INSIDE BLACKPOOL: “HE’S LOST HIS MARBLES!

” MOLINEUX MARVELS AT WOLVES’ SECRET AGENT

UNDISCLOSED
THE INSIDE TRACK ON FOOTBALL BUSINESS WWW.UNDISCLOSED.CO.UK

ETIHAD EVOLUTION:
FROM NOISY
£££
NEIGHBOURS 2018: FIRST
EVER 100

TO RECORD 2012: FIRST

EVER PL TROPHY
POINT SEASON

BREAKERS
2008: ABU DHABI
TAKEOVER
2017: FIRST SEASON
UNDER PEP ENDS
TROPHYLESS

2010: FAIL TO QUALIFY

FOR CL AFTER
SPENDING £118M

MONEY MAKES THE TRACKED & TOP DOGS: BEHIND

WORLD CUP GO STACKED: MO’S THE SCENES OF THE
ROUND: RUSSIA’S NEW £142m TERRIERS’ PREMIER
BIG PAYDAY PRICE TAG LEAGUE FAIRYTALE
ISSUE 1 £4.99
SUMMER 2018
 EDITORIAL www.undisclosed.co.uk 3

EDITORIAL EDITOR’S WANT

MORE?
Tel 07975555593

Email undisclosedmaga-
LETTER FIND US
HERE...
zine@gmail.com
T hank you for purchasing the first edition of Undisclosed
magazine, your source of everything football business

Editor Cai Thomas

related. We are incredibly excited to begin this journey with you,
developing an expert understanding of exactly what goes on off- U
the-pitch. In a Sheffield newsroom in December 2017, eight of UNDISCLOSEDMAGAZINE.COM
Editor Joshua Lindsay us had a vision; a vision to create a platform, both in print and
Editor Nikhil Vekaria digital, that gives readers the most detailed information about
Editor Callum Brunning the economics of football possible, twice a year, at a reasonable
Editor Chris Gannon price.
Editor Jamie Bell This vision has now become a reality, and we cannot wait
@UNDISCLOSEDMAG
Editor Joshua Cawood to provide you with features, opinions, interviews and much
more. Our first issue gives you the lowdown on owners, agents,
Editor Isaac Johnson
transfers, and obviously, with the world’s biggest football tour-
nament coming up this summer, it would be foolish of us to
ignore the first ever World Cup to be held in Russia. No mat- FACEBOOK.COM/UNDISCLOSED
ter which country you’re from, the World Cup seems to bring MAGAZINE
everyone together to watch the planet’s best players compete
on the biggest stage. The way that the World Cup is marketed is
constantly changing, and we’re here to keep you up-to-date with
how Russia succeeded in their bid, and who has the most to gain
from the event. UNDISCLOSEDMAGAZINE_

We want to be a fully-inclusive brand, meaning that we want

you to get involved directly and let us know what you want from
Undisclosed. As the financial side of the game grows, we believe
that we will too grow into the biggest, best and most reliable
magazine on the market. We cannot thank you enough for join- UNDISCLOSEDMAGAZINE
ing us from day one. Watch this space.

The Undisclosed team

MEET THE TEAM

Cai Thomas Joshua Lindsay Nikhil Vekaria Callum Brunning Christopher Gannon

EDITORIAL
Jamie Bell Joshua Cawood Isaac Johnson
4 www.undisclosed.co.uk CONTENTS

25 28
AGENTS

13
CONTE
PROVIDING YOU WITH THE INSIDE
7-11 Manchester City: A football-
ing revolution
13 Virgil Van Dijk’s record
transfer to Liverpool
15 How ‘Moneyball’ changed the
game
16-17 How statistics are changing
football
19 Transfers that went to the wire
21 Record transfers timeline
22-23 Something borrowed,
something blue
25-26 Veteran agent Tony Finni-
gan on new wave intermediaries
28-31 Jorge Mendes: Taking over
Wolverhampton
32 Base Soccer: Modern football
super agency
36-37 How Russia landed the
World Cup and what will it cost
them?
38-39 The ones to watch at the
2018 World Cup

32
35 3
62
CONTENTS
 CONTENTS www.undisclosed.co.uk 5

68 66 72

TENTS
TRACK OF FOOTBALL BUSINESS
42-43 The Premier League’s new
era of TV rights
46-47 Southampton’s growing
wage bill
49 PSG’s Champion League ban?
50-54 Fan-owned football clubs:
The lowdown
56-57 Nick Pope’s rising stock
58-59 Wages in women’s football
60-61 Season ticket prices across
Europe
62-63 The penny finally drops
at Old Trafford 15
68-69 Oystons finally out?
66 Are football fans the light
at the end of the tunnel?
71 The fit and proper persons
test explained
72 Red Bull in football
73 Quiz

