Column on Rosenior, Chelsea and the… [I'll be polite] astounding BlueCo project, where — nearly four years, five managerial changes and £1.5bn in transfer fees later — they’re talking about “self-reflection”. Better late than never. If they actually learn, that is www.nytimes.com/athletic/722...

I wrote about The Onion and Infowars

Some news: I've written a book about how football has evolved over the last fifteen years or so. It's called The Spectre of Pep: How Guardiola haunts modern football tactics. It's out in August and you can pre-order it right now from this link: geni.us/TheSpectreOf...

During the Chelsea sale process, Joe Ravitch, the co-founder and partner of Raine Group, who managed the sale, reckoned each of the Premier League's biggest clubs would be worth over $10bn (£7.6bn) by 2027. How's that looking?

Broader point to this, not mentioned in the piece as plenty long enough already, about the money (English) football allows to flow into it It's easy - and right - to decry sportswashing but nobody seems to have given thought to how a massive PE bet meshes w/competitive balance

BlueCo have brought private equity strategy to English football's door like nothing before seen. And have made the biggest bet in football history. Will it work? @theathleticfc.bsky.social 𝗙𝗥𝗘𝗘 𝗧𝗢 𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗: www.nytimes.com/athletic/720...

All the 'big' clubs need the Champions League to make their finances work. But Chelsea are increasingly at the extreme end of the scale. A piece on why @theathleticfc.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/athletic/721...

If you enjoyed yesterday's BlueCo piece and would like it in a North East accent, boy do I have a podcast for you

𝗟𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗦𝗧 𝗗𝗜𝗦𝗔𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗖𝗟𝗔𝗦𝗦 𝗣𝗢𝗗! 🚨 @mattdaviesadams.bsky.social, @reallycerys.bsky.social & @liamtwomey.bsky.social on... 😳 Most unacceptable bit at Brighton? 🧰 Have the players downed tools? 🏆 Will Rosenior be in charge v Leeds? 💰 BlueCo maths w/ @cweatherspoon.bsky.social #CFC pod.fo/e/4042e5

A new low? Chelsea’s collapse continues, handed a 3-0 defeat by Brighton… Where do they go from here? @mattdaviesadams.bsky.social, @liamtwomey.bsky.social & @reallycerys.bsky.social on the post mortem tomorrow… plus @cweatherspoon.bsky.social on the financial fun 🤯 Strap yourselves in! #CFC

At this point it really feels safe to say BlueCo should have just bought Brighton and let them run it exactly as is

Broader point to this, not mentioned in the piece as plenty long enough already, about the money (English) football allows to flow into it It's easy - and right - to decry sportswashing but nobody seems to have given thought to how a massive PE bet meshes w/competitive balance

BlueCo have brought private equity strategy to English football's door like nothing before seen. And have made the biggest bet in football history. Will it work? @theathleticfc.bsky.social 𝗙𝗥𝗘𝗘 𝗧𝗢 𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗: www.nytimes.com/athletic/720...

After eight years in the Premier League, Wolves are down. They, like everyone else, have known it was coming for a long time. If nothing else, it has given them time to prepare for what comes next. @theathleticfc.bsky.social w/ @stevemadeley78.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/athletic/720...

Full slate of Premier League player amortisation bills (i.e. annual cost of spreading transfer fees across player contracts) from 2024-25 here PL/UEFA rules limit amortisation to five years, so can be (and are) differences between accounts and submissions when contracts >5 years

Excl: 4400 fake football shirts seized by UK Police in biggest raid of new pre-WC crackdown. Op at one of the largest open markets in the UK on Saturday. Fans fed up with high prices but police warn of wider criminality. Free read here @theathleticfc.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/athletic/721...

