The SIG Column – 1st February
On a day when transfer records were absolutely shattered, Premier League football has well and truly outlined its financial muscle.??
The nation’s favourite sport has once again defied the current economic climate as Premier League clubs splashed a mind-boggling £225m in what can only be described as the craziest, most entertaining transfer window ever.??
A staggering £195m more was splurged than this time last year – proving that football’s elite is well over the recession.
However, it is important to note that 80% of spending was made by just four Premier League clubs all aiming to prove a point – Chelsea, Liverpool, Aston Villa and Manchester City.??
It’s staggering that on a day when Chelsea reported a £70.9m loss in the year to June 2010 (a perfect way to bury news) – that Roman Abramovic’s knee jerk reaction was to spend that amount again on an injury plagued striker and a relatively unknown Brazilian defender.??
Social network sites were abound with cries of ‘The world’s gone mad’ as Liverpool then met Newcastle’s £35m asking price for Andy Carroll – a player with 74 minutes of international experience – surely the new owners trying to prove that they mean business???
Villa’s lavish spending on Darren Bent and Manchester City’s large £27m outlay on Edin Dzeko now look to be shrewd pieces of business – an amazing materialisation if you consider that the Bosnian’s fee was almost the total amount spent by all 20 clubs combined just a year ago.
Rewind back to the 2010 window and opinions were widely spread that the game had been hit hard by the shrinking of our economy and questions were raised whether the structure of football would change forever.
But yesterday’s events dispelled any such ponderings – to the surprise of Dan Jones, Partner in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte: ‘We were surprised to see more than £200m spent in a January window for the first time. January is often a relatively ‘quiet’ window, with total gross spending driven and dominated by a small number of high value transfers, as has certainly been the case again this year with only four Premier League clubs spending more than £10m.’??
Premier League clubs’ transfer spending in the January window also far exceeded that in other European leagues – the highest fee paid by a European club was £12m.
However, worryingly, a mere £5m was paid to Football League clubs, 2% of the entire amount spent during the window, once again proving that development of the game is not what it should be in this country, step up Gareth Southgate?
It remains to be seen whether Roman Abramovich’s sudden decision to abandon his new youth policy and spend big on international talent will work out.
However, one thing is for certain, whilst the dark cloud of the recession still lingers over most of the country – the Premier League appears to have emerged unscathed.
Some of the key findings from the analysis by Deloitte include:?
• Premier League clubs have committed to around £225m in respect of player transfer fees in January 2011 (2010: £30m; 2009: £170m; 2008: £175m; 2007: £60m; 2006: £70m; 2005: £50m; 2004: £50m; 2003: £35m);
• Spending between Premier League clubs accounts for just over half (£115m, 51%) of all Premier League clubs’ gross transfer spending, followed by spending with overseas clubs (£105m, 47%) and with Football League clubs (£5m, 2%);
• Premier League clubs’ net transfer spend was also a record at £90m (2010: £10m), being the net amount that flows to non-English clubs and Football League clubs;
• Premier League clubs’ transfer spending in the January window far exceeded that in other European leagues in January 2011.
