Why this has to be the turning point in David Moyes and West Ham’s season February 26, 2023 Before West Ham United welcomed fellow strugglers Everton to the London Stadium last month, reports emerged that manager David Moyes might be for the chop if they lost to his old team. The Hammers duly won their first Premier League match in eight attempts and Moyes lived to fight another day. Five games later, having [...]
Loris Karius: Football’s forgotten man set for second chance with Newcastle United in Carabao Cup final, five years on from his Champions League nightmare February 25, 2023 Five years on from his Champions League horror show, Loris Karius has the chance to resurrect a once promising career and help end Newcastle United’s trophy drought in the Carabao Cup final against Manchester United at Wembley on Sunday. In an age of wall-to-wall coverage of football from the Champions League right down to the [...]
Football regulator WILL have more powers to investigate club owners but WON’T block takeovers linked to Saudi Arabia or Qatar, says sport minister Stuart Andrew February 23, 2023 The incoming independent football regulator will be given wider powers to investigate prospective owners – but will not block takeovers by Saudi Arabia or Qatar. A regulator will have more scope to look into the backgrounds of would-be buyers of English teams, similar to the checks in place in financial services. “We are looking at [...]
The gap between the football brand behemoths and the rest is likely to grow February 23, 2023 The bidders for football club Manchester United are now in a virtual data room, filling their spreadsheets and compiling their questions. The job of the Glazer family’s investment banking advisors, Raine Group, is now to find ways to squeeze every possible dollar out of this football asset. One trick of the bankers’ trade is to [...]
Government publish white paper on plans for football regulator February 22, 2023 The UK government will today publish a long-awaited white paper on its plans for an independent regulator for English football. The policy document will propose the introduction of a regulator tasked with stopping financial failings from occurring lower down in the pyramid, as well as a stronger owners’ and directors’ test. Fans will be given [...]
Premier League: ‘Regulator can’t damage success of competition’ February 22, 2023 Premier League chiefs have warned that the proposed independent regulator for English football must not damage its success. The UK government will today publish its white paper on plans to install a regulator to ensure clubs are financially sound and implement more stringent owners’ and directors’ tests to deter what the government describe as “unscrupulous” [...]
Football regulator may help deliver long-term sustainability for beautiful game February 22, 2023 This paper of free markets and liberal economics may not, you might think, be in favour of a new regulator. But a new referee for the business side of the beautiful game is not one to be dismissed out of hand. In fact, it has plenty going for it. At first principles, the best results [...]
Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea and Call of Duty: The perfect storm that drove UK broadband traffic to record levels February 22, 2023 The top-of-the-table Premier League match between Arsenal and Manchester City pushed UK broadband traffic to record levels last week, City A.M can reveal. The eagerly anticipated fixture, which was only available to stream, helped traffic on the country’s biggest broadband network to reach a new peak of 29.1 terabits per second (Tb/s). BT and EE [...]
How has Ukraine’s Premier League held up after a year of war with Russia? February 22, 2023 Friday marks a year since Vladimir Putin’s Russian troops invaded the east of Ukraine, an act that would have ramifications on how so many would live their lives. And while, looking on from afar, the West can appreciate the basics of what is unfolding in the country, few understand the true impact the war has [...]
Sports clubs defy the normal rules of markets and won’t bend to a football watchdog February 22, 2023 Popularity of sports club is driven by their performance on the field, not by their financials. The very best efforts of a football regulator wouldn’t be able to change the way cultural markets work, writes Paul Ormerod.