5 Comments

Great article. It's crazy that it has been allowed to get this far, especially within Uefa. Very hard to see any roll back unless it's done by Governments through legislation forcing owners to divest interests in other clubs that are theoretically eligible for same competitions. Proper leadership at uefa could presumably push through meaningful reforms like a transfer ban between clubs but when has uefa had proper leadership.

Expand full comment
Feb 21Liked by Nick Harris

Superb work, Nick and Steve. It is not so much the elephant in the room as a stampeding herd of pachyderms trampling everything in sight.

Expand full comment

Another good read! I saw a separate article on this recently and was surprised to learn just how deep this ran.

Apart from the issues you've raised, I've often wondered if these are the first steps towards the concentration of finance and power required to create a European or global franchised system that can take on the established regulators.

Expand full comment

Amazing deep dive on the topic of MCO. Curious what could practically be done to limit this issue, as you have outlined that governing bodies and leagues have troubles in their structural/legal setup to materially do much to prevent this here. Is it up to regulators in each country to step in? As the EPL example shows, it is basically to late to self-govern, as too many top flight clubs are part of an MCO to ever reach the 14 vote threshold needed to enact change. Fascinating to see how this issue develops going forward.

Expand full comment

Great breakdown of how the landscape of football club ownership has changed over recent decades and how it continues to do so, and what the implications might be for the game. I'm curious how this maps onto trends in other global sports, as well as ownership in the US. Thanks for the analysis!

Expand full comment