35 38
CONTENTS
MANCHESTER CITY:
A FOOTBALLING
REVOLUTION
This is the story of
how Sheikh Mansour
turned City from
mid-table fodder
to the best side in
England...
8 www.undisclosed.co.uk
A DECADE LONG JOURNEY
TO THE VERY TOP
When Sheikh Mansour walked into East Manchester, he found a club that had gone
stale. This is how he turned it round.
ulti-bnaire investor and Deputy
M
Prime Minister of the United
Arab Emirates, Mansour bin
Zayed Al Nahyan, made his
fortune through oil and industry investment,
alongside his position in the U.A.E.
government.
When he took full control of Manchester
City in 2009, he was thought to be worth
around £3bn.
In 2018, sources at Forbes and The
Guardian believe he is worth around £28
bn- making him not only the richest man in
English football, but one of the richest people
in world football.
As well as the obvious financial benefits
for Mansour, City have enjoyed the most
successful period in their history - winning
three Premier League titles, three League
Cups, one FA Cup, and recording their
best ever run in Europe by reaching the
Champions League semi-finals in 2016.
But where did it all begin, and how did
Sheikh Mansour build such a dominant force
in English football in the space of a decade?
MANCHESTER CITY
AGENTS
emphasis on steady, realistic growth,
relying on the academy and home-
PART 1: HOW MANSOUR GOT
grown talent rather than buying a ‘team
of all-stars’.
INTO FOOTBALL - BUYING In an open letter to City fans,
MANCHESTER CITY Mansour was also seemingly very
transparent about his targets
Mansour completed his takeover
for the club moving
of Manchester City in 2008, obtaining
full control of 100% of the club’s shares
in September 2009, buying out former
Prime Minister of Thailand Thaksin
Shinawatra’s remaining 10% stake in the
Citizens.
Mansour and his Abu Dhabi United
Group vowed to create a ‘lasting
dynasty’ at the club.
There was also an emphasis on
sustainability and stability for the football
club, which was reinforced as then manager
Mark Hughes was kept on - new chairman
Khaldoon Al Mubarak went as far as stating
that the Welshman would still be ‘calling the
shots’.
Mansour himself also made clear from
the outset that immediate success was not
mandatory, and that there would be an

