• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

My Football Writer

My Football Writer Norwich City news… comment… analysis

Norwich City – news, comment and analysis

Find the best betting sites
  • Home
  • About us
  • The Team
  • Archives Index
  • Patreon
  • ADVERTISE
  • Contact us

Cold winds of the credit crunch bite at the Football League. Upstairs, it's all still toasty

24th September 2008 By Latest News Leave a Comment

Please share

The message this morning from the top of the football tree was simple and stark: 'We're alright, Jack…'

But as the credit cruch starts to bite ever harder and the global banking community pulls every trick it can to avoid going into full melt-down, the picture one division below the gilded corridors of the Premiership might be slightly less rosy.

The picture two divisions below is even more fraught with a record three sides starting the new campaign with a minus figure to their name as Bournemouth, Rotherham United and Luton Town all pay a points penalty for falling into administration.

Indeed, according to Canary chief executive Neil Doncaster, the impact of the current downturn on the 72 Football League clubs is “massively” different. For one simple reason – they don't have ?2.7 billion worth of TV money sparing them from some very rainy days.

“Because the Football League clubs see a far higher proportion of their revenue coming through the gates and through corporate sponsorships than the Premier League clubs, the effect of the credit crunch is likely to be massively more severe on them than it is on Premier League clubs,” said Doncaster.

“And it's all down to the TV money. It's so huge in the Premier League that it dwarfs any other revenue stream and helps insulate them against any downturn in the economy.”

Writing in The Guardian today, the paper's football finance writer David Conn painted a picture of the game in rude, financial health – certainly robust enough to survive anything the current downturn can bring.

After all, the top clubs play to full houses nigh-on every week; they have a money-spinning TV deal signed through to 2010 and have, of course, some of the world's wealthiest men at their beck and call – ready to pump their own billions into the world's favourite football league.

As the new man at Manchester City, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, explained in an open letter to City supporters following the official completition of the takeover by the Abu Dhabi royal family.

'The letter did not offer just warm words,' Conn reported. '”In cold business terms,” it said, “Premiership football is one of the best entertainment products in the world and we see this as a sound business investment.”

'That could hardly be clearer: Sheikh Mansour, of the Abu Dhabi royal family and chairman of the emirate's International Petroleum Investment Company, does not see the Premier League as a bubble about to burst any time soon.'

Conn also quoted analyst Dan Jones of the sports business group at Deloitte.

Fans' enduring loyalty and the fact that a lot of the clubs' revenue streams are already secured leaves them well-placed to ride out the storm.

'The record ?2.7bn TV deal runs till 2010 and the clubs are confident that Sky's competitors, for Sheikh Mansour's coveted “entertainment product”, will trump that figure next time,” the Guardian reported.

'”Season tickets are paid up until May, sponsorship deals are fairly long-term,” Jones points out, “so football clubs are actually more protected than other businesses who look at the current economic climate and wonder how they will be doing next month.”'

The Canaries are due to release their latest set of accounts next week ahead of their annual general meeting later next month. In common with nigh-on every Championship club, they will be seen to be living beyond their means; cut your cloth accordingly and you'll end up paying your players League One wages.

Recruit enough League One players and sure enough, you'll end up in League One. That's the dilemma fcing every Championship club and owner – just how far can we afford to push the boat out in the hope of winning that golden ticket to the top flight.

And whilst City may have to publically wrestle with the ?1.5 million hole in their 2008-2009 finances left by the Turners' departure, you don't have to look too far around the Championship to find clubs where the onset of the credit crunch could not have come at a worse time.

Southampton chairman Rupert Lowe was muttering darkly about not being out of the woods yet. The Saints cause is not being helped by the ever-dwindling crowds at St Mary's – down to just over 14,000 for the recent mid-week visit of Ipswich Town.

Closer to home and, as the Eastern Daily Press reported on Monday, prudence is already having to take an axe to the players' wage bill – down from ?10 million to ?8.5 million. The downward pressure on that will only intensify in the current climate – particularly whilst Delia Smith's quest to find a new onvestor remains on-going.

“The harsh reality of life in the Championship is that you cannot break even without either cutting the wage bill to the point where you are not going to compete, or without support from directors,” Doncaster told Sunday night's NCISA annual meeting.

“There are things that can happen, but broadly it is about being supported by directors.”

Individuals dipping deep into their own pockets to keep Football League clubs on – vaguely – the straight and narrow. One league above, however, and thanks to Rupert Murdoch's BSkyB, the world is a completely different place. Credit crunch, what credit crunch?


Please share

Filed Under: Latest news

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

FIND MY FOOTBALL WRITER ON

As featured on NewsNow: Norwich City news” style=

Norwich City News 24/7

#NCFC LATEST

chrisreevo Chris Reeve @chrisreevo ·
1h

1️⃣ Wessi
2️⃣ @DHucks6
3️⃣ @BradJohnson15
4️⃣ @EM10Buendia
5️⃣ Howson

#NCFC

Reply on Twitter 1622948133834555393 Retweet on Twitter 1622948133834555393 Like on Twitter 1622948133834555393 2 Twitter 1622948133834555393
yellabuh Yella @yellabuh ·
1h

JT and Omo at CB next season if we don’t get promoted, he looked solid against Burnley at turf moor #ncfc

Reply on Twitter 1622947922408079360 Retweet on Twitter 1622947922408079360 Like on Twitter 1622947922408079360 Twitter 1622947922408079360
pinkun The Pink Un @pinkun ·
1h

A Championship move for Chrissy Martin👇🔰 #NCFC

https://www.pinkun.com/news/23304241.norwich-city-chris-martin-signs-qpr-bristol-city-exit/

Reply on Twitter 1622944596886953984 Retweet on Twitter 1622944596886953984 Like on Twitter 1622944596886953984 Twitter 1622944596886953984
fan_banter Fan Banter @fan_banter ·
1h

PL clubs want Man City RELEGATED if found guilty - full list of punishments revealed - https://fanbanter.co.uk/prem-clubs-want-man-city-relegated-if-found-guilty-full-list-of-punishments-revealed/

#watfordfc #ncfc #twitterclarets #safc #rufc #wafc #bcfc #rovers #utmp #bristolcity #ccfc #pusb #htafc #hcafc #coyh #boro #millwall #qpr #readingfc #twitterblades #scfc

Reply on Twitter 1622941999702884353 Retweet on Twitter 1622941999702884353 Like on Twitter 1622941999702884353 1 Twitter 1622941999702884353
norwichcityfc Norwich City FC @norwichcityfc ·
1h

How does a loan agreement come about? And what's it like working closely with David Wagner? 🤔

First team coach and loans manager Andrew Hughes is next up to answer your questions in #TheInsight.

Reply below with your questions ⤵️

#NCFC

Reply on Twitter 1622941496465924096 Retweet on Twitter 1622941496465924096 2 Like on Twitter 1622941496465924096 21 Twitter 1622941496465924096
Load More...

Copyright © 2023 21VC Ltd | All rights reserved | Not to be reproduced without prior permission.

Disclaimer: The information on this website consists of personal opinions. Whilst we have taken all reasonable steps to ensure that the information contained on these Web pages is accurate and correct at the time of writing we do not accept any liability whatsover for any loss or damage caused by reliance on this information.

We do not accept any responsibility for information contained in other websites to which this site links. We strongly advise users to check any information before acting or relying on it.

Developed and Hosted by