Premier League Teams Owe £3.4bn

[marshbags]

The Independant U.K.

Premier League teams owe £3.4bn

Uefa eager to bring in new measures after damning figures on English clubs

By Martyn Ziegler

Thursday, 25 February 2010

Manchester United, owned by Malcolm Glazer, are one of the worst culprits

Premier League clubs' debts are more than the rest of Europe's clubs put together – but the English top flight also accounts for almost half of clubs' assets across the continent.

The figures are contained in a new Uefa report into the state of football's finances, and shows the total debt of the Premier League clubs as being €3.8bn (£3.4bn), 56 per cent of the total across Europe.

Premier League clubs' assets are €4.3bn (£3.8bn), accounting for a 48 per cent share of the assets among all European clubs.

What is worrying for English clubs, however, is that the total value of the debt is so close to the value of the assets. In Spain, which has the next highest debt of £858m, the assets are worth £2.5bn, three times the value of the debts. In Italy, the debt is £442m and the assets worth £1.3bn.

Uefa's report, The European Club Footballing Landscape, has looked at the 2007-08 accounts from all 732 clubs licensed by football's European governing body. The 80-page document's analysis of the Premier League reports that many clubs have used their stadiums and grounds as collateral to borrow money.

The report accepts that much of the debt is linked to the leveraged takeover by the Glazer family at Manchester United and the Hicks/Gillett buyout of Liverpool.

"Some of the long-term debt is linked to new stadia such as Arsenal's, and in other cases already-built assets provide security for commercial lenders," says the report, adding that the leveraged buyouts have been "so far acting principally as a burden rather than to support investment or spending".

The report did not include the debts of Portsmouth and West Ham because they had not been granted Uefa licences that year due to their financial problems.

The report comes after it was revealed that Manchester United's £716m debt is greater than the entire cumulative sum owed by all 36 clubs in the top two divisions in Germany. The German Football League clubs' debts total £544m.

The Uefa president, Michel Platini, is pushing for a system whereby clubs competing in the Champions League and Europa League would be allowed to spend only what they earn. Platini said recently: "The Financial Fair Play concept is very important for the well-being of clubs. We believe that for clubs to survive they can't spend more than they earn and the executive committee has agreed to introduce regulations to reach this aim."

The Uefa general secretary, Gianni Infantino, has said that the example of Portsmouth, who are expected to go into administration at the end of this week, showed the need for action.

Infantino said: "The problem is that all clubs try to compete, a few of the biggest can afford it, but the vast majority cannot. They bid for players they cannot afford, then borrow or receive money from owners, but this is not sustainable because only a few can win. The recent example in England of Portsmouth shows it is time to do something. The requirement to break even is not to punish clubs but to help them. Many owners have asked us to introduce some rules, to help them resist the pressure to overspend."

marshbags

Ref url:-http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/premier-league-teams-owe-16334bn-1909641.html

Edited February 25, 2010 by marshbags

[marshbags]

The following part quote is really disturbing IMHO

" The figures are contained in a new Uefa report into the state of football's finances, and shows the total debt of the Premier League clubs as being €3.8bn (£3.4bn), 56 per cent of the total across Europe.

Premier League clubs' assets are €4.3bn (£3.8bn), accounting for a 48 per cent share of the assets among all European clubs. "

The PL is as near as it could be to melt down, similar to the way the economy went not so long ago.

Substitute irresponsible borrowing by home owners ect. ect. along with spending beyond their means and replace greedy bankers and finacial institutions for clubs, agents and players and mega bust / bankrupcy is about to snowball big time.

The FA, PL, Owners and more importantly the players and agents who are responsible for much of the creation of the debt, ect. ect. will need to start re assessing the way they see things and the spend to buy at what ever costs well over and above what is coming in and more importantly the negative effect it is having in the football supporters and their families in monetary terms and the enforced loss of interest.

Otherwise it will surely be a case of near empty stadiums, capacity wise and the demise of football as we know it at the higher levels.

marshbags

Edited February 26, 2010 by marshbags

[alfieconn]

The following part quote is really disturbing IMHO

" The figures are contained in a new Uefa report into the state of football's finances, and shows the total debt of the Premier League clubs as being €3.8bn (£3.4bn), 56 per cent of the total across Europe.

Premier League clubs' assets are €4.3bn (£3.8bn), accounting for a 48 per cent share of the assets among all European clubs. "

The PL is as near as it could be to melt down, similar to the way the economy went not so long ago.

Substitute irresponsible borrowing by home owners ect. ect. along with spending beyond their means and replace greedy bankers and finacial institutions for clubs, agents and players and mega bust / bankrupcy is about to snowball big time.

The FA, PL, Owners and more importantly the players and agents who are responsible for much of the creation of the debt, ect. ect. will need to start re assessing the way they see things and the spend to buy at what ever costs well over and above what is coming in and more importantly the negative effect it is having in the football supporters and their families in monetary terms and the enforced loss of interest.