forward, as well as how he would go about
achieving them.
“We will absolutely spend time listening
to you the fans about what you think about
the future of the club. We are very aware
that without you there would not be a club
to buy, and your voice will be heard by the
organisation at the highest level.
“We are ambitious for the club, like you,
but not unreasonably so and we understand
it takes time to build a team capable of
sustaining a presence in the top four of the
Premier League and winning European
honours.
“In cold business terms, Premiership
football is one of the best entertainment
products in the world and we see this as a
sound business investment. That being said,
we understand that we need to put money in
to get the club to where we believe it can be
and where we think you the fans want it to be.
“I should perhaps also explain that despite
what you may have read, I have bought the
club in a private capacity and as part of my
personal business strategy to
hold a wide portfolio of business
investments.
“I am a football fan, and I hope
that you will soon see that I am
now also a Manchester City fan. But
I am also a long-term investor and that is
probably more important to the club
and to you because it means we are
here for the long
haul and
MANCHESTER CITY
that we will act always in the best interests
of the club and all of its stakeholders, but
especially you the fans.”
Having also reassured fans that City’s
links to the community would not lose their
significance in his plans, Mansour then
set about investing huge amounts in City’s
ventures on the field - mainly via the transfer
market.
PART 2: SIGNINGS, NET SPEND AND
PEP
The impact of Mansour’s investment was
almost instantaneous. On the final day of
the 2008 summer transfer window Brazilian
superstar Robinho was signed from Santos, in
a £32.5 m move - setting a new record British
transfer fee.
The transfer was completed on the same
day that the Abu Dhabi United Group -
headed by Mansour - took over the club.
However, the marquee signing which
kicked off the Mansour era at City was far
from a resounding success. Despite a flying
start, Robinho fell down the pecking order
rapidly during his second season, returning to
Santos on loan in January 2010.
This was not allowed to become a trend
in following years, with both managerial
appointments and big-money signings both
increasingly being geared towards the club’s
needs, and the philosophies of each manager.
The best example of this has undoubtedly
come in the Guardiola years. Spending
on every position on the pitch has been
astronomical, but everywhere from £36 m
goalkeeper Ederson to £28 m striker Gabriel
Jesus, his signings have been perfectly tailored
to the way he wants City to play.
Although the club’s transfer policy has
become a lot more methodical and coherent
under Guardiola’s reign, their net spending
has only become more outrageous by the
year.
In the last two seasons
www.undisclosed.co.uk 9
City have registered a net spend of £165 m
and £174 m - the highest total in the Premier
League for each campaign. On top of this,
they have upset the status quo in terms of how
teams build the foundations of a squad.
Great Premier League sides of the
past have been built around a select few
individuals from their own academy, like
Gerrard, Scholes and Terry, or possibly long-
term signings made on the cheap for younger
players, such as Lampard and Vieira.
What Manchester City have done is bring
in big money signings made early in the
Mansour era - like Kompany, Yaya Toure,
David Silva and Aguero - and made them feel
like part of the furniture at the Etihad.
The combination of this, with Guardiola
virtually being given a blank cheque by the
owners in the summer of 2017, has put City in
a position where they can dominate English
football for the foreseeable future.
But the greatest import in City’s ten years
under Mansour undoubtedly has to be their
Spanish manager.
In spite of an underwhelming first
season, Pep Guardiola not only produced a
sensational multi-record breaking season last
term, but he seems to have given the club a
more defined direction and philosophy, when
compared with the short-term, ‘quick fix’
appointments of Mancini and Pellegrini.
This feeling was only enhanced by the
news that Guardiola extended his contract
to the summer of 2021 shortly following his
side’s demolition of the Premier League last
season.
As well as breaking the bank on bringing
in new and improved personnel, Mansour
has kept his fingers in a number of other
pies, and turned his attention to creating an
international footballing brand.
10 www.undisclosed.co.uk
PART 3: CITY FOOTBALL GROUP AND
PARTNERED CLUBS
The concept of ‘partnered clubs’ and
‘feeder clubs’ is a relatively new one in football
and represents a sign of the times, with the
game becoming ever more commercialised,
globalised, and centred around money.
City are one of the biggest clubs in
English football and are involved in one of
these arrangements with New York City FC
(NYCFC) of the MLS, and Melbourne City
FC, of the A-League.
All three of these clubs are majority
owned by the City Football Group (CFG),
87% of which is owned by Sheikh Mansour’s
Abu Dhabi United Group, and 13% of
which is owned by the China Media Capital
Consortium.
The Group also have investments and
minority ownership in the J-League’s
Yokohama F. Marinos, Club Atlético Torque
in Uruguay and Girona FC in La Liga - their
footballing empire already extends across six
countries.
CFG have insisted, ever since the inception
of New York City, that they will not be a
feeder club to Manchester City, and the group
have never overtly stated that any of the clubs
they own are valued above others.
However, there are some undeniable
connections between their teams on the field,
as well as off it, which make the relationship
between them quite intriguing.
There were early signs with Joe Hart’s
presence at the press conference where plans
to form the MLS club were unveiled in May
2013.
Graham Ruthven of the Guardian has
stated his belief that this indicates NYCFC
were always designed to be something
of a feeder club, geared towards fuelling
Manchester City’s ambitions across the pond.
Shortly after, the announcement on City’s
website stated that they were “proud to
