Football Without Money is Everything
This article was inspired by this comment by @ablaze (typo corrected 😏) to my Moneybags Mourinho article.
It's absolutely staggering the pay offs these guys get, largely funded by the extortionate prices we the fans pay for match tickets, jerseys and merchandise.
All references for the information gathered in writing this article should be included throughout, let me know if you believe I've missed out any.
Twenty's Plenty
I recall reading some time ago that TV revenues had reached such a ridiculous figure, that the contribution of ticket revenue on a match day accounts for a very small percentage of overall revenue. At the time, Bournemouth (with its small stadium) was the most significant with something like 5% of their revenue coming from tickets (my memory's not the best so this might get corrected later in this article!) Which begged the question, why are matchday tickets so expensive? "Twenty's plenty".
Using data from NimbleFins for the 2018/2019 season, I was able to reverse engineer each club's total revenue based upon the percentage of ticket revenue lost.
As NimbleFins noted, the London clubs have been most affected - in my opinion, this is because it's London and as anybody who's visited, or even lived in London knows, you get charged double for everything. Because you're in London.
Taking Arsenal as the exanple, football.london has this to say about their ticket prices
For members match tickets can cost anywhere in between £95.50 and £21.50 for a full paying adult depending on the category of the game and where in the stadium you sit. For a non-member the top price rises to £97 for a category A game although the cheapest price is £18.50 for a lower category match.
When I visited the Emirates back in 2013, I remember my tickets cost about £50 - we'd have been the lowest category ticket price, with the North London Derby costing double that. So my crude maths says that if ticket prices were capped at £20, Arsenal (one of the worst clubs affected by having no fans) would "lose" roughly £30m - 7% of total revenues.
The "Big 6"
By using the prize money for the 2019/2020 season (I'm aware it's the season after), we can start to see why "the big 6" is unlikely to change.
"The rest" will include all merchandising and probably of greatest significance, Champions League / Europa League prize money.
Look at that gap to Everton - Over £120m.
If anybody's unsure what the motivation behind creating a "European Super Greed" is, then here's your answer. For these greedy fuckers, they want more.
Looking at these numbers, I fear that the gap is already too great. Florentino Perez has stated that plans for a European Super League are "on standby" and with this being their 2nd attempt at such a proposal, you know they're coming back. It somehow feels inevitable and if the figures above tell you anything, English football is already beyond repair.
Like so many things, corrupted and ruined by money.
Goodbye League and FA Cups
Lost in the news last week was the announcement that the Champions League would increase in size (UEFA pressured into the decision by the same greedy individuals mentioned above), increasing the number of matches from 125 to 225. I've suggested before that this would be the death of the League Cup, I've not doubt it also signals the death of all domestic cups.
My Feelings
Over my relatively short lifetime, my feeling of loss regarding what English Football has become increases with each season. As a teenager, I'd see Reading players sat drinking in the pubs in town. Following our promotion to the Premier League in 2006, I drank with Irish internationals Shane Long and Kevin Doyle (who bought me a pint). During this same time frame, we've gone from being able to get into the ground for free at half time, to membership schemes costing "true fans" hundreds of pounds.
Over the years, I've become increasingly disillusioned with football and its direction of travel. I dread the pointlessness of Reading playing Premier League football (if that happens again). English football may well have become the Global League - but the fans, people like me, were abandoned long ago. the-toddler-gorilla and the-baby-gorilla will never know football in the way that I have and it wouldn't surprise me if they have no interest in the sport whatsoever.
Gary Neville explained it superbly on a show I watched last night - the video can be viewed here:
https://www.skysports.com/football/news/29326/12284888/gary-neville-six-breakaway-premier-league-clubs-attempted-to-kill-english-football-forever
I started this article wondering about ticket prices. I've ended it by reminding myself of the phrase "Football without fans is nothing", perhaps a better phrase would be:
"Football Without Money is Everything"
Cracking write up @the-gorilla
Delighted the comment helped with your creative process. You are great at bringing real data and numbers to your posts. Them numbers are very damning for the ever growing gap.
The same can be applied to real life people and their net worth. It takes money to make money as they say. The more you have, the more you can make. It's a simple equation.
What we see in football though is the powers that be trying to facilitate that gap expansion even more. At least the Premier league has the parachute payments for teams dropping out of the top tier, but its the other Championship teams and below that really need the cash injection.