Otherwise it will surely be a case of near empty stadiums, capacity wise and the demise of football as we know it at the higher levels.

marshbags

The only people to blame for the debt are the owners, they after all write out the cheques and sign the contracts,if a club whats to spend x amount of money on a player it's not up to the governong body to tell they can't, likewise if a club wants to pay Joe Bloggs 80 grand a week do you think he is going to say "no thanks guv, just give me 5 grand'' i mean have you ever refused a pay rise ?

If the ownwers can't run their business the correct way then surely thats down to them, nobody else and if its goodnight vienna so be it.

Theres business's that go bust everyday and a football club is no different apart from the fact that it has a lot higher profile.

If clubs go out of existance due to their own stupidity so be it but their will always be another club to replace them and the only people to suffer will be the supporter's who are the only genuine people associated to a club, but give it 10 to 20 years the next generation will find another club to support and life will go on.

How is it having a negative effect on supporters and their families in monetary terms ?

Where's the enforced loss of interest ?

[Moonrakers]

The following part quote is really disturbing IMHO

" The figures are contained in a new Uefa report into the state of football's finances, and shows the total debt of the Premier League clubs as being €3.8bn (£3.4bn), 56 per cent of the total across Europe.

Premier League clubs' assets are €4.3bn (£3.8bn), accounting for a 48 per cent share of the assets among all European clubs. "

The PL is as near as it could be to melt down, similar to the way the economy went not so long ago.

Substitute irresponsible borrowing by home owners ect. ect. along with spending beyond their means and replace greedy bankers and finacial institutions for clubs, agents and players and mega bust / bankrupcy is about to snowball big time.

The FA, PL, Owners and more importantly the players and agents who are responsible for much of the creation of the debt, ect. ect. will need to start re assessing the way they see things and the spend to buy at what ever costs well over and above what is coming in and more importantly the negative effect it is having in the football supporters and their families in monetary terms and the enforced loss of interest.

Otherwise it will surely be a case of near empty stadiums, capacity wise and the demise of football as we know it at the higher levels.

marshbags

The only people to blame for the debt are the owners, they after all write out the cheques and sign the contracts,if a club whats to spend x amount of money on a player it's not up to the governong body to tell they can't, likewise if a club wants to pay Joe Bloggs 80 grand a week do you think he is going to say "no thanks guv, just give me 5 grand'' i mean have you ever refused a pay rise ?

If the ownwers can't run their business the correct way then surely thats down to them, nobody else and if its goodnight vienna so be it.

Theres business's that go bust everyday and a football club is no different apart from the fact that it has a lot higher profile.

If clubs go out of existance due to their own stupidity so be it but their will always be another club to replace them and the only people to suffer will be the supporter's who are the only genuine people associated to a club, but give it 10 to 20 years the next generation will find another club to support and life will go on.

How is it having a negative effect on supporters and their families in monetary terms ?

Where's the enforced loss of interest ?

Incorrect

The owners are only part of the problem. They should take far more responsibility on actually regulating their own market rather than just sitting back, making what money they can and handing out demotions and relegations when they can. If owners had limitations placed upon them within which they had to work this simply would not be happening and the marketing gimmick of the premier league has placed further pressure on the clubs to do well further increasing the need further to spend.

If clubs go out of existance due to their own stupidity so be it but their will always be another club to replace them

Not very passionate about the game, are you? What about a club like Notts County being on the brink, the oldest existing club in the entire world, does that mean nothing to you?

It is not the fault of the club at all and it is definitely not the fault of the supporters, rather it is the fault of a few a few individuals whom through their greed and/or incompetence can unravel literally hundreds of years of history in a short space of time and all that the governing bodies do is get fat through their spending and then hand out punishments to what is left of the club after those individuals have long gone. Would you rather we just had leagues full of plastic MK don's type teams with their plastic bowl stadiums, plastic fans and zero history?

Watch you club, whatever it may be, go to the brink of extinction and then you'll be singing a different tune. As a Swindon fan, I have seen us right on the precipice on more than one occasion and I know that if this ignorance displayed by other 'fans' continues then things are going to get a lot worse before they get any better.

How is it having a negative effect on supporters and their families in monetary terms ?

Again, really not very passionate about your team, are you?

[alfieconn]

*** Incorrect ***

What part is incorrect ?

*** The owners are only part of the problem. They should take far more responsibility on actually regulating their own market rather than just sitting back, making what money they can and handing out demotions and relegations when they can. If owners had limitations placed upon them within which they had to work this simply would not be happening and the marketing gimmick of the premier league has placed further pressure on the clubs to do well further increasing the need further to spend.***

Why would they want to regulate their own market thus stopping them from running their business how they see fit.

The owner hand out demotions and relegations now do they.

The marketing gimmick as you call it has provided the clubs with 10s of millions of pounds.

*** Not very passionate about the game, are you? What about a club like Notts County being on the brink, the oldest existing club in the entire world, does that mean nothing to you? ***

I am very passionate about the game but not too passionate about the teams within it apart from my own of course,thats what i am saying there will always be the game of football even if a few teams go out of existance, Notts count are only a very small cog in a very big wheel so is it going to make a differnce to anyone apart from their own supporters, if they went out of existance would you still be worrying about them in 2,5,10 years time.