announce, in partnership with the New York
Yankees, the acquisition of the Major League
Soccer’s 20th expansion club”.
The notion of one club ‘acquiring’ another
is certainly not suggestive
of a totally even, and equal
relationship.
There have been
similar signals in terms
of transfers too - Frank
Lampard’s move to NYCFC
was delayed by several
months so he could
remain on loan at
Manchester City and
help their push for
a Premier League
title, much to the
frustration of
fans in the
US.
FEATURE
MANCHESTER CITY
The relationship is not solely one-way, with always be asked about how this affects the
Patrick Vieira leaving his role at Manchester interests of the individual clubs they own, but
City to become head coach of NYCFC. Both bearing in mind the show Manchester City
teams have also allowed their players to train put on for the rest of England last season,
with their sister club’s squads on occasion. and the fact that NYCFC and Melbourne
TalkSport reported earlier this year City have both made great progress in their
that American player Mix Diskerud, when respective leagues recently, the partnered
surplus to requirements at NYCFC, had his clubs system appears to be a very successful, if
registration taken over by Man City, who also potentially delicate ecosystem.
allowed him to use their training facilities in
England, as a way of thanking him for ‘his
services to the City Football Group’. PART 4: YOUTH DEVELOPMENT? TIE
This will seem a very unusual concept
to many football fans, but surely it is to be IN TO PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE +
expected that the interests and ideologies of LONG TERM PROJECT
City Football Group will often be paramount
- they are after all, a business, and businesses But what’s next for Mansour’s ever-
exist to make money. growing footballing empire?
There were even suspicions, published The oil tycoon appears to have all bases
covered for the ongoing and long-term
development of his now ten-year-old project,
and has taken a keen interest into ensuring
IN TERMS OF ACADEMY City’s fortunes on and off the pitch are stable
for the future.
PRODUCTS, 15 PLAYERS In 2014, the club opened its brand-new
state-of-the-art £200m academy, designed to
HAVE MADE THEIR provide some of the top training facilities in
the country to all their teams, from the senior
PROFESSIONAL DEBUTS men’s to the juniors and women’s squads.
“Two thirds” of the City Football
FOR CITY WHILST THE CFA Academy (CFA) is intended to be focussed
on developing the prospects of youth players
HAS BEEN IN OPERATION, and it would now appear that, four years since
its opening, the club are starting to reap the
WITH ALL BAR ONE BEING benefits.
In terms of academy
UNDER THE AGE OF 20 products, 15 players have
made their professional
debuts for City whilst the
CFA has been in operation,
by Forbes in March, that Manchester City with all barring one
had nearly $100 million worth of expenses being under
subsidised by their two partnered clubs - the age of 20
clubs who already generate considerably less when they
revenue than them. did. This
The ability to tailor things at each of their number
clubs towards their own interests - usually includes
towards Man City as their flagship team a couple
- is allowing Mansour’s business, and of already
influence, to grow all the time. well-known
And as CFG’s Chief names such
Commercial Officer Tom Glick as now -
told CNBC earlier this year, they Leicester
have little interest in slowing down striker Kelechi
any time soon. Iheanacho and
He said: “I think it is very likely we will full-back Pablo
do some more. We are looking at a number Maffeo, who recently
of places across the globe”, adding that completed a permanent
places where football is set for ‘healthy move to German side
growth’ such as China, Korea, Japan Stuttgart.
and India, are already on their There are a few that
radar. seem set to stick around
There is very much a however, with Guardiola
sense here of CFG trying to having an
build a dynasty of clubs enthusiasm in
across the world, all promoting youth.
recognisable with the Under-17 World
word ‘City’ in their name, Cup winner Phil
their light blue kits and Foden, Lukas Nmecha
similar club crest design. and Tom Dele-Bashiru
Questions will all featured sporadically
 MANCHESTER CITY www.undisclosed.co.uk 11
during the last campaign.
City’s women’s team have also become
fully incorporated into the football club
during Mansour’s reign, having only been
linked through an affiliation from their
inception in 1988 to 2012.
The side have also enjoyed somewhat of
a renaissance in the last six years, winning
their maiden Women’s Super League title in
2016 and then partaking in their first two
Champions League campaigns - going out
on both occasions to eventual winners Lyon
in the semi-finals.
Based on this, it would appear that
everything Mansour touches in Manchester
turns to gold, and what’s to stop this
continuing to be the case in the future?
Finances don’t seem to be an issue;
despite their expenditure on players being
higher than ever before, their incomings
continue to rise - the club’s annual report
for 2016-17 showed a record revenue
of £473.4m - a 21% increase on the
previous season.
As a result, the percentage of that
revenue spent on wages has dropped
to 56%, showing the club have gone
a long way to becoming sustainable
for the future - this figure would
consistently sit above 100% during
the early days of Mansour’s reign,
meaning as a business they were
operating at a loss each year.
The accounts for 2016-17
showed City were enjoying overall
profits for the third year running,
and with Guardiola’s growing
impact on the field leading
to even greater commercial
interests around the globe,
2017-18 figures are expected to
show a similar trend.
With their Spanish
mastermind’s contract now
running until 2021, if he
does maintain his strong
impact on and off the pitch,
City could well soar to new
heights - particularly in
Europe - and the Mansour
era will continue to
blossom. The club has
grown exponentially
over the last 10 years,
and who knows where
it will end?
In truth, it’s hard
to disagree that the
blue sky really is the
limit for the sky
blues of Manchester,
Melbourne, New
York and wherever
else Sheikh
Mansour decides
to stretch his
City footballing
revolution to
next.

