Defying Gravity: The Ever-Expanding Football Universe

I will take a while to digest it all but these are obviously some metrics we will all need to get our heads around. Crucial stuff, thanks again.

To my cynical mind, this was a manufactured loss to ensure that they paid no tax -- clubs only pay tax if they make a profit.

And they love this idea that someday it may all implode. I suppose it gives it a veneer of responsible financial management when there's really a load of money laundering going on.

Maybe the Yanks will operate things differently? TFG already have at Everton, turning a profit by selling the WSL club to themselves (er... hang on) and taking a £43M kickback in the form of a share dividend.

Well, the Annual Report and Accounts for 2024-25 should be published soon for EFC Co Ltd and all will be revealled...

For years our off-field performance has been worse than our on-field. Hopefully we are moving up the Premier League under TFG.

In the 90s, it was Italian billionaires paying over the odds, then Real and Madrid accumulated untold debt to beat them, then the Premier League came along, then China started offering stupid money, then Saudi Arabia.

But where is there left to be the next place to lure gold diggers by offering double or treble salaries to entice people away and cause another chain reaction?

Are we gonna see North Korea suddenly offer Ronaldo double his Saudi money? Will Martians team up with Elon Musk to triple wages for those going to the red planet?

I imagine we are sort of tapped out now so the Mina Raiolas of this world can't shake clubs down saying “well this other league will pay my guy even more.”

As you say, many clubs are in financial difficulty but they are all too frightened to admit that player wages are making clubs haemorrhage money like it's going out of fashion. I know a few years back Everton's wage bill made up 92% of total income, and a senior analyst from KPMG said that any club spending more than 75% of income couldn't survive in the long term, although some, including us, have survived.

You also say the Women's game only survives because inter company loans. I thought it was quite interesting in the latest Deloitte figures Bayern were in the top 3 and Liverpool were the highest Premier League club.

According to the Liverpool Echo, Liverpool Football Club benefitted hugely from the Taylor Swift concerts. I am sure TFG will follow that route with revenue coming from non-football activities.

Of course all most fans are interested in is who are we buying next, even the loss of points due to PSR transgressions doesn't seem to dampen fans desire to spend money we haven't got.

As you say 50% of Premier League clubs are American owned which I don't think is good for our game.

There should be a way where, say, teams like Everton, Aston Villa or Newcastle can spend to bridge the gap or we are just left with these teams who already have the huge revenue, continuing to be able to take the best players, with the rest just basically developing players for these richer sides.

It's inevitable I think that the rich clubs eventually just get so big and the gap so large, that the competition of the Premier League suffers, fans get bored of watching the same teams continuing to dominate, until we are left with a La Liga style, where only 1 or 2 clubs ever win.

We are not allowed to buy the most expensive players so we have to find the gems before they become stars.

That's a lot easier said than done but, as the rules are now, I can't see any other way.

Fairness? Start with a Europe-wide spending cap, transfers and salary, based on each league's average, slowly phased in over 5-10 seasons.

But seems no different to everyday life.

If you have a low income, borrowing always has higher interest rates. The richer you are, the amounts available grow and costs of borrowing are less. This is how wealth is preserved and always has been, it seems.

Solution? I heard in US the teams that finish lowest have first choice of new talent. I may not have that right but could you imagine if that applied here or across Europe?

The outcry from the wealthy investors would be deafening. Smells too much of some kind of disgraceful socialist approach and we can't be having that!

It seems a snip of a buy £20M but when you look at the other figures, ie, £300k per week wages, an undisclosed signing-on fee to the player and similar to the agents... a 5½-year contract.

Ged #10, you are substantially correct. In the draft system of young talent inherent to all US professional sports, the worst teams generally get the highest draft picks, although in most leagues they get entry into a draft lottery designed to reduce the chances of teams "tanking" or losing deliberately to get better picks. Draft choices are also salable assets for player trades.

Brian #6, some good cogent points in terms of fan expectations at clubs like Everton, and of our new stadium's potential for revenue generation (which will, BTW, be considered football-related revenue for SCR purposes).

You point out that Everton have survived a high wage bill over the years, but I have to believe we might be facing doom now had we not been bought out. How close was Moshiri to spiralling down the drain before the TFG deal was struck? How screwed would we be now if he'd sold out to the fraudsters at 777 Partners?

