I'll make this appeal now: If I ever win the lottery will readers please
stop me from buying a football club?The latest Pricewaterhouse-Coopers report on the state of Scottish Premier League football club finances makes grim reading. It paints a picture of a group of 12 businesses, each with a host of reasons for their respective bosses to lie awake at night.
And it could apparently get worse:
The picture becomes even gloomier if the two Old Firm clubs do defect to the Premiership in England, with the very real risk that the entire league would go into meltdown, such is the reliance on the extra revenue generated when Rangers and Celtic come to call.
But I wonder if that's true. Non-Glasgow clubs do indeed get a financial boost four times a year when the
Old Firm come visiting. But what about the coach loads of fans who travel weekly from all parts of Scotland to every Rangers and Celtic game, home and away? If the big two played in the English premiership those travelling fans may well still go to Glasgow for Old Firm home games but might they not start to patronise their own local clubs when the big boys are down south? A competitive league of the remaining clubs would be more exiting to watch and perhaps profitable.
Now, about that investment...
1 comment:
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groundsman willy
If people want the old firm to play in the english premiership, why dinae they do other ENGLISH! things, why don't they try and cause a famine in ireland, why dinae they take off their kilt and start wearing english skirts, why dinae they start drinking english ale, instead of whisky, why dinae they start becoming lairy english football hooligans, why dinae they walk on theri hands and knees to the english borde3r, with nae food o water, why dinae they start becoming car theives, why dinae they start massacring highlanders after culloden, and burn all the pictures of their family,. and replace them with pictures of the queen, hahahahaa in knew you woudnae wanna do that, so yee know yee aint a bunch of englishmen, yee dinae want to give up on william wallace, scotland, yer ane family, yer ane nation, yer ane people
22 July 2005, 12:03:24 GMT+01:00
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Neil Craig
David
Thats what your financial adviser will be investing your winnings in. Well some might go into Chinese nuclear just to play safe.
26 January 2005, 23:44:08 GMT
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Andrew Ian Dodge
Buying a sports team is more an ego-thing than an investment. I think anyone going into this business expecting to make money is seriously delusional.
Of course, I have always wanted to buy the pub down the road from me and turn it back into the decent place it once was...
24 January 2005, 13:24:53 GMT
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Tim Newman
Firstly, it is highly unlikely Rangers and Celtic would be allowed straight into the premiership. The could expect direct entry into the 1st division at best, and mor elikely the 2nd and require 2 seasons to prove themselves.
Secondly, there is no guarantee they would last long in the premiership. Neither side has had to endure a 6 week run without a win, or a 3-0 drubbing three weeks in a row. This kind of thing can affect a team remarkably, and there have been more than a few "big" clubs who have made the mistake of thinking they are too big to go down. Unless both clubs agree that if within 5 seasons they find themselves facing relegation to the 2nd division they will not cut and run back to the SPL, they are unlikely to be admitted to English football.
24 January 2005, 09:31:04 GMT
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David Farrer
OK Neil. Can I have a percentage on the profits from your first owner-built nuclear power station?
23 January 2005, 20:44:10 GMT
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David Farrer
Patrick,
1. It may threaten the continuation of the Scottish national team.
2. It may be opposed by some of the existing English teams who fear relegation.
23 January 2005, 11:17:11 GMT
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Neil Craig
I hereby offer to be your financial manager (rescindable on mutual agreement) & guarantee not to permit you to buy a football club in the event of you winning the national lottery jackpot.
22 January 2005, 21:57:16 GMT
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Patrick Crozier
Just out of interest, why don't Rangers and Celtic play in the Premieship? I think it would be great if they did and especially good for them.
22 January 2005, 00:59:24 GMT
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