... gn=cta&s=r
This user liked this post: fatboy47

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Mon Jun 13, 2022 5:22 pm

It is probably enough to raise fear in the mind of any football fan in this country even when your club has been run in a quite shambolic fashion for as long as Birmingham City has been

from the Telegraph - link by passes the paywall
Birmingham City close to being taken over by former Watford owner Laurence Bassini

https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fw ... bassini%2F

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Mon Jun 13, 2022 10:12 pm

The Telegraph is reporting a bid for Everton, fronted by Peter Kenyon, he failed with an attempt for Newcastle previously

https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fw ... 1655153298

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by GodIsADeeJay81 » Tue Jun 14, 2022 11:51 am

Birmingham takeover bid going on?

Sounds a bit strange as to what's going on and where the money is being borrowed

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Tue Jun 14, 2022 12:50 pm

GodIsADeeJay81 wrote:
Tue Jun 14, 2022 11:51 am
Birmingham takeover bid going on?

Sounds a bit strange as to what's going on and where the money is being borrowed
Kind of feels like the D***o brothers will be selling West Ham next year (when they do not have to pay a penalty to the London Stadium owners - and are putting things in place to take over at Birmingham again (while very cheap) particularly as Bassinni will not be in sole charge - Bassinni could just be a stooge - still a strange choice

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Wed Jun 15, 2022 4:40 pm

Apple TV have finally got into the sports right market in a proper fashion, signing a 10 year deal with MLS - this article in the Athletic answers all your questions

link to an archive copy of the article - no paywall
How will MLS’ Apple TV deal affect the league? Everything we know about the agreement

https://archive.ph/VI7p2

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Wed Jun 15, 2022 4:57 pm

and here is a piece to balance some of that positivity over the the Apple TV/MLS deal courtesy of the Huddle Up Newsletter - some very interesting points on MSL Franchise valuations

https://huddleup.substack.com/p/apples- ... =share&s=r

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by TsarBomba » Wed Jun 15, 2022 9:46 pm

https://twitter.com/talksport/status/15 ... eugIHA5Fkw

Absolute car crash of an interview by Bassini today on Talksport.

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Vegas Claret » Thu Jun 16, 2022 6:22 am

TsarBomba wrote:
Wed Jun 15, 2022 9:46 pm
https://twitter.com/talksport/status/15 ... eugIHA5Fkw

Absolute car crash of an interview by Bassini today on Talksport.
it's beyond horrific

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by RVclaret » Thu Jun 16, 2022 8:34 am

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... ndervalued

Chelsea's new owner says English football is heavily undervalued.

Plans to leverage sports betting as part of his plan to grow value.

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Thu Jun 16, 2022 6:21 pm

so back to the MLS/Apple deal

interesting thoughts in today's Unofficial Partner newsletter

The Long View - MLS and Apple
Apple’s bet on US club soccer goes to 2032.


That length of deal gives the league a runway to build out a story for a generation. By defining Apple as a ‘digital rights partner’ it leaves MLS to sell the same games to television in every territory.

The duration of the Apple deal will be envied by Premier League and other European leagues which remain shackled to three year terms, a legacy of EU legislation against Sky in the early 2000s.

This was referenced by Claire Enders as an anachronism of a pre-FAANG era. (The long answer lies in the EU’s Audio Visual Directive here https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/ ... 320_EN.pdf).

Apple’s involvement adds weight to Tom Fox’s point about the long term value of the MLS, made on UP214 https://www.unofficialpartner.com/podca ... 14-tom-fox.

Fox was chief executive of Premier League club Aston Villa during the ownership tenure of fellow American Randy Lerner, led Arsenal’s commercial team under CEO Ivan Gazidis and was president of MLS franchise the San Jose Earthquakes.

Let's take a hypothetical, the private equity group that was prepared to put all that money against The Super League. So let's say there's $4 billion out there. And someone comes in and says to Major League Soccer: give us your television rights on a global basis. Give us 25% of equity in your combined league. And over the next 10 years, we'll give you $4 billion with a requirement that money gets put into the player pool and gets spent on players. As a hypothetical, is that a model that some bankers sitting around a table would think makes some sense, because then I own the television rights I'm putting 400 million extra dollars into the player pool, so the quality on the field is going to get better. The value of the TV rights then goes up, so I'm actually putting my money into something that's raising the potential for my investment to become more valuable. And what you do is you then leapfrog the Mexican league, the Eredivisie, the Belgian league, the French league probably. You leapfrog every other league and you put yourself in the top two or three, in terms of your ability to compete with player salaries. Now you've then given up a percentage of equity on your business forever. But to do that, and then add more enterprise value, I think is a reasonable conversation