Also, under TFG the club has achieved both stabilized finances and a solid midtable position, so I'm wondering what your objection is to American ownership in the Premier League? What nation's billionaires would you prefer to see taking charge of Premier League clubs?

Dewsbury-Hall, Branthwaite and Alcaraz are all back in training.

And Fernabache have made an official approach for Beto.
(If the latter happens I assume we're in for another striker)

Some type of spending cap is the only real leveller, with the cap getting smaller the higher you finish in the league the previous year, would create a much healthier competition, but why would Man Utd, Liverpool, Madrid, PSG or Arsenal vote for that when they know they have a huge advantage the way it is?

It seems the people running football are so shortsighted and just chasing the £££ that they are operating an opposite system, designed to stifle competition for the short-term gain.

Well who gains when the Premier League eventually just gets boring, doesn't it make sense to help teams that could be a future Bayern Munich, Barcelona or Real Madrid?

Look at Chelsea and Man City, no matter what we think of how they have got to where they are, without these, the extra competition of them in the Premier League, it would be a three-horse race every year, between Man Utd, Liverpool and Arsenal.

More big teams means more competitive matches, more interest, more viewers, and more £££££. We are heading to point where it's impossible to bridge the gap, how can they see this to be good for the game, fair, and in the best interest of competition?

Why can't we get bargains like that???

Always a good idea to read posts fully and properly before you comment, so that you do not misrepresent in this case Brian and put words in his mouth that he did not say.

Brian did not object to 'American ownership in the Premier League', as you lecture him.

What he in fact said was this: 'As you say 50% of Premier League clubs are American owned which I don't think is good for our game'.

Quite different really, don't you think? So, why did you decide to misrepresent him?

I completely agree with Brian.

Juventus is one option, I hear.

I like your idea of spending cap based on previous season positions.

There are offer of a £2M loan fee, suggests not.

I'd assumed the En-Nesyri deal had been blown away by our cold English winter winds.

No club or business would post £100M profit, knowing that £100M could be spent on an asset (player) rather than let the tax man take what, 40%?

It's why many of these billionaires don't actually look like they are making money, they reinvest before it can be taxed.

I assume Turkey is a good deal warmer in the winter.

Poverty in Britain

World Food Programme

He's allegedly said he'll never play in a cold climate.

100% correct mate.

The madness is so acute many (inc me) may just say "this is a football site" after weaving through the betting ads, profit/loss reports and transfer rumours to get back to arguing if JP commands his box!

As Ghandi the great Indian pacifist said, “There is plenty enough food to feed the hungry but not the greedy" and I think most of us know that — much wants more.

It would be remiss of me not to say that fortunately there are many, many good hearted people in the world and they do make a difference.

These inflated wages are paid for by Sky and other broadcaster deals so if fans stop buying the packages they're not able to make increasingly large bids.

A lot of premiership clubs have their own TV channel now and I would rather pay Everton to watch our games than Sky. OK, I know our channel is crap but if it was done professionally it could be a good revenue stream. I reckon this is one reason, maybe a main one, that TFG have bought us, future potential.

I also think that it was behind the redistribution of the domestic revenue rights to the already wealthy clubs, to keep them from breaking away from the broadcast deals.

It seems many fans can't, or won't, pay for Sky, that's why FiresticksRus do a great trade, and with the closing of pubs, another main revenue stream for broadcasters, the gravy train could be hopefully pulling into it's last stop. Could explain why they're trying to milk as much as possible from the fans now?

The Premier league doesn't need Sky or any other provider. It could easily run its own subscription service UK or globally, and make even more money.

Think of the sky cost, and think how much the clubs actually get.

£2.8bn tv payment a year is £233m a month. At £10 a pop that's 23m viewers needed a month to equate the same economics without advertising or costs. The weekly tv audience for Premier league is 1.89 billion. Not far of 82 times bigger.

Lets say clubs increase there tv revenue 10 times only. Instead of £130m, thats £1.3bn a season.

You don't need to be genius to work out why US investors are interested. When the above happens, and it will, the Premier league wages and impact on the European champions league will be huge. It's why the European clubs are shitting themselves.