By Paul Nicholson
October 4 – A boardroom bust-up has taken place at Highlight Communications that could see the company’s sports media assets come under the control of Dieter Hahn, the former Kirch executive who is deeply implicated in the alleged German cash-for-votes scandal around the award of the 2006 World Cup to Germany, and the secret slush fund used to buy broadcast rights to Bayern matches.
October 4 – Manchester United have the most expensive squad on the planet, the most money ever spent putting a football team together. Local rivals Manchester City rank third in the big money team stakes – with Real Madrid and Barcelona either side of them.
By David Owen
October 3 – Arsenal, the north London club whose French manager Arsène Wenger has just completed an extraordinary 20 years in the hot seat, have reported a sharp downturn in annual profits. The Gunners posted a pre-tax profit of just £2.9 million for the year to 31 May 2016 – down from a restated £18.2 million. Group turnover in the same period rose from £347.3 million to £356.5 million.
By Paul Nicholson
September 29 – Big thinking Premier League club Liverpool may shelve the next phase of their stadium development, according to comments made by owner John Henry in the US.
September 22 – Italian champions Juventus have reported a second year of operating profits, and that doesn’t include the bumper bonus of the €120 million sale of Paul Pogba to Manchester United which will be included in next year’s figures.
By Paul Nicholson
September 21 – Scottish giants Celtic announced a £500,000 pre-tax profit for the year to end June, reversing a loss of almost £4 million for the previous 12 months and prompting one stockmarket analysis to predict the AIM-listed shares could rise by 400% over the next five years.
By Matt Scott
September 20 – West Ham are hunting for what they believe are missing millions in the £6.8 million (€8 million) transfer of Arthur Masuaku from Olympiacos.
September 20 – Clubs from the Big 5 clubs are not only the biggest buyers of players (by value) but they are also the biggest sellers. Only nine clubs outside the big-5 league countries are in the top 50 positions for transfer incomes, according to data from the CIES Football Observatory.
By David Owen
September 17 – PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) have stepped into the hot-seat vacated by KPMG as statutory auditors of FIFA. The world football body announced that the Bureau of the FIFA Council had appointed PwC Switzerland to the role.
September 16 – Chinese businessman Guochuan Lai has completed his £175 million acquisition of West Bromwich Albion following the deal being approved by the Premier League this week.
September 13 – Manchester City have spent over €1 billion on players since 2010, the most of any European club. In 2016, City also top the table spending €213 million. Manchester United are ranked third in spend since 2010, behind Chelsea, and second in the 2016 table, ahead of Juventus and Barcelona.
By David Owen
September 12 – The impact of a new kit deal with Adidas combined with reduced finance costs as a consequence of a refinancing of the club’s sizeable debt have triggered a turnaround in Manchester United’s financial fortunes. The Old Trafford club today kicked off the 2015-16 Premier League full-year financial reporting season by unveiling a pre-tax profit of £48.8 million for the year to June 30. This compared with a prior-year loss of £3.6 million.
August 9 – Chinese money doesn’t always get what it wants. The sale of Premier League club Hull City by Assem Allam (pictured) and his son Ehab to a consortium lead by multi-millionaire siblings Dai Yongge and Dai Xiu Li looks to have collapsed after it appears members of the consortium failed to pass the Premier League Owners’ and Directors test.
August 6 – With the transfer window closed, now comes the financial reckoning. Who snagged a bargain and who was ripped off? Much of that analysis can only be done once the players start putting in performances on the pitch, but it doesn’t prevent some benchmark valuations.
September 4 – Say what you like about the way newly-relegated Newcastle United have handled footballing affairs in recent seasons, but it is hard not to admire their business acumen.