FEATURE
 www.undisclosed.co.uk
AGENTS

FEATURE
 TRANSFER FEE www.undisclosed.co.uk 13

ON THE VIRG OF GREATNESS: HAS

HE PROVEN HIS £75M PRICE TAG?
Undisclosed take a look at Virgil Van Dijk’s record breaking transfer, and how the moved developed over time...
all-time transfer record by nearly City’s left-back Benjamin Mendy
Virgil Van Dijk’s transfer saga £40m. (£52m), centre-back Aymeric
VVD’S JOURNEY TO THE TOP
had it all. Alleged tapping up, Van Dijk’s £75m fee is also a Laporte (£57m) and right-back
public apologies, refusals to play, considerable amount more than Kyle Walker (£50m) and of
and to top it all off, a world-record the £11.5m that the Saints course, Liverpool’s Virgil Van Dijk
transfer fee for a defender. Here’s paid for the (£75m).
how Virgil Van Dijk’s £75m move Holland interna- These figures show the inflat-
to Liverpool materialised, was tional in 2015. ed rates that English clubs now
buried, and then rose again. Liverpool paid have to pay for defenders and It all started at Dutch club Willem
On the 27th December 2017, Southampton £70m players in general, with a CIES II for Van Dijk, where he spent a
Virgil Van Dijk confirmed on his upfront, with the report earlier this year con- season at in 2009 at youth level.
Twitter account that he would be other £5m to be firming that the spending
joining Liverpool from South- paid in claus- of English
ampton in January, in a deal worth es and
£75m, making him the most clubs account-
expensive defender of all- ed for 51% of
time by more than £20m. The the transfer
club later confirmed the deal, fees paid
putting an end to one of the out by He spent his first senior seasons at
biggest English transfer sagas of clubs Eredivise outfit Groningen from
the year. in 2011-2013, where he first captured
The controversy surrounding Eu- the attention of top football clubs.
Liverpool’s supposed interest in performance-re-
Van Dijk began last summer, after lated add-ons rope’s
Southampton threatened to report during Van Dijk’s top five
the Anfield club to the Premier time at Anfield. leagues
League over an illegal approach for Van Dijk’s during
Van Dijk. It was reported that Van former club the January
Dijk had met with Liverpool man- Celtic received 2018 transfer
ager Jurgen Klopp in Blackpool to £7m of the £75m window, putting the
discuss a move. transfer fee paid spending into perspective Scottish champions Celtic signed
Subsequently, Liverpool issued to Southampton, when you consider that Bar- Van Dijk for a fee of £2.6m in
a public apology to Southampton after inserting celona paid £142m for Philippe 2013. He went on to play for The
for any “misunderstanding” over a sell-on clause Coutinho in the same window. Celts for two seasons in the SPL.
Virgil Van Dijk. The statement in his contract Van Dijk has enjoyed a
read: “Liverpool Football Club when selling the fruitful start to life at An-
would like to put on record our re- defender to the field, managing
gret over recent media speculation south coast club to not let his
regarding Southampton Football three years ago. It world-record fee lin-
Club and player transfers between means that Celtic will ger over him,
the two clubs. We respect South- have recouped nearly shoring up
ampton’s position and can confirm £20m on the player Liverpool’s
The Dutchman arrived in the
we have ended any interest in the they bought for only defence
Premier League for £13m when
player.” £2.6m in 2013, proving that has
Southampton signed him in 2015.
Southampton refused to sell to be an effective bit of consistently
Van Dijk throughout the summer, business from the been quoted
despite the Dutchman handing Scottish champions. as a weakness,
in a formal transfer request, and The deal shows a alongside Cro-
reportedly refusing to play for the rampant shift in the atian international
Saints again. perception of defend- Dejan Lovren, another former
Southampton conceded defeat ers in today’s transfer market, a Southampton defender.
later in the year, after talks with market in which just a few years In his first half-season,Van Dijk
Van Dijk’s current club, Liverpool,
Van Dijk and his agent forced the ago anything close to £75m for helped Liverpool secure a top-four
who paid £75m for the defender.
club to accept that the player was a defender would be considered finish, and nearly managed to pick
He will be targeting future success
destined to leave. absurd. up a Champions League winners
with the club having recently
The transfer fee of £75m was The world’s most expensive medal, narrowly missing out to
reached the Champions League
not only the record fee paid for a defence all currently play in the Real Madrid in the final.
final.
defender, it also broke Liverpool’s Premier League; Manchester

TRANSFERS
 MONEYBALL www.undisclosed.co.uk 17

HOW MONEYBALL
CHANGED THE GAME
In recent years, the methods of football recruitment around the world have evolved. Our reporter, Callum Brunning explains
how the beautiful game has become a hotbed for data and algorithms.

M
oneyball has become a shorthand term therefore undervalued. Baseball didn’t take find value to them. Nevertheless,
for the strategic use of data in sport, OBP seriously, but Beane did and he started data can help a club pick up a bargain. In 2014,
yet it is not simply just that. It’s also winning for peanuts. N’golo Kante made 4.8 tackles per game, 2.9
about finding what is undervalued and Football recruitment has often been interceptions per game, and 0.9 clearances
then using that to value players who flawed. Big name signings make the fans per game for his club SC Caen, who were only
cost less than they should. happy but if players have already peaked promoted to Ligue 1 the season prior. Leicester
When used correctly, this simple or only done well at an international City spotted this and bought Kante for £7.65m
insight has seen incredible tournament, they are probably in the summer of 2015 then went on to win
ramifications in baseball and over-valued. The ‘Availability the Premier League the following season. As a
is already changing the Heuristic’ - the idea that defensive midfielder, 5ft 6 Kante was too small
way in which football the more easily you can for most scouts, but numbers told a story that
clubs recruit players. call something to mind, the eye missed. When Leicester sold Kante to
The term the more weight you Chelsea, they made a profit of over £20m.
‘Moneyball’ comes give it in decision Liverpool, whose owner John Henry is a big
from Michael making - means that fan of Billy Beane and Bill James,
Lewis’ book about scouts often privilege have tried a version of
Baseball legend Billy recent performances ‘Moneyball’ at the club with
Beane. Beane had over long-term some successes like Luis Suarez
everything as a player, trends. Ex-pro scouts and Jordan Henderson
what scouts call the 5 Legendary managerial and managers tend to yet Liverpool also saw
tools - running, fielding, duo Peter Taylor and over-weigh their own some failures from
throwing, hitting, and Brian Clough experience when making this strategy,
hitting with power. When he decisions, as if it’s the most namely Andy
failed as a player, he vowed never valid. It isn’t. Carroll and
to look at baseball in the same way. The first managers to really grasp Sebastian
Lewis’ book charts how Beane, then General value were Brian Clough and Peter Taylor. Coates.
Manager at the poor, unfashionable Oakland Even though they didn’t use data, the pair Brentford
A’s, used data to determine player recruitment would look for players with personal issues famously used
and achieved remarkable success on a less than who clubs didn’t want and then help them data-driven
modest budget. through those issues. For example, Kenny recruitment
Beane, following Bill James, the father of Burns was overweight, liked a fight and a for a half a
using baseball statistics intelligently, realised drink, but Clough and Taylor picked him season before
that ‘on-base percentage’ - how often up for next to nothing and turned him into changing their
a player gets on base - was more important 1978’s football writers’ footballer of the year. minds - numbers
than pure hitting or glory plays like bunce or They still used iron gut instinct but the sense were used to
stealing bases. Beane started that some players were cheaper than Clough whittle down list of
looking for players who had and Taylor thought they ought to be, was players who were
been discarded but had crucial to their successes with Derby then scouted using
great OBP and were and with Nottingham Forest. video, then finally
As numbers have started to scouted in person.
proliferate in football, mostly thanks But these are the high
to Opta and ProZone, it seemed profile instances, data is
like they might be the answer now used by all sensible
to player recruitment. clubs trying to find the next
Possession, tackling and Kante. The key is finding
passing are now suddenly the undervalued statistic
in vogue as metrics, not that correlates to winning
just things than happen before anyone else
during a match. But does. That is
numbers alone don’t tell Moneyball.
you much unless you can
read them and crucially,

