It is deemed sacrilege - and of course players should get the lion's share - but wage growth (and transfer and agent fees, yes) drives the sport's enormous loss-making.
Exhibit A: Lionel Messi's contract nearly bankrupting Barca and nobody daring to acknowledge it
Real Madrid's interim financials detail falling revenues, rising wages and growing debt.
And a club still (just about) profitable, but with big liabilities and tight cash flow.
Expensive business, this football lark.
My analysis:
@theathleticfc.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/athletic/709...
Your season ticket costs more because footballers are paid too much. Hardly a TED talk but it's true
Amid the Spurs horror and hand-wringing it is again worth saying THIS IS WHAT A SPORT SHOULD BE. Bad teams should be punished for being bad. Though it is a sign of quite how bad Spurs are that they're managing to do *this* with the odds so heavily weighted their way
Have we been so consumed with the politics at Spurs this season that we have let the players off the hook? Has that lack of responsibilty contributed to Spurs' struggles?
My mea culpa column:
www.nytimes.com/athletic/708...
Publication day! My new book, "The MbappΓ© Project", is officially out today. It is not a biography, but an attempt to understand and explain how a football prodigy was built into a global star by his entourage and by himself, retaining control every step of the way.
uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-...
#LFC accounts for 2024-25 confirm club booked Β£104.7million profit on player sales last summer (Β£5m higher than projected in below piece)
Club's 2025 net spend, inc. fees on new deals for Van Dijk and Salah, was Β£273.4m
#LFC accounts for 2024-25 confirm club booked Β£104.7million profit on player sales last summer (Β£5m higher than projected in below piece)
Club's 2025 net spend, inc. fees on new deals for Van Dijk and Salah, was Β£273.4m
Two league wins in four months!
Just very difficult to overstate how much trouble Spurs are in now
Went to see the Xmas one. Good God.
Oddly I don't mind the movie as much. The TV show is so bad I see the former in an okay light. The worst thing is he doesn't even get that much TV but when he does it is this he demands, every time, without fail
Wolves! Has a team ever stayed up by mistake?
AND YET newly promoted Sunderland have 40 points in the Premier League, something they didn't manage in any of their five previous Premier League seasons. With nine games left. Some going
My son is maddeningly obsessed with Paw Patrol. I, therefore, as is the equilibrium of the universe, despise Paw Patrol. And yet Leeds v Sunderland was so astonishingly awful to watch that I found myself half-hoping he'd wake, scale the stair gate, come downstairs and demand I put Paw Patrol on
Ooh thank you, will see what I can do
π hope she's doing okay with them - our son is great with his albeit seems to be slowly realising he can yank them out when he doesn't want to listen to us π
Highly leveraged!
bsky.app/profile/cwea...
Can't tell you how important normalising this stuff is
Burnley under current ownership
Sunderland under previous group
There'll be others but very few and far between
They can use losses to offset tax charges elsewhere but it's still money they're spending
Re: graphs, do you mean owner funding ones? Answer is no, but can do
Stoke City made a profit in 2024-25! But only after Β£90m owner loan write-off. Strip that and Β£4m cost linked to ground returning to club hands and #SCFC lost further Β£25m last season
Coates family put in Β£46m cash, taking total funding since May 2006 takeover to nearly Β£400m
Stoke City made a profit in 2024-25! But only after Β£90m owner loan write-off. Strip that and Β£4m cost linked to ground returning to club hands and #SCFC lost further Β£25m last season
Coates family put in Β£46m cash, taking total funding since May 2006 takeover to nearly Β£400m
Increasingly important(!)
Hell of a chart, this, from @financialtimes.com. Spot the JCPOA.
on.ft.com/4kSuQYO
Manchester United's Q2 results for 2025-26 are out and show improved profitability
But any financial improvement this season will be restrained by falling revenues and continued high transfer spending
Analysis w/ @mjcritchley.bsky.social
@theathleticfc.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/athletic/707...
Good morning. Did you see this?
Because if not, you're gonna wanna see this
π¨π‘ππͺ @theathleticfc.bsky.social: #SAFC remain in talks to sell a 'significant majority stake' in their women's team, even as an exclusivity period with Sixth Street ends today
Club has received multiple bids for SAFC Women in past 12 months
w/@mjslater.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/athletic/704...
West Ham's record Β£104m loss last season is bad enough but of greater concern is something we've highlighted before: low liquidity.
Club took out Β£124m loan in July and admits player sales needed to meet liabilities this summer.
Analysis @theathleticfc.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/athletic/707...
Dan Ballard contract extension at Sunderland. Well-deserved. www.nytimes.com/athletic/707...
West Ham's record Β£104m loss last season is bad enough but of greater concern is something we've highlighted before: low liquidity.
Club took out Β£124m loan in July and admits player sales needed to meet liabilities this summer.
Analysis @theathleticfc.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/athletic/707...