Full slate of Premier League wage bills from 2024-25 here, and pertinent following yesterday Arsenal wages up this year but total bill £121m (25%) lower than Man City last season once latter's costs outside #MCFC entity included (note: #MCFC includes lots more admin staff)

Burnley in 132 PL games pre-30 December 2020: • Won 44, lost 55, 1.25 points per game Burnley in 132 PL games post-Dec 2020 leveraged takeover by ALK Capital/Velocity Sports: • Won 22, lost 74, -100 goal diff, 0.77 points per game and (soon) three relegations in 3.5 seasons

Burnley in 132 PL games pre-30 December 2020: • Won 44, lost 55, 1.25 points per game Burnley in 132 PL games post-Dec 2020 leveraged takeover by ALK Capital/Velocity Sports: • Won 22, lost 74, -100 goal diff, 0.77 points per game and (soon) three relegations in 3.5 seasons

Chelsea now seven points shy of fifth and very much hoping Aston Villa win the Europa League and turn sixth into a CL spot too. Can claim £700m revenue this season (hmm) but contains £145m in TV money which drops £65m anyway and further £40m (at least) if no CL next year

Five years this weekend since the European Super League was announced. Thankfully the perpetrators were properly punished, there's no competition which concentrates huge wealth in a handful of clubs and football is all the better What

Sunderland are mathematically safe from relegation if Spurs lose this game v Brighton, btw

If we wanna talk impressive player trading, in 19 months, from Jul '24 to Jan '26, Bournemouth sold (their best) players for combined £289m, including Zabarnyi, Huijsen, Kerkez and Ouattara last summer and Semenyo in January. Only one point worse off than 24-25. Four off top five

Premier League clubs made record operating losses in 2024-25 even as revenues neared £7bn. Owners put in over £1bn, again. "The land of supposed milk and honey is anything but." Analysis of all 20 clubs' finances @theathleticfc.bsky.social 𝗙𝗥𝗘𝗘 𝗧𝗢 𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗: www.nytimes.com/athletic/720...

Saudi Arabia's PIF has spent £4.2billion on LIV Golf, and might be about to torpedo it. #NUFC project funding is six times lower. But what might LIV's fate mean on Tyneside? @theathleticfc.bsky.social w/ @chrisdhwaugh.bsky.social & @adamcrafton.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/athletic/720...

Estimated prize money for this season's Champions League semi-finalists: • Bayern Munich €127m (£111m) • Arsenal €125m (£108m) • Paris Saint-Germain €121m (£105m) • Atletico Madrid €104m (£91m) Further €18.5m (£16m) for finalists and €6.5m (£6m) on top for winners

With tonight's progress to the Champions League semi-finals, Arsenal's prize money from UEFA so far this season is estimated at £108million. First time club has topped £100m from Europe. Estimated to hit £130m if they win the competition. English record: Man City 2022-23 (£117m)

PIF funding of LIV Golf since its mid-2021 launch hit $5.3billion (£4.2bn) earlier this year. Or $3m (£2.4m) every day for the past 1,750 days. Just utterly insane amounts of money for...what?

Atletico Madrid's progression to the UEFA Champions League semi-final is estimated to have pushed their prize money from the competition past €100million for the first time Atleti have now earned over €1billion in UEFA prize money - the 11th club to do so

Atletico Madrid's progression to the UEFA Champions League semi-final is estimated to have pushed their prize money from the competition past €100million for the first time Atleti have now earned over €1billion in UEFA prize money - the 11th club to do so

Liverpool earned an estimated £95million in prize money from this season's UEFA Champions League, up £13m on a year ago. #LFC's third-highest takings from Europe, only behind £102m in 2021-22 (finalists) and £98m in 2018-19 (winners). Doesn't include matchday/commercial benefits

The Professional Darts Corporation, or PDC, made record £63m revenue in 2024-25, up 16%. 28% of Matchroom's £225m turnover. Boxing still highest (£68m) but gone from double PDC to just £5m ahead in two years PDC contributed bigger share (£22m) to Matchroom £55m pre-tax profit

Full slate of League One financials for 2024-25 now out and, despite improved EFL TV deal, operating losses surged Five clubs don't disclose income statements but across other 19 average day-to-day loss was £9.7m. Even w/o Birmingham average L1 op loss has doubled in three years

Sunderland have just beaten two of England's Champions League clubs in consecutive games. They have overturned low expectations around promoted Championship clubs with consequences for the bottom of the PL table. Two points off sixth, Sunderland have made some noise. www.nytimes.com/athletic/719...

'The latest accounts show the club’s day-to-day deficit jumped a further £45million to £258m or, in layman’s terms, Chelsea lost £491 a minute, every single minute for a full year.' Wow.

I lost my dad over Easter Going to watch Palace with him was special, to both of us. For so many years it was a shared bond. It brought us joy Loved sharing memories with him, about the grounds I visited & him recalling when he went there before This is a piece of my memories, in his memory #CPFC

Chelsea’s bumper summer of player sales translated to just £32million in profits for the current season, the club’s latest accounts show. @cweatherspoon.bsky.social has the full breakdown here ⬇️ 🔗 www.nytimes.com/athletic/719...

The raptors are in the kitchen at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

Much made of Chelsea's £300m player sales last summer but accounts released today show it translated to only £32m in player profits for this season. Reality of a player trading model which has spent huge amounts. @theathleticfc.bsky.social 𝗙𝗥𝗘𝗘 𝗧𝗢 𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗: www.nytimes.com/athletic/719...

"Sunderland’s Stadium of Light has housed plenty of teams bearing all the traits of the doomed and on Sunday it added another to the list." Alongside a veritable bevy of fellow @theathleticfc.bsky.social writers, some thoughts on the fate of Spurs: www.nytimes.com/athletic/719...

Much made of Chelsea's £300m player sales last summer but accounts released today show it translated to only £32m in player profits for this season. Reality of a player trading model which has spent huge amounts. @theathleticfc.bsky.social 𝗙𝗥𝗘𝗘 𝗧𝗢 𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗: www.nytimes.com/athletic/719...

Chelsea numbers are staggering. Strip out player impairments and fines etc. and they still lost over *£250million* at the operating level. Further £330m funding from BlueCo. All very normal

Not that it aims to, but domestic SCR in the PL is highly unlikely to make clubs profitable. SCR set at 85% for clubs not in Europe, so 15% of revenue + partial player profits is left. Across 11 (of 13) non-Europe clubs in '24-25, operating costs averaged 26% of revenue

For an idea of how much even FIFA know they're making hay while the sun shines/milking US-based tournaments for all they're worth, look no further than their 2027-30 budget Forecasting $938million (26%) drop in hospitality and ticketing revenue, mostly across CWC '29 and WC '30

Blackburn Rovers...no no no no this is not how things are supposed to look But a pretty good snapshot of the (structural) insanity of the EFL Championship

Blackburn Rovers...no no no no this is not how things are supposed to look But a pretty good snapshot of the (structural) insanity of the EFL Championship

Eight days on from the filing deadline and over nine months after their reporting periods ended, still no sign of accounts for four of last season's Premier League teams: • Aston Villa • Chelsea • Crystal Palace • Fulham 🤷‍♂️

Birmingham City's wage bill in League One last season was £38.9m. The highest third tier wage bill in history, by a country mile. Next highest: Sunderland's £26.7m (46% lower) in 2018-19 #BCFC 2024-25 wage bill was higher than two-thirds of clubs in the division above them

🚨𝗡𝗘𝗪: Sunderland have agreed a deal to sell a c.80% stake in their women's team to Bay Collective, headed by Kay Cossington and backed by investment firm Sixth Street. Will bring increased funding for #SAFC Women and not seen as PSR-motivated. www.nytimes.com/athletic/717...

Sunderland have reached an agreement to sell a significant majority stake in their women’s team to Bay Collective, the multi-club ownership group backed by Sixth Street, a U.S. private investment firm. More from @cweatherspoon.bsky.social