In February 2010, then Sheffield Wednesday Chairman Lee Strafford opined that “a lot of crooks” were showing an interest in buying the famous old club. But such scurrilous scaremongering has now thankfully proved to be unfounded; a Serbian-American knight in shining armour having ridden to the rescue and “secured” Wednesday’s future at the start of this month. With Neil Mellor revelling in successive hat tricks amid a six match winning sequence that has left the Owls firmly in the promotion picture, well…it’s all cushty.But unanswered questions remain, both in South Yorkshire and more widely. The terms of the rescue (and…
All posts tagged Finances
10 Matches in the Rise and Fall of Plymouth Argyle
Plymouth Argyle were granted a 63 day adjournment in the High Court on Wednesday after having been served a(nother) winding-up petition by the HMRC for stalling on tax payments of £780,000. The decision should be greeted as good news in the short-term, but the spectre of administration, and worse, continues to bear down on Home Park with fans wondering how times have got so bad, so quickly. Reportedly between £7-9m in debt, the Pilgrims have gone from being one of the best-run clubs in the country to the bottom of HMRC’s Christmas list in the space of a mere few…
Actions and Consequences: A Cautionary Tale
One of the standout memories of a thoroughly depressing 2001-02 season supporting Stockport County was witnessing a masterly performance by former Croatia international Robert Prosinečki for Portsmouth during their 1-0 victory at Edgeley Park in August. His profuse smoking habit and pre-match burger meant that he never left the centre circle all game, but he nevertheless controlled proceedings for the entire 90 minutes and made County’s own talented midfielders, the intelligent David Smith and Finland international Jarkko Wiss, look like complete amateurs. I remember wondering at the time how Portsmouth, who had for the past few years been a struggling…
Divided We Stand: the Problem of Parachute Payments
The Premier and Football Leagues reached a deal over restructured solidarity payments from the former’s coffers two weeks ago, but with the Play-Offs and pre-World Cup mutterings taking precedence there’s been frustratingly limited coverage of the landmark agreement in the national press.First established in 2007, the payments sought to ensure that a proportion of Premier League income was redistributed down the professional football pyramid, and were welcomed by the then Football League Chairman Lord Mawhinney as a “generous gesture”. The intervening years have witnessed an unabated rise in Premier League revenues, and following a record-breaking overseas broadcasting rights bonanza it…
Frank Heaven: I had no idea Telford was so big. As you say, it is close to the West ...
Lanterne Rouge: I didn't know these nuggets - cheers for enlightening us Alexandriang...
alexandriang: Another factor is probably that both the TItans and Panthers played th...
P Squires: Interesting read, but '...which by train is comfortably further from L...
Lloyd: An enjoyable, snappy piece of writing Will.
Going through Worcester...