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Sun Jun 19, 2022 4:05 pm

I have have been venting my dislike of the multi-club model for years now - here the Observer has a piece about how it is still increasing in favour with ownership groups, the business benefits when done right are pretty obvious (which is why it should have been banned after the ENIC ruling in 2000 - One day someone needs to right a book on the role Tottenham's various owners down the years have led the game down the path it is still continuing along - how many actual realise just how much of a role they have had to play in the growth and nutrition of Football's Magic Money Tree - the changes to various football rules that they have led are the essential reason that our takeover was allowed to happen in the form it has.

anyhow back to the article - this just touches on the number of such groups even in English football - it is shocking and depressing just how many owners are at it
https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... ship-model

One is not enough: the growth in football’s multi-club ownership model
An idea taken to new levels by City Football Group is mushrooming in popularity but with mixed success


Ed Aarons - @ed_aarons - Sat 18 Jun 2022 12.30 BST

‘One lesson from all of this is that it’s difficult to be at two clubs,” said a reflective Nancy president, Gauthier Ganaye, after their relegation to France’s third tier last month. Feted as English football’s youngest chief executive after joining Barnsley for a spell in 2018 at the age of 30, Ganaye spent last season juggling his role at Nancy with being executive president of the Belgian club KV Oostende.

Barnsley, who were relegated from the Championship in April despite reaching the playoffs last year, are, like Nancy and Oostende, part-owned by New City Capital – an investment group that also includes American investors Pacific Media Group.

“The starting brief was never that I’d be there 100% of the time,” said Ganaye of his dual roles. “Discussions are under way in order to define a structure that can allow all of the clubs in the group to function.”

Things were not much better on the pitch for the rest of New City Capital’s steadily growing portfolio of clubs. Thun – who won the domestic title as recently as 2010 – laboured to a mid-table finish in Switzerland’s second tier, fans of Esbjerg endured another season of frustration in Denmark’s second division and Den Bosch remain marooned in the Dutch second tier.

At least the investors had something to celebrate at the end of May when Kaiserslautern – the four-times German champions who sold a 10% stake to a US consortium consisting of New City Capital’s Chien Lee and Pacific Media Group’s Paul Conway in March – beat Dynamo Dresden in the promotion playoffs to return to Germany’s second tier for the first time since 2018.

From New City Capital and 777 Partners LLC to City Football Group (CFG), Bolt Football Holdings, Redbird Capital and Red Bull, owning one club doesn’t seem to be enough these days. Even Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, fresh from its controversial takeover of Newcastle, is getting in on the act with speculation it is in contention to buy the Polish club Slask Wroclaw despite strong local opposition.

“Silesia is ancestral silver,” said Wroclaw’s local government spokesperson, Wojciech Koerber, last week. “The history of this city is not something that can be sold for a few zlotys. It is not only a business project, but also a social one.”

There are strong whispers that Qatar Sports Investments – which has transformed Paris Saint-Germain into a European superpower thanks to its endless financial reserves – is attempting to build a portfolio of clubs after watching the majority Abu Dhabi-owned CFG take its expanding empire into double figures with the acquisition of the French club Troyes in 2020. CFG failed in an attempt to buy Breda in April after a furious backlash from fans of the Dutch club.

“I won’t be surprised if QSI buys a club in Portugal soon,” one source says. “They have seen how successful CFG have been in running so many different clubs around the world that they all want to do the same. The system has been refined by CFG but the idea was started by the Pozzos.”

The Pozzos – the Italian owners of Udinese and Watford – relinquished control of their stake in Granada in 2016 after seven years at the helm of the Spanish side.

The multi-club phenomenon can be traced back much further, to a landmark case at the court of arbitration for sport in 2000 regarding two stakes owned by Enic, the company through which the English businessman Joe Lewis later bought Tottenham. The court’s ruling over Enic’s minority shareholding in AEK Athens and its majority one in Slavia Prague led to the introduction of regulations that prohibited two clubs in which a person or company had “decisive influence” from being admitted into the same Uefa club competition.

