Professional football is the most popular sport in the world in terms of both spectator attendance and television viewing figures. As its popularity has grown so has its monetary value. Kieran Maguire examines how professional football clubs operate as businesses and explains how to read, understand and interrogate the finances of professional clubs.
The book begins by exploring the financial accounts of the football club – the balance sheet, income statement and cash flow – and shows what they reveal about a club’s financial health. Analysing accounts from across the English and Scottish Footbal Leagues, the book explains how assets are financed, how clubs account for players in different ways, and why wage levels continue to rise at the elite end of the game. How ticket prices are determined and how television rights and brand monetization impact on club finances are highlighted alongside the increasingly significant role of UEFA financial fair play regulations. The book investigates the valuation of clubs, why they are bought and sold, and what any future owner must watch out for in the published accounts.
At a time when many commentators are bemoaning the effects of “too much money” in the game, this clear-headed analysis and presentation of the financial imperatives and challenges facing football clubs will be welcomed not only by students of the industry, but by a wider consituency of fans and supporters looking to understand their club’s latest hike in ticket prices or lack of player purchases.
Publisher: Agenda Publishing
ISBN: 9781911116905
Number of pages: 216
Dimensions: 240 x 170 mm
Kieran Maguire combines financial expertise with a supporter's love of football, and does very valuable work documenting and explaining clubs' financial workings, including illuminating areas of concern for supporters whose clubs have fallen into crisis. - David Conn, The Guardian and author of The Fall of the House of FIFA
Football needs Kieran. His brand of financial scrutiny is well thought out, simple to understand, but most of all consistent. He has no fear or favour and is always on the money. We have to change the financial and regulatory situation in football if we are to avoid more disasters like that at Bury, Bolton, Blackpool, Coventry and not least Accrington Stanley, a town that has first-hand experience of the desolation that can befall towns that lose their key social activity. - Andy Holt MBE, Chairman, Accrington Stanley FC
The Price of Football by Kieran Maguire is an excellent book for anyone who wants to understand how money impacts the game of football. You don't have to be an accountant to understand it. - Margaret Decker, Birmingham City Supporters Trust
The antithesis to the cliché that football is the beautiful game is the equally clichéd statement that football is big business. Kieran Maguire explains the reality behind the latter claim, detailing the vast inequalities of wealth, mainly focused on the English elite levels ... Football doesn’t come out of this looking particularly ethical or trustworthy. It is clear that there is plenty of sharp practice permitted within the rules ... Maguire does a fine job of deconstructing those rules, though, and shows how they more likely serve the interests of the big six clubs by protecting their position at the top of the Premier League from nouveau riche challengers ... should be essential reading for anyone even remotely considering investing in football ... For general readers ... it should increase your understanding of what goes on and why. - Stephen Mumford, Times Higher Education
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