The game needs a sustainable financial framework and an independent regulator for clubs to attract the right ownersI have been invited to speak on Monday evening on a panel about ethics in football and, specifically, the Owners and Directors Test: in short, how we get the “right” type of owners into the game. The mini-budget announcement last week by the government has made me think tangentially about this issue and what place regulation has in football.Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng have been nothing but clear about what they stand for – we are in an era of deregulation, tax cuts and growth at all costs. I understand the logic of trying to get the economy growing and using the resulting...
Without some cap on spending, the rest can only look on in awe as England’s super-clubs disappear into the distanceRemember the pandemic? Remember when we thought nothing would be the same again? Remember when we thought the damage done to football’s finances was so severe that transfer fees might never recover? We were part right. This summer, Premier League clubs have spent €2.25bn (£1.94bn), more than La Liga, Serie A, the Bundesliga and Ligue 1 combined.The net spend is even more remarkable: €1.35bn for Premier League clubs, with La Liga a distant second on €52.44m (and then only because of Barcelona’s lever-driven splurge). Continue reading...
England’s Euro 2022 triumph opened up an image of what is possible when excellence and team cohesion are the driversIf there is one phrase that we keep hearing when talking to other people in the game, it is that “football is different to other businesses”. Granted, you never see employees kissing the logo of their company shirts, but it seems to be used as an excuse for unsustainable business models, concentrating power in a small group of individuals, ignoring broader stakeholders and propping up outdated, often sexist cultures. Throughout my career, I’ve witnessed signals that indicate an opportunity for disruption in other industries; travel in the late 1990s, dating and financial services in the last 15 years. I think those...
Affordable ticket prices are key to giving football fans the live experience which can develop into a lifelong commitmentFootball is bending over backwards to prove its relevance. From 60-minute matches to sin bins and throw-ins taken with feet, Fifa, the game’s governing body, is exploring every option in a bid to attract a newer, younger audience.These ideas are not new. Real Madrid’s president, Florentino Pérez, used the claim of a growing army of disinterested youth to justify the case for the European Super League. The 75-year-old said on the Spanish TV show El Chiringuito that 40% of fans aged between 16 and 24 are not interested in football. “Why? Because there are a lot of low-quality games and they have...
Mbappé staying in Paris has angered Real Madrid and La Liga but PSG argue the eye-watering numbers add up in their favourSo whose side are you on in the fallout following Kylian Mbappé’s decision to stay with Paris Saint-Germain? Watching the extraordinary outrage in Spain, with the press accusing the Frenchman of lacking class and La Liga branding the deal as “scandalous”, has raised eyebrows. But not as many as PSG being able to stump up a €200m-plus package for the world’s best player – despite making a €224m loss last year.There are no good guys here, only a gnawing unease that the laws of economic gravity are being defied to the further detriment of the game we love. As...