TRANSFERS
16 www.undisclosed.co.uk
CIES FOOTBALL OBSERV
How statistics and science is changi
I
n a world of crazy
transfer fees, huge
contracts and panicked
deadline day buys, you’d be
forgiven for thinking that
clubs draw any potential
transfer bids out of a hat.
However, a four-man
team based in Switzerland
is looking to change all
that…
It hit the headlines earlier this season when
it was reported that Liverpool star Mohamed
Salah's value had almost doubled in just six
months at Anfield.
'The Egyptian King' has had a stellar season
for The Reds, starring in their run to the Cham-
pions League Final in Kiev, as well as breaking
the Premier League goal scoring record for a
38-game season, his 32 strikes enough for him
to be crowned the PFA Player of the Year.
However, in a football era that is so unpre-
dictable and full of change, how can a player's
value be calculated so accurately?
The answer comes from the CIES Football
Observatory, a research group within the Inter-
national Centre for Sports Studies, an inde-
pendent centre located in Switzerland.
The centre specialises in the statistical analy-
sis of football and has been running since 2005.
It was originally founded by Dr Raffaele
Poli and Dr Loic Ravenel. To this day, they only
employ two other members of staff, Dr Roger
Besson and Andrea Pessina, who is responsible
for the gathering of data.
Dr Poli originally came up with the idea for
the observatory whilst studying for a PHD.
"I was doing my PHD at the time and
studying the migration of African players to
Europe. I needed some data on the career path
of players to have some numbers beyond the
work I had done at this time, so that's why we
created this observatory", he explains.
"There was a big miss in terms of interpre-
tation of this data and a scientific approach
and that's why we started with the analysis of
players migration.
"We then started to look at the on the pitch
performance of players with technical data and
in the last five or six years we started to look
at the transfer values of players. "We
now have these three key areas of
TRANSFERS
CIES
research."
The observatory's researchers specialise in
quantitative methods and the group is regularly
used by organisations such as FIFA, UEFA, City
Football Group, Chelsea FC and SL Benfica to
enhance performance.
They can carry out various different tasks
depending on the needs of the club they are
working for.
“It (the work they do with clubs) varies,
depending on their demands”, explains Dr Poli.
“We can do transfer valuations for players
if clubs are interested, or valuations for current
squad members.
“We can study the migration of players, their
home-grown availability and all the stuff that
can help clubs to better regulate the market.
“We can compare what is in one country to
another or what specific clubs have in terms of
player value.
“Last summer of course
there was an increase,
but the five previous
years also had an in-
crease of about 15% infla-
tion on players fees.”
“There is a wide range of possibilities in
which we can intervene and the idea behind it
is to use objectivity to compare figures and see
trends in one country and another.”
As well as this, the group bring
out regular reports on various other
issues, including performance
rankings for players, reports on the
number of club developed players
in Europe’s big leagues and the
impact that new signings have
had on their respective
clubs.
However, what has
really brought it
to the attention
of football clubs and
supporters alike, is the rating
system that it uses to calculate
players transfer values, which
allows fans to see the calculated
value of any player in Europe’s top
five leagues.
The observatory uses a particu-
lar methodology when deciding
AGENTS
on the value of a player, which uses two main
steps; considering the level of the buying club
and estimating the transfer value of the player.
Firstly, they consider up to 19 variables,
including factors such as the age of the player,
goals scored by them, international appear-
ances and the level at which they are currently
playing to help estimate the level of the most
likely buying club.
They then use this information about the
likely level of the buying club, alongside other
data such as contract duration, loan status and
book value, to scientifically calculate the trans-
fer value of a player.
Dr Poli believes that all these factors are
very important and must be considered when
calculating the value of a player.
“All these factors are important. For some
players one factor is more important than
others but all the factors that we include in the
model are highly significant”, he says.
“Of course, if you have a guy who scores a
lot, it will be the most important thing, even if
he’s not that young. If he still scores a lot, then
for him the scoring factor would be the most
important factor in the calculation of his value.
“Then for a defender, of course it wouldn’t
be if he was going to score a lot, but perhaps
national team experience, or his club or age.
“So, depending on the profile of the players
we have some specific criteria play a greater
role for increasing the player value.
“However, with our approach, we only in-
clude very significant factors in the model.”
The model doesn’t take inflation into
account, so values that are calculated by the
observatory tend to be a little lower than the
actual fees which players move for.
However, despite the transfer of Neymar to
PSG for €200m (£175m) last summer, Dr Poli
does not believe that the market was particular-
ly different to previous years.
“Last summer of course there was an
increase, but the five previous years also had an
increase of about 15% inflation on players fees”,
Dr Poli explains.
“It was not a big change last
season, contrary to what peo-
ple think. It’s because you
had a very high transfer
and also the records in general
terms of money spent.
“Of course, there is some inflation, but
it’s simply the fact that there were more
top-level players moving to other clubs
than previous seasons.
“This reflects mobility in the market,
but this is quite a common trend that we
had already noticed in previous years.”
According to their valuation of the

