Friday 26 February 2010

Football finance: doom

Portsmouth, a decent team with a good history, has gone into administration after being passed round shady companies like an unwanted present. Chester City, which has repeatedly gone bust, has been expelled from the Blue Square League, and Bournemouth faces a winding-up order too. Football's been the darling of the fast-buck crowd for 15 years - now the hangover's here.

Still, it's not all bad news. While Man U owes £700 million (!), Stoke is in profit and externally debt-free! It made half a million pounds on turnover of £54 million (up from last year's £11m) - with the support of a committed local owner. Of course, the profit is imaginary - Peter Coates has given the club £17m and plans to put another £24m in - so it's a rich man's plaything, but at least Stoke City isn't being milked for profit or used as a tax-efficient vehicle or whatever it is that happens at other clubs.

Let's hope we beat Arsenal this weekend. Ireland-England rugby too! And Villa are going to beat Man U in the FA cup… I hope.

5 comments:

Ewarwoowar said...

That'll be the Carling Cup, not the FA Cup there Voley.

And I'm quietly confident of another pot to add to our collection...

The Plashing Vole said...

Sorry, you're absolutely right. Though I can't imagine many worse drinks than a cup of Carling.

Boom. Tish.

Sam said...

I'm for Villa...apart from Agbonlahore and Young I couldn't tell you who else was in the team, but being a brummy I show a passive interest. Oh...and I like Martin O'Neil's acerbic wit (I only watch Match Plus to hear his interview!) - I clearly need to get a life!

Neil Haynes said...

Money problems? Don't know what you're talking about. You just need to find a billionaire sugar daddy from a dodgy middle east regime...

p.s. How did that Arsenal game go for you? (sorry, still a little bitter about the FA Cup defeat!)

I'm feeling slightly better about being a City fan today though (up yours John Terry.)

The Plashing Vole said...

Good advice.
Yes, the Arsenal game was a shocker - we really threw it away.

I really enjoyed Man City giving Chelsea a shoeing.