With different rules in place for every domestic league, however, a pretty big loophole remains open. Whereas the Premier League has restricted shareholding in a second club in the division to 10%, Uefa’s integrity rules permit one person to have a 100% shareholding in one club and a “non-decisive influence” shareholding in another club competing in the same competition.

There were questions asked in Germany when the American investor David Blitzer – who owns a 40% share in Crystal Palace through his company Bolt Football Holdings – bought 45% of the company that owns a majority shareholding in Augsburg at the start of 2021. But with the club membership retaining 50+1 of the voting shares, they have remained on the right side of the regulations and finished the season well clear of relegation trouble after January’s club-record signing of the America forward Ricardo Pepi in a deal worth $18m.

That has not been the only triumph for Blitzer, who was also behind Martin Broughton’s failed bid for Chelsea last month that, if successful, would have meant relinquishing his Palace shares. His Dutch club, Den Haag, missed out on promotion to the Eredivisie in the playoffs and his Belgian team, Waasland-Beveren, came close to returning to the top flight, six years after relegation.

Bolt Football Holdings has also emerged as the likely new owner of the 10-times French champions Saint-Étienne after their relegation to Ligue 2 amid dramatic scenes in their playoff against Auxerre.

RedBird – another American investment vehicle, whose partners include the Liverpool owners John Henry and Tom Werner, the NFL and LeBron James – followed up its success in guiding Toulouse back to Ligue 1 by completing the purchase of the Milan, the Italian champions, for $1.3bn.

The Miami-based 777 will be hoping for similar returns after their 100% takeover of Standard Liège in March, having completed a $175.8m deal to buy Genoa in September. The sale made Standard – who have not won a domestic title since 2009 – the 10th club in Belgium’s top flight to have attracted foreign investment, and almost half of Serie A’s clubs have been sold to North American investors or consortiums since 2018.

In February, 777 spent $137m on a 70% share in Vasco de Gama after legislation last year that permitted Brazilian clubs to operate as public companies opened the door to foreign investment. A month earlier, John Textor – the American who spent a reported £87.5m to join Blitzer as a minority stakeholder at Palace in August after showing interest in Newcastle – had taken a 90% stake in Botafogo and he says he is intent on restoring the glory years at the club where Jairzinho and Garrincha made their name.

“I want it to be clear three to five years from now that there is a Botafogo way,” he said. “Failure is the best teacher.”

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Mon Jun 20, 2022 9:59 pm

It has been an interesting couple of days for John Textor

this time last year we just knew him as the American businessman who made some interesting claims about what he could do with Benfica the team whose owners apparently did not believe him so brushed him off

Since then he has become the major shareholder at Crystal PAlace and bought Botafogo in Brazil and Belgian second-tier club RWD Molenbeek

yesterday he wasn't happy with the refereeing performance in a Botafogo match

https://twitter.com/JohnTextor/status/1 ... 1489792006

which brings questions about levels of owner interference and behaviour (certainly the Premier League would not approve)

today the Athletic tells us he is about to close on a major stake in Olympic Lyonnais - a team that gets into Europe on a regular basis - should Palace fans be worried that they will become a feeder team? by my reckoning that is now 9 teams that various Palace shareholders will own - link to an archiver version of the Athletic article

Crystal Palace shareholder John Textor close to completing Lyon takeover

https://archive.ph/AAsND

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by GodIsADeeJay81 » Mon Jun 20, 2022 10:43 pm

https://twitter.com/SwissRamble/status/ ... JaTFw&s=19

Could be interesting to see what happens to Stoke City next year with ffp...looks like they could be in real trouble.

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Wed Jun 22, 2022 2:48 am

Simon Chadwick reminds us that Football has changed even when it plays with familiar tropes - It is interesting given all the American investment in European Football that for the most part (and we saw it again last season at the highest echelons of European football that it is those who feel most entitled to success tend to be the ones that most repeatedly get it because they rarely conform to logic of reason. The new owners of Chelsea think they can extract huge value returns in a relatively short space of time - this might be the case if the Premier League remains strong - but UEFA and the ECA are working together to try and break that - Meanwhile Real and Barca (along with Juve) continue to exercise their own sense of entitlement in the European Courts, while getting their own League (who they spend so much time fighting with) to join in on the battle against nation states owning clubs, conveniently forgetting that is exactly how they have operated in the last 70 years or so. Perhaps they are upset that Man City and PSG are actually making huge strides to catch up on their multi-decade head start

https://medium.com/@simonchadwick_15086 ... 85f20e1a72

QATARI SOFT POWER GETS RAPPED-UP IN FOOTBALL
Professor Simon Chadwick, Emlyon Business School, Paris

As a kid in the 1970s, several of my first experiences watching football in North East England involved me asking my father about a group of fans who looked different to the rest of us. Dressed in Harrington jackets and Fred Perry polo shirts, this Doctor Marten boot wearing clique seemed cooler than everyone else and, in truth, looked more menacing. I can recall my father, who was always a big music fan, explaining something to me about Northern soul and ska music.