*** It is not the fault of the club at all and it is definitely not the fault of the supporters, rather it is the fault of a few a few individuals whom through their greed and/or incompetence can unravel literally hundreds of years of history in a short space of time and all that the governing bodies do is get fat through their spending and then hand out punishments to what is left of the club after those individuals have long gone. Would you rather we just had leagues full of plastic MK don's type teams with their plastic bowl stadiums, plastic fans and zero history? ***

It is not the fault of the club but it is the fault of a few individuals who own the club .

Mk dons were a club who re-located and changed their name, so in theory they are not a new club and thats how they manged to stay in the football league and i didnt know their new stadium has been built yet !

*** Again, really not very passionate about your team, are you? ***

I am very passionate about my club and whenever i go back to England i pay good money to watch them, not begrudging the money one little bit because i have the savvy to realise that if i wasn't paying good money then i wouldn't be watching the quality of football that i am watching .

[Moonrakers]

Mk dons were a club who re-located and changed their name, so in theory they are not a new club and thats how they manged to stay in the football league and i didnt know their new stadium has been built yet !

 

THAT. Sums your entire post up.

MK Dons had to give all silverware back to Wimdledon AFC, therefore recognising themselves that they have no history and are nothing more than a football franchise. They are an abomination that have stolen the place of another more deserving club.

Wimbledon did not change their name. They still exist now only they had to start again from the bottom as every club should and in fact might even gain entry, through merit, into the league again for next season.

Oh, and if the premier league is so financially beneficial to the clubs in and around it, why all of this debt? 

The football authorities in England have been greedy for far too long, the likes of Michel Platini who is a man with a genuine passion for the game, has recognised this for some time and has called for it to be bought under control before it is no longer sustainable but he has to contend with the likes of Sepp Blatter whom is well known to be a tosser.

Take Notts County. League 2 teams have a wage cap imposed upon on them to stop clubs from spending beyond their means but in County's case this was ignored, why?......   This so called Munto finance group promised lot's of cash and the dinosaurs in charge of the FL though that Christmas had come early.

It is about time that the PL, FL, FA etc where made accountable for their actions rather than just raking in the cash when it suits them yet denying all responsibility when things go bad.

[alfieconn]

Mk dons were a club who re-located and changed their name, so in theory they are not a new club and thats how they manged to stay in the football league and i didnt know their new stadium has been built yet !

THAT. Sums your entire post up.

MK Dons had to give all silverware back to Wimdledon AFC, therefore recognising themselves that they have no history and are nothing more than a football franchise. They are an abomination that have stolen the place of another more deserving club.

Wimbledon did not change their name. They still exist now only they had to start again from the bottom as every club should and in fact might even gain entry, through merit, into the league again for next season.

Oh, and if the premier league is so financially beneficial to the clubs in and around it, why all of this debt?

The football authorities in England have been greedy for far too long, the likes of Michel Platini who is a man with a genuine passion for the game, has recognised this for some time and has called for it to be bought under control before it is no longer sustainable but he has to contend with the likes of Sepp Blatter whom is well known to be a tosser.

Take Notts County. League 2 teams have a wage cap imposed upon on them to stop clubs from spending beyond their means but in County's case this was ignored, why?...... This so called Munto finance group promised lot's of cash and the dinosaurs in charge of the FL though that Christmas had come early.

It is about time that the PL, FL, FA etc where made accountable for their actions rather than just raking in the cash when it suits them yet denying all responsibility when things go bad.

Well thanks for answering my questions .

*** MK Dons had to give all silverware back to Wimdledon AFC ***

Mk Dons gave no silverware back to wimbledon AFC.

Milton Keynes Dons is legally a continuation of Wimbledon F.C. However, after negotiation with the Football Supporters Federation, the club agreed to entrust the trophies and memorabilia of Wimbledon F.C. to the London Borough of Merton and to make no claims to the history of Wimbledon F.C. thereafter.^[1] This step was taken in part to ensure the recognition of the Milton Keynes Dons Supporters Association by the Football Supporters Federation who had previously boycotted them.

*** Wimbledon did not change their name ***

Wimbledon did in fact change their name to Mk Dons, Wimbledon afc are a complete new team.

Hopefully that will clear that little matter up .

[alfieconn]

Oh, and if the premier league is so financially beneficial to the clubs in and around it, why all of this debt?

The football authorities in England have been greedy for far too long, the likes of Michel Platini who is a man with a genuine passion for the game, has recognised this for some time and has called for it to be bought under control before it is no longer sustainable but he has to contend with the likes of Sepp Blatter whom is well known to be a tosser.

Take Notts County. League 2 teams have a wage cap imposed upon on them to stop clubs from spending beyond their means but in County's case this was ignored, why?...... This so called Munto finance group promised lot's of cash and the dinosaurs in charge of the FL though that Christmas had come early.

It is about time that the PL, FL, FA etc where made accountable for their actions rather than just raking in the cash when it suits them yet denying all responsibility when things go bad.

You have lost me a bit ( and not for the first time ) but if Munto Finance had promised NC lots of cash why would the FL think that xmas had come early are you saying that Munto also have to pay the FL ?

Edited February 26, 2010 by alfieconn