VATORY: THE FUTURE
ing the transfer market
Brazil star at the time, the colossal fee was in
line with his value.
So, how can the observatory explain such
a huge rise in the value of Salah, in just six
months?
Dr Poli still believes that the methods of the
observatory are accurate and that Salah’s price
rise can be explained by a number of factors.
“Salah was the best signing of the summer,
in financial terms at least. He was underpaid by
Liverpool despite inflation”, he explains.
“They can have the
resources to view the full
picture and try to perform
at the best level but at the
same time, short termism
is still a problem.”
“Then of course Salah is having a fantastic
season at Liverpool and a Champions League
final as well, so it’s absolutely normal that his
value skyrockets.
“He’s playing in one of the best leagues in
Europe and he’s quite young, in a high per-
forming team.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if he continues like
that he could one day be the most expensive
player in the world.
“Potentially of course, as if Liverpool
agree to sell the player it wouldn’t
be less than that but as you know,
it’s quite improbable that the
players will move.
“The price does not reflect
the probability of the transfer.”
Another important factor
to take into account is that the
observatory did originally value
Salah at €88m (£77m), despite
him moving to Anfield for around
€42m (£37m).
Roma also felt that they had sold
him for too little, so it is worth
remembering that his rise in valu-
ation is from a much higher point
than his actual fee.
It has now been 13 years since the
CIES Football Observatory was set up and Dr
Poli believes that clubs have developed and
now use science to ensure that they are more
aware of the transfer market.
As a result, he believes that the group’s
CIES www.undisclosed.co.uk 17
analysis methods are playing a bigger part in However, despite
transfers. his superb perfor-
Despite this, he is still concerned that short mances and statisti-
term thinking is having a major impact on cal returns, Bakayoko
transfers, meaning that some clubs don’t use has struggled to make an
scientific valuations as well as they could. impact in West London
“You have a lot more science and scientists and has found himself
with specific clubs, especially the best ones”, he dropped from the team
explains. on occasions, with many
“They can have the resources to view the journalists and fans
full picture and try to perform at the best level questioning the club’s de-
but at the same time, short termism is still a cision to sign him.
problem. Despite this
“Speaking to some scientific people at clubs,
they are often quite frustrated at the pressure
poor season, CIES
value the midfielder at
still
€75m
teams have and this pressure pushes club offi-
cials to look at the short term instead of really
(£65m), mainly due to him playing regularly
at a high level, his young age and his lengthy
having a long-term policy.
“Even for those who try to have a longer-
contract at one of the biggest clubs in England.
However, although there are occasional
term strategy which is driven by science and
knowledge, in the end they are confronted with
outliers, statistical analysis is continuing to play
a bigger part in football and clubs are using it
a very unstable market.”
An obvious example of this short-termism
more and more to find and sign players.
The observatory fund themselves through
is Chelsea’s signing of Ross Barkley for £15m
in January.
payments from clients for doing consultancy
work, such as valuations of current squads or
The 24-year-old was signed despite injury transfer targets, whilst they also receive struc-
struggles at Everton and went on to start just tural funding from FIFA.
four games for Chelsea after signing. They use their same specific scientific
Whilst the future of his career at Stamford techniques to ensure that they always remain
Bridge is still unknown, there appears to be impartial by meaning that there is no risk of
very little financial logic in signing a player you any bias in any calculations, whoever is paying
could have for free in six months’ time for a fee them.
of £15m, unless he’s going to have an immedi- Despite this, Dr Poli hopes that they can
ate impact on your team. go even further in having a positive impact on
However, one thing that the observatory football.
can’t take into account when valuing players is “We try to finetune what we have”, he
good old-fashioned instinct. explains.
One example is the rise of Jamie Vardy to a “It’s trying to innovate with new leagues
Premier League title. and also to be more popular by selling some
Using the observatory’s techniques, Vardy products to the media.
wouldn’t have been viewed as compatible with “We now have an agreement
Leicester at the time of his move in 2012, with Trinity Mirror to look at
due to his age and the fact that he had never the Championship and they
played in the Football League. will launch something around
However, after a slow start at the club, it for next season.
he excelled and fired them to a shock “At the same time, we
Premier League title with 24 league are trying to help even
goals in 2016. more clubs have more
Another potential issue with the objective and solid
observatory’s findings is that sometimes approaches, as well as
players simply do not adapt to a team FIFA.
as expected. “The dream would be
There are many examples of this, that all this methodology
with a particular one from this would be integrated in some
campaign yet again concerning ways and have an impact
Chelsea, this time with the signing on the market in such a way
of Tiemoue Bakayoko. that we could help football
The central midfielder excelled for Monaco have more integrity.
in the 2016/17 Champions League season, also “If we can have a greater impact
helping the principality side to a shock Ligue 1 for the good of the game we would be
victory over powerhouses Paris Saint-Germain. very proud about it.” TRANSFERS

