Financial performance in English professional football: "an inconvenient truth"
Hamil, Sean and Walters, Geoff (2010) Financial performance in English professional football: "an inconvenient truth". Soccer & Society 11 (4), pp. 354-372. ISSN 1466-0970.
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Abstract
This article presents an analysis of the financial performance of English football since the creation of the Premier League in 1992. It demonstrates that despite large increases in revenue, in particular from broadcasting, football clubs in the Premier League and Football League have year‐on‐year collectively failed to post a pre‐tax profit; there have been many examples of clubs in the Football League having to enter into administration; and debt levels have risen. The article argues that, in their denial that the financial crisis in the wider economy will seriously impact the economic health of English Football, many of the industry’s leading figures share many of the same hugely optimistic assumptions of those who seek to play down the significance of climate change. In doing so they overlook the ‘inconvenient truth’ coined by former US Vice‐President Al Gore in the context of the climate change debate, that English football is not immune from the impact of wider financial instability. The article questions whether, given the current economic climate, a failure to implement pro‐active regulatory action to address the problem of chronic unprofitability and unsustainable debt will lead to a major financial crisis in English football.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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School: | Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Business and Law > Birkbeck Business School |
Research Centres and Institutes: | Birkbeck Sport Business Centre |
Depositing User: | Administrator |
Date Deposited: | 01 Aug 2013 13:45 |
Last Modified: | 02 Aug 2023 17:06 |
URI: | https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/7906 |
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Financial performance in English professional football: "an inconvenient truth". (deposited 20 Mar 2013 09:01)
- Financial performance in English professional football: "an inconvenient truth". (deposited 01 Aug 2013 13:45) [Currently Displayed]
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