These small encounters on cold, English Saturday afternoons nevertheless established a template for my life, which has forever linked football, fashion and music. Across my journey there have been some high points, for example Half Man Half Biscuit’s ‘All I Want for Christmas is a Dukla Prague Away Kit’. There have also been some low points, a baggy shell suit wearing Paul Gascoigne rap collaboration with English folk band Lindisfarne in the 1990s immediately coming to mind.

Yet more recently, the connections between football, music and fashion seem to have moved on from simply being a matter of local sub-cultures, wanting to look good at matches, and listening to the latest music. One reason for this is that there has been a rapid recent convergence of sport, music, fashion and lifestyle, with clubs, brands and others blurring the boundaries between them. However, there also appears to be an additional dimension influencing this convergence — geopolitics.

The French rap industry is one of the biggest and most lucrative in the world, indeed it has become a staple of popular culture in France. To get a flavour of the music being made, a good starting point is the video for this track: ‘Bebeto’ by Guy2Bezbar. After even just ten seconds of watching it, one is left in no doubt about those who are making the music and those at whom it is targeted. Urban, Generation Z consumers; lots of sportswear brands, notably Nike; and laden with culturally iconographic references (for instance, Grand Theft Auto and Michael Jordan are openly referenced).

It’s not until the final scenes of the video that one can definitively conclude that the video is shot in Paris, at which point we get our first sight of a Paris Saint Germain branded jacket. Rather more PSG visibility is apparent in rapper Niska’s track ‘Freestyle PSG’, which is less a rap track than a socio-cultural homage to the French capital city club’s recent excesses. The premise of the video that accompanies this track is all about success, lots of money, big houses and expensive cars.

Such is the apparent power of PSG’s iconography, that it has even spread across La Manche to Britain. Rapper Dave’s 2016 video, ‘Thiago Silva’, not only takes its name from the French club’s then team captain, it is in its entirety a celebration of everything PSG. From the Parc des Princes and its retail store to Nike and the club’s association with Air Jordan, it is clear once more that PSG is all about being young, stylish, urban and cool. If you are still in any doubt about the power of PSG, instead try the video for Sugar MMFK’s track, ‘Trikot von Paris’ (a German shout out to the club).

For a club with a relatively short history (it was established in 1971) to have achieved such status is an amazing feat. Even more so when one considers that for most of the last fifty years, PSG has often languished in the shadows of both its domestic and European rivals. But then in 2011, something significant changed: new owners took over, Qatar Sports Investments (a subsidiary of the state’s Qatar Investment Authority) spending around €100 million on the acquisition. Ever since, the money lavished upon the club has broken records and established PSG as both France’s and one of Europe’s top clubs.

As one drives around Qatar, one often sees banners and posters attached to buildings, upon which are adorned the words ‘Qatar Deserves the Best’. Whether or not one agrees with the sentiment, it is a vision that many Qataris have bought into and a basis upon which PSG as a business is now being built. How else can a forward line of Neymar, M’Bappe and Messi be explained?

French football domination has partly delivered on Brand Qatar’s central proposition, though Champions League Final success has thus far evaded PSG. Nevertheless, the club’s commercial performance has been impressive in the ten years since its acquisition. Back in 2011, PSG was turning over less than €100 million per year. Now, that figure exceeds €600 million per year and it is conceivable that the figure will exceed €1 billion by the end of the decade.

As a rentier state (one that is gas and oil revenue dependent), this money helps to diversify Qatar’s income streams. However, given the country is one of the world’s largest liquified natural gas producers, with more than three hundred years of LNG stocks left, €600 million seems inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. Which implies that there are other motives for the country’s ownership of PSG.

One reason could be vanity — QSI’s chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi wouldn’t be the first person in history to have bought a football club for this reason. Also, the Gulf region is often characterised by mimicry; if one nation does something, then others follow. It is therefore worth remembering that by the time Qatar bought PSG, Abu Dhabi had already owned Manchester City for three years.

However, it seems more apparent that Qatar’s engagement with the French club is for geopolitical purposes, the signing of Neymar being evidence of this. Back in 2017, PSG didn’t just break the world record transfer fee paid for a player when it signed the Brazilian, it obliterated it. By paying €222 million, the sum more than doubled what Manchester United had paid the previous year to Juventus for Paul Pogba.

Given the prevailing transfer market conditions at that time, there was no need for PSG to do what it did. However, the important contextual detail is that several of Qatar’s near neighbours, including regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia, had just instigated a diplomatic boycott of Qatar and were intent on economically and politically isolating the country. In response, government in Doha wanted to send a signal that it was prepared to fight its rivals and had the resources to do so.

But there was still more to the matter than this. At the time, Neymar was arguably the best player around hence by signing him, Qatar was also signalling to the world that it deserves the best whilst at the same time providing a means through which people across the world could engage with the country. As Saudi Arabia threatened to dig a ditch between the two countries and fill it with nuclear waste, Qatar was signing a leading exponent of the beautiful game in order to entice the world.

Rather than being aggressive or coercive, government in Doha instead chose to play a game of attraction. In simple terms, the former is concomitant with hard power, the latter with soft power. What Qatar did through its signing of the Brazilian player was an attempt to influence the behaviour of others by using the power of attraction. Whether he has realised it or not, Neymar was (and remains) an instrument of soft power, deployed by the Qataris to secure a strategic and competitive advantage over its rivals.

Four years on and QSI were at it again, last summer signing Lionel Messi from FC Barcelona, thereby adding to PSG’s roster of Les Galactiques. Of course, we’ve already been told that Qatar deserves the best, but there’s additional soft power value in Messi. At the end of 2022, Qatar hosts the FIFA World Cup, the culmination of a national project that has been fifteen years in the making. If Messi can help PSG lift the Champions League trophy this year as well, then Qatari soft power will be greatly enhanced.

Football is the world’s favourite game and here is a very small, geographically vulnerable state that is centre-stage in promoting it. The essence of soft power is that it helps countries to convince others that they are just like you. In Qatar’s case, this is very important; it is only fifty years since the country ceased to be a British protectorate, a period during which many people across the world may well have asked ‘who?’, ‘what?’ or ‘where?’. For decades, the country was anonymous to many across the world. Now it isn’t, nor do many people remain in any doubt about who Qatar is or what the country stands for.

PSG, Neymar, Messi, and being deserving of and representing the best is a powerful proposition for any nation brand. Yet Qatar’s soft power credentials are being further burnished by this year’s hosting of the World Cup, football’s most prestigious competition. Despite prevailing stereotypes, especially amongst football fans in Europe, there is a local football culture thus the tournament provides another opportunity for this country of only three million people to tell the world again that it wants the same things as we do.

In its quest for legitimacy, however, Qatar sometimes appears to have — using an English phrase — ‘bitten off more than it can chew’. From the outset, its bid to host the 2022 World Cup has been mired in controversy. Concerns about the bidding processes for the 2018 and 2022 iterations of the event quickly became synonymous with FIFA corruption and ultimately led to the ‘House of Blatter’s’ downfall.

Later, rights groups began expressing their worries about the treatment, sometimes deaths, of migrant workers. It remains to be definitively established how many such workers have actually died, either in Qatar generally or whilst working specifically on World Cup projects, though this issue remains a millstone around the neck of government in Doha. Furthermore, whilst some concessions have been made towards promoting LGBTQ+ rights (for instance, organisers will permit rainbow symbols to be displayed in stadiums during the World Cup), Qatar remains a country in which conservative Islamic values are often vigorously upheld.

All of which would appear to stand in stark contrast to the macho bravado and largesse evident in the video for Niska’s ‘Freestyle PSG’ video. This is about as far removed from concerns about migrant construction workers as it is possible to get. For a Qatari domestic audience, the challenge ahead for government is to somehow reconcile traditional beliefs with a desire for modernity, especially amongst younger members of society. Overseas, the target audience and messages being communicated are of an entirely different nature.

PSG’s image cultivation emphasises an aesthetic that appeals to diverse urban communities, for whom football, rap music and fashion are important, thereby helping strengthen the soft power of Brand Qatar. Government in Doha wants to convince people that it wants the same things as they do and, of course, they all want the best. This means that when young generations of fans look at, think about or act in response to Qatar, they don’t see labour market exploitation or the suppression of human rights. In fact, they probably don’t see anything other than ‘cool’. PSG may not have achieved the ultimate European prize on-the-field, but Qatar is nevertheless winning over Generation Z audiences.

For Dr Marten’s in 1970’s Middlesbrough, read Nike Air Jordan in downtown Paris, 2022. Perhaps some things never change, maybe football, fashion and music have always had a symbiotic relationship. Equally, one imagines that Paris’ Generation Z population is as proud of its city and its club as I was of my town and my club, back when I lived at home. What has changed however is that my engagement with Boro back then was a socio-cultural phenomenon and not someone’s soft power project. It seems that football has changed, but then so too has the world in general.

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Vegas Claret » Wed Jun 22, 2022 3:43 am

GodIsADeeJay81 wrote:
Mon Jun 20, 2022 10:43 pm
https://twitter.com/SwissRamble/status/ ... JaTFw&s=19

Could be interesting to see what happens to Stoke City next year with ffp...looks like they could be in real trouble.
interesting that is says Stoke made 12 million in profit from the sales of Collins to Burnley and Surridge to Bournemouth - the fee to Bournemouth was supposed to be around 5 million, this would suggest (if I'm reading it correctly?) that we didn't pay anything like 12 million for Collins

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by GodIsADeeJay81 » Thu Jun 23, 2022 10:30 am

The (Man) City football group are on the verge of buying Palermo.

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by RVclaret » Mon Jul 04, 2022 12:36 pm

Bournemouth have borrowed from Macquarie bank secured on PL TV Money until August 2024.

Remember when we did this for the Wood second instalment and it meant (to many) we were in a financial crisis?

Interestingly, Kieran Maguire, who was suggesting we were doing it as a last resort and had no money, hasn’t said anything about this.

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by RVclaret » Mon Jul 04, 2022 12:37 pm

Here it is
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Newcastleclaret93
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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Newcastleclaret93 » Mon Jul 04, 2022 12:40 pm

RVclaret wrote:
Mon Jul 04, 2022 12:36 pm
Bournemouth have borrowed from Macquarie bank secured on PL TV Money until August 2024.

Remember when we did this for the Wood second instalment and it meant (to many) we were in a financial crisis?

Interestingly, Kieran Maguire, who was suggesting we were doing it as a last resort and had no money, hasn’t said anything about this.
Slightly different context though. Isn’t there owner a rich Russian?

The problem is not the debt it’s owners that can personally fund it if anything goes wrong

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by RVclaret » Mon Jul 04, 2022 12:48 pm

Newcastleclaret93 wrote:
Mon Jul 04, 2022 12:40 pm
Slightly different context though. Isn’t there owner a rich Russian?

The problem is not the debt it’s owners that can personally fund it if anything goes wrong
No they are doing the same thing, bringing known revenues forward, like we did with Wood’s second instalment.

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by GodIsADeeJay81 » Mon Jul 04, 2022 12:48 pm

Newcastleclaret93 wrote:
Mon Jul 04, 2022 12:40 pm
Slightly different context though. Isn’t there owner a rich Russian?

The problem is not the debt it’s owners that can personally fund it if anything goes wrong
Why borrow from an external source when they've got a mega rich owner?

That should be a cause for concern for Bournemouth fans.

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Newcastleclaret93 » Mon Jul 04, 2022 12:51 pm

GodIsADeeJay81 wrote:
Mon Jul 04, 2022 12:48 pm
Why borrow from an external source when they've got a mega rich owner?

That should be a cause for concern for Bournemouth fans.
No idea I don’t know the ins and outs of there finances

But I can understand why the press haven’t picked up on it like they did with ours

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Mon Jul 04, 2022 1:15 pm

You will find most newly promoted clubs do this - we did on our first two promotions to the Premier League - it advances cash to clubs to spend on:
- promotion bonuses (often in the region of £13m-£15m);
- the transfer window;
- and for those that have not been there for a while the ground upgrades required for the media can be astronomical (Leeds spent £16m on that) - without necessarily impacting overall cash flow - simply because the uplift in earnings is so great (more so as there is a new cycle starting for TV income also usually means an infrastructure upgrade for those media companies)

The money advanced for Wood was likely used for either takeover costs - Stage payment/capital repayment to MSD or to cover the cost of sacking Dyche and co. While it could be argued that getting the money in now (even at a cost of circa £500k) makes sense in the current inflationary climate that would only ring true if it was being used to advance the club, not the interests of its owners. No doubt there are some who have no issue with the advanced Wood monies being used in this way.

From the Bournemouth perspective this underlines just how big a leap the Premier League is even from Parachute Payments, new players are required to even stand a chance of avoiding immediate relegation - should we actually manage promotion this coming season I would expect that we too would use this route to help finance activities next summer
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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by GodIsADeeJay81 » Mon Jul 04, 2022 1:24 pm

Newcastleclaret93 wrote:
Mon Jul 04, 2022 12:51 pm
No idea I don’t know the ins and outs of there finances

But I can understand why the press haven’t picked up on it like they did with ours
Going off Chester's comment, the press are picking and choosing which ones to make noise about.

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Mon Jul 04, 2022 1:41 pm

GodIsADeeJay81 wrote:
Mon Jul 04, 2022 1:24 pm
Going off Chester's comment, the press are picking and choosing which ones to make noise about.
I would say it is more about what is generally accepted as being necessary to compete - what Bournemouth have done is such a common practice that it is really only worthy of comment when a team doesn't use it

It was brought up in our instance because of the timing and it's likely use, both are unusual and noteworthy so generated the comments particularly when aligned to relegation and the revelations in the accounts published only days before about the MSD agreement terms - It would have been newsworthy for any club nothing to do with a persecution complex some may have

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Tue Jul 05, 2022 7:39 pm

It has been a while since I have posted anything from Philippe Auclair or Josimar - this article follows on from one a while back about Asian betting sponsorship in England enabled by Isle of Man registrations

Catfishing the sports betting data suppliers
https://josimarfootball.com/catfishing- ... suppliers/

since it was published news has come through of the Premier League seeking a voluntary ban on betting sponsorship on shirts - it will have no impact on the king of deals Man City have just announced, however questionable the source - remember Man City had a questionable experience with a Crypto sponsor recently

https://twitter.com/PhilippeAuclair/sta ... 4581055489

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Fri Jul 08, 2022 3:14 am

So following on from the last post Josimar have been looking at that new Manchester City betting partnership

- in essence it is not much different from the Laba360 and Lovebet deals our club have previously had - The Josimar piece on that is up some way up this thread

No Questions Asked, We’re English
https://josimarfootball.com/no-question ... e-english/

all this is part of a long running investigation into betting sponsorship in football

here are some more pieces that have been run in the last few weeks

Double standards, U Bet looks at the promotion of betting in football and the purge against players and officials for betting
http://josimarfootball.com/double-standards-u-bet/

Meet Mr Chau
The triad gangster at the heart of English football gambling
http://josimarfootball.com/meet-mr-chau/

Match-fixing heaven looks at the semi-professional and youth games in Europe on which betting including in-game betting is offered

Ball Street looks at controversies surrounding 1XBet one of the biggest operators in the world
http://josimarfootball.com/ball-street/
http://josimarfootball.com/match-fixing-heaven/

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by Chester Perry » Fri Jul 08, 2022 1:19 pm

I have to laugh at yesterday's Price of Football podcast about how the West Brom owner is going to repay a £5m loan from the club (by paying a dividend to himself to pay for it) - they made a right hoo-haa about it

Yet we know that VSL have declared they are likely to pay the whole of the £65m they have borrowed from Burnley FC Holdings which was advanced to them when the MSD loan was placed on that entity. Yet Kieran Maguire has repeatedly said the loan was nothing to worry about - hmmmm

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Re: Football's Magic Money Tree

Post by ClaretPete001 » Fri Jul 08, 2022 2:34 pm

Chester Perry wrote:
Fri Jul 08, 2022 1:19 pm
I have to laugh at yesterday's Price of Football podcast about how the West Brom owner is going to repay a £5m loan from the club (by paying a dividend to himself to pay for it) - they made a right hoo-haa about it

Yet we know that VSL have declared they are likely to pay the whole of the £65m they have borrowed from Burnley FC Holdings which was advanced to them when the MSD loan was placed on that entity. Yet Kieran Maguire has repeatedly said the loan was nothing to worry about - hmmmm
To be fair Kieran Maguire said it once in the LET and has retracted since; I agree it was a bizzare thing to say.

Other than the one interview in the LET no one else has said the VSL funding model was not to be worried about - quite the contrary. Perhaps, not as loudly as other clubs.

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