DEADLINE DAY DEALS
A look at transfers that went down to the wire
DIMITAR BERBATOV- 2008
An hour before the deadline, the
fate of this Bulgarian beast was still
very much up in the air. Within the
hour, Manchester United had swiftly
wrapped up business and brought an
end to a battle for Berbatov which
had torn through Manchester in the
final days of the window. Despite
Spurs approving Manchester City’s
offer earlier in the evening, they
would never get a chance to meet
him, as Berbatov’s heart was set on
finding a new home on the red side
of the city, and that is exactly what
he did.
ANDY CARROLL- 2011
After a dazzling start to the season
where he bagged 11 goals in 19
Premier League games, Carroll
was high up on many people’s
mid-season transfer radars, namely
Liverpool. Desperate for a taste
of his scoring form, they not only
broke the club record transfer fee
they set a few days prior to attract
Luis Suarez to Anfield, but also set
the British transfer record. The deal
would end up being signed in the
evening of the final day, and would
mark the end of a busy January
transfer window for Liverpool,
which also saw Fernando Torres
move to Chelsea.
DAVID LUIZ- 2016
Speaking of Luiz, he has a thing
about Deadline Day deals to the
Blues. Following that final day deal
in 2011, he would have a deja-vu
moment and find himself moving
back to the capital in 2016. PSG paid
a world-record fee for a defender
two years prior, and he would enjoy
consecutive domestic trebles while
in Paris. Yet, when Chelsea came
calling, he sought out PSG’s presi-
dent to try and secure a move back
to the Premier League – a transfer
that would be completed mere min-
utes before the transfer window was
due to close.
LATE TRANSFERS www.undisclosed.co.uk 19
ROBINHO-2008
It was not all doom and gloom for
£32.5m the Sky Blues on Deadline Day
however, as they made this surprise
scoop. Despite being linked with
Chelsea for seemingly forever,
he would not end up at Stamford
Bridge, trading the sunny skies of
the Bernabeu for Eastlands. This
was not Manchester City’s only big
signing of the day however, as it was
also the day Mansour and company
officially signed. And how did they
celebrate now officially owning the
£30.75m club… by breaking their record
transfer fee of course.
FERNANDO TORRES- 2011
One in, one out. Liverpool swapped
their Number 9 in record time on
£50m Deadline Day. With Carroll on his
way to Anfield, the path was paved
for Torres to make a move to the
capital. The deal, which was pushed
through shortly before the deadline,
came with a price tag which broke
the British transfer record in the
process. It also made the Spaniard
the fourth highest transfer in the
history at the time, only trailing
Cristiano Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahi-
£35m movic and Kaka. The deal marked
the end of a busy last day of the win-
dow for the Blues, who also brought
in David Luiz from Benfica.
DANNY DRINKWATER- 2017
Chelsea seem to love some Deadline
Day business, but I’d be surprised
£35m if they ever want to leave it this
late again. The only way they could
complete this signing last summer
was by applying for a two-hour
extension to the transfer deadline.
Vital to the Foxes fairytale Premier
League winning season, Chelsea
would work into the night to reunite
him with N’Golo Kante. By the next
morning, he had swapped the King
Power for Stamford Bridge, joining
Davide Zappacosta as Chelsea’s
£34m last-minute arrivals.
TRANSFERS
 RECORD FEES www.undisclosed.co.uk 21

A TIMELINE OF RECORD TRANSFERS

We look at how the amount paid for players has sky-rocketed
1893 since the 19th century...
Willie Groves signs for Aston Villa from
West Brom in first ever three figure
transfer of £100.
Alf Common moves from Sunderland

1905 to Middlesbrough for a four-figure

fee, causing outrage among football

1932
Bernabé Ferreyra moves from Tigre authorities.
to River Plate to become the first
non-British transfer to break the world
record at £23,000. Johan Cruyff leaves Ajax after 16 years

1973
to sign for Barcelona, almost doubling
the world record fee of half-a-million -
set five years prior - to £922,000.

1975
Giuseppe Savoldi joins Napoli from
Bologna and, in the process, becomes
the world’s first ever million pound Britain aren’t too far behind, as
player with a fee of £1.2m. Trevor Francis’ move from

1979
Birmingