Football's financial crisis
One of the countless pre-election pledges that didn't come to anything was Labour's proposal to give football supporters the chance to buy a 25% stake in their club. Hugh Robertson – then Tory spokesman, now the sports minister – dismissed the idea as a "gimmick". Perhaps he was right, but UK plc isn't the only big organisation that is heavily indebted and suffers from a reliance on a laissez-faire economic model – so is British, particularly English, football. Like the UK economy, English football needs radical restructuring if it is going to survive.
The truth is that while seven of the world's 20 biggest clubs in terms of turnover are English, Premier League clubs are in debt to the tune of over £3.5bn – 56% of the total football club debt in Europe, and four times the debt level of the next most indebted division, Spain's La Liga.… Seguir leyendo »