Whether we like it or not, our beautiful game, is now a beautifully-run business. A perfectly oiled money-making machine. And football is also a reflection of wealth in society – the rich are becoming richer, and the poorer are stagnating, or gaining wealth at a much slower rate.
As a man of forty, football still has its romance. It has history, as have most teams, going back to the sixties, and seventies and beyond. Back then transfers were much less frequent. And in fact, the present transfer window system wasn’t introduced until the 2002-03 season. In 1979, Trevor Francis became the first one-million-pound player. The emphasis on youth programmes and development was still huge in the eighties and nineties. Epitomised by ‘the class of ’92 brought through by Sir Alex Ferguson at United. Although four years later Alan Shearer became the first fifteen million und player our shores had seen.
But 1992, August 15th to be exact, heralded football’s shift into the global business world. And for me, the romance in domestic football began to ebb away with BskyB, and the start of the Premier League. I still love football, I’m also a hopeless romantic. But a boom followed; cash, agents and cameras in huge quantities. Coverage exploded, as did transfers and salaries. In 1992, Lazio paid Spurs £5.5 million for Paul Gascoigne. Three years later Andy Cole’s went from Newcastle to Manchester United for £7 million. Now things are a different level. The record for an all English transfer being the £75 Million Liverpool paid Southampton for Virgil van Dijk paid last year.
With the amount of money on offer, it’s arguable there is more pressure to stay up, than win the league. For the winners; glory, but for the teams securing league status – financial security and ability to plan their short-term, and even medium-term future. Parachute payments are currently ninety million pounds spread over three years. This shows the enormous riches rewarded to those who stay up. We’ve also seen the way clubs can just implode; and slip down leagues. Then trying to manage contracts and huge wage bills; and getting into all sorts of trouble. Portsmouth being the epitome of this. Following going into administration in 2009. They were then relegated three times in four years. And only saved from liquidation when the Portsmouth Supporters Club took over the club in 2013.
At the other end of the league things were exponentially growing. In 2003 Roman Abramovich’s bought Chelsea for £140 million. But it wasn’t until 2012 they posted their first profit of £1.4 million. Prior to that, their losses had totalled £630 million.
But now, this is put into the shadows by Manchester City’s Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan. He’s estimated to have a personal worth on £17 billion. But even this is dwarfed by his family fortune, which is widely accepted to be at least $1 trillion.
Now although the club must work within the never-enforced FFP rules, they basically have an unlimited budget up to that threshold… in terms of financial resources, only PSG, owned by Qatar Sports Investments, who also have financial reserves, or rather assets under management or also around the $1 trillion mark.
No other club has that luxury. Manchester United however, were recently confirmed as the world’s richest club. Having an enterprise value of 3.255 billion euros. This figure is the projected cost of the club were it to be sold.
So United fans will be expecting a huge injection of cash over the summer, once a new manager has been confirmed. Based on that alone, most will expect them to have a strong pre-season and be much closer to the top of the table; and make a decent challenge. And ninety-seven percent of Arsenal is owned by a billionaire. Then there are Liverpool and Tottenham of course. This is a powerhouse of a top six, an embarrassment of riches…
With all this said, where does this leave the rest? Will owners flex their muscles? Will clubs change hands? Will business revenue help to bridge the gap? Or will the rest just get cut adrift?
Everton would say they should be getting into that top six, or at least challenging. They are also owned by a billionaire, with Mr Moshiri’s net worth estimated to be close to two billion. The fans are already becoming restless; and want to see structured investment to ensure their make strides to close the gap.
But then the current top ten in made up of Wolves, Watford and Bournemouth. Who are not spending huge amounts… Instead mixing income from the league and transfers out of their clubs, to make their improvements. Or course there is the enormous shadow of Newcastle United currently languishing in fifteenth. Even though they have a billionaire owner they are in turmoil. But you cannot help but wonder… If they enter new ownership, and manage to keep Rafael Benitez, they might be able to finally come out of their slumber; and ruffle some feathers. How this will pan out though, nobody knows. But one thing is for sure… A city of nearly two hundred and seventy thousand people are not happy; and want change.
This paints a bleak picture, and one of cold hard cash; not romanticism… But it’s not the whole story. West Ham brought in ten summer addition, at a cost of £92.6 million. In spending a reported £35 on Brazilian Felipe Anderson, they shattered their transfer record and are now looking to build something. And although currently in tenth, they must have eyes on a much higher finish – if not this season, then next. Newly promoted Fulham went even bigger, spending over £100 million on eight players, although they are currently second-bottom with twenty-five points. And with only twelve games to go are in very serious danger of relegation.
So, the money is clearly there. Albeit to a lesser degree.
Jean Michael Seri joined Fulham for around £25m from Nice
Last year City received £149 million just for winning the league. Southampton, who finished one above relegation, received £107 million. Where the money balloons is European football, television rights and sponsorships etc.
Last season there was a nine-point gap between Arsenal in sixth and Burnley in seventh. Perhaps more telling was the gap of a staggering nineteen points between City in first and United in second.
Ludicrous.
This year, with twelve games to go, there is eleven points between sixth-placed Chelsea and seventh-placed Wolves – just two points more.
It remains to be seen if the gap between sixth and seventh increases between now and then end of the season. And how much money talks. Forget about the dreams of a breakaway European League. I’m just dreaming about a Premier League that doesn’t permanently separate into six and the rest; and lose its romance altogether.