Premier League spending hits £3bn for first time on busy deadline day September 1, 2025 Records look set to tumble as Liverpool near the £125m signing of Alexander Isak from Newcastle United, taking Premier League summer spending to £3bn. A flurry of activity on transfer deadline day saw the majority of top-flight clubs close in on last-minute deals before business closes at 7pm. Spending was set to breach the £3bn [...]
Fan groups urge Fifa to block overseas LaLiga and Serie A matches September 1, 2025 Fifa has been urged to block plans for domestic leagues to play in-season matches overseas. Supporters’ groups say that “relocating domestic league matches abroad would set a dangerous precedent” amid news that both the Italian Serie A and Spanish LaLiga are working on staging matches overseas. AC Milan and Como are looking to play one [...]
Why Chelsea have hardest and Arsenal easiest Champions League trips August 30, 2025 The exotic away trips offered by the Champions League are part of its appeal for supporters but they can come at a price for players, and in that respect Arsenal and Chelsea have been dealt wildly differing hands by this year’s competition. Thursday’s draw for the league phase gave Arsenal trips to Inter Milan (for [...]
Premier League spending hurtles towards £3bn mark August 29, 2025 Alexander Isak’s on-off transfer from Newcastle United to Liverpool will not be of interest only to fans and bean-counters on Tyneside and Merseyside. The protracted deal is also one for the transfer data crunchers and historians of English football’s top flight, given that it could represent the passing of multiple financial milestones. Isak’s transfer fee [...]
Man United shareholder, Ratcliffe’s Ineos, buys into Castore with Belstaff deal August 28, 2025 Manchester United minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos has announced a “significant strategic investment” into premium sports apparel brand Castore. The petrochemicals company will invest in the British clothing brand as part of a deal which will see Castore acquire 100 per cent of Ineos-owned Belstaff on a “debt-free, cash-free” basis. Castore enjoys sporting sponsorship [...]
Manchester United upset a triumph of culture over cash, says Grimsby chief August 28, 2025 Grimsby Town’s co-owner Jason Stockwood says their shock Carabao Cup defeat of Manchester United was a triumph of “great culture” over “buying success”. The League Two side stunned their Premier League opponents in a penalty shoot-out, having earlier taken a two-goal lead before being pegged back to 2-2 after 90 minutes. Grimsby’s squad has an [...]
Aston Villa Women hire former Lewes FC CEO Maggie Murphy August 28, 2025 Aston Villa Women have hired Maggie Murphy, the former chief executive of pioneering Lewes FC, to be their new managing director. Murphy was the driving force behind Lewes’s radical policy of allocating equal financial resources to their men’s and women’s teams. Her appointment follows Aston Villa owner V Sports making the women’s team a separate [...]
Are franchise IPOs the end game for The Hundred’s £1bn investors? August 28, 2025 Have The Hundred’s investors figured out yet how they will make a return? Look out for minority stake sales and maybe even listings in India, says Ed Warner. Never make an investment without having a plan on how to sell it. Illiquidity can scupper the most enticing of propositions. The very best portfolio managers, especially [...]
Hard-up Irish FA savaged after announcing plans to slash workforce August 27, 2025 The debt-ridden Football Association of Ireland has been accused of showing its staff “utter contempt” after it announced it would be making compulsory redundancies. The FAI, which has around 230 employees, said jobs would have to go as part of “a significant transformation programme to modernise how football is developed and delivered in Ireland”. It [...]
EU Commissioner: Overseas football matches a betrayal of fans August 27, 2025 A top EU figure has described plans to play European football matches in other continents as a “betrayal” of fans. The European Commissioner for Sport Glenn Micallef said plans to play Serie A and LaLiga matches abroad should not be described as “innovation”. Both the Italian and Spanish top flight leagues are looking to play [...]