I've been a football man all my life, but to be honest if I started over, I would seriously consider rugby instead. Their sport also had a cash injection, but have managed to retain history, respect and class as well. The money does not over shadow everything else, which is happening in football.
I think all fans everywhere need to holf firm and boycott and redoubling of efforts by Perez and the dirty dozen.
I've just added this which I saw on Sky Sports yesterday -
https://www.skysports.com/football/news/29326/12284888/gary-neville-six-breakaway-premier-league-clubs-attempted-to-kill-english-football-forever
Gary Neville said it much better than I'm able to.
Having played at the top for several years and perhaps, had access to some privilege information, being a senior player for years, his level of knowledge is undeniable.
Love him or hate him, I'm almost tempted to say he's a better pundit than he was a player. 😁
I was never a fan of Gary Neville, until he became a pundit.. Then my opinion slowly changed. You can't argue with his honest and knowledgeable views...
He's spot on in what he's saying here.
He's brilliant isn't he? Whereas Carragher's obviously fed his lines, Neville clearly knows what he's talking about, especially from a tactical viewpoint. He'll make a decent manager if he takes the right job - Valencia was a poor decision.
I've always been fascinated by data and the information (or misinformation) you can glean from it.
I discovered a lot in writing this which I had always suspected but never known. We knew at the time that the creation of the Premier League was a game-changing moment in English football - I wonder if given the choice, whether those that allowed it to happen would let it happen again because it's out of control. Governance by FIFA and UEFA was non-existent due to the huge sums of money the likes of Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini were themselves making.
Remember, this data's old. I think that the Premier League money increased the season after this data (I could be mistaken here). If these people get their way, miracles like Leicester City will never happen again. And it goes to show quite how remarkable an achievement that was.
The Champions League expansion was Perez & Co.'s Plan B (ironically running alongside Plan A). This will only further widen the gap and cement the big club's dominance.
Those numbers are frightening. Yet still, Reading have beaten Manchester United. We've beaten Liverpool. And if these people get their way, this will never happen again.
Kroenke said:
Notice the use of the word "your". The day we see Kroenke's face in Stoke on a cold Tuesday night is the night that his face will be changed irreversibly. Which won't bother him, because he's got plenty more to choose from.
Man, I'm so angry at this.
Great and accurate commentary!!!
Well scripted. Your use of data is highly endearing.
Like I've said severally, UEFA was mainly fighting their own cause by opposing the Super League. They would be damnly affected if the elite clubs breakaway, especially on TV rights. Which TV will pay them to air a Champions League without these elite teams?
It's double tragedy for Arsenal fans, especially season ticket holders who pay through their noses for tickets and get nothing, in terms of success, in return from the club. At least, the returns have been paltry in the last decade.
These stats also points to why they all jumped at the idea of the Super League. UEFA makes money out of these teams and they feel they should get more compensated. My only worry is that it would have widened the gap between them and the less powerful teams in times of finances.
Except UEFA does something drastic to right this, I won't be surprise if this comes up again in a few years from now.
Without a doubt. The Real Madrid chariman has already said "it's on hold" and this is their 2nd attempt already. I think it's inevitable, they just need to manipulate everybody else into thinking it's a good idea.
Yeah and it's looking like he's the one spearheading the attack.
What, in your opinion, do you think needs to be addressed to make it a sellable idea as almost every critic see the current dispensation as unfavorable and lopsided?
I think some honesty would be a good start. Instead of going behind people's backs and deciding to announce its launch, take the time to understand why people don't want it. And then try to make it fit with what people do want.
Succinct. I was even amazed when some of the clubs later claimed they were not fully aware how it was going to run and all intricacies. So sad.
Thanks for your insight.
Oh man, I never saw football this way, it really opened my eyes wide about the business.
You know, usually just ordinary football spectators, enjoying the match, happy when their favorite team wins and sad when they lose, especially if they lose in the final.
Reading your writing makes me flabbergasted, it turns out that everything is about money and money.
It's good that people's eyes are being opened to the corruption/greed that now seeps through many of the "top" football clubs.
They act more like murky bottom dwellers, than top teams. What happened to humility and respect??
This is how many of us (me included) initially fell in love with the game and it has happened so gradually that it's mostly gone unnoticed.
Unfortunately, this is the world that we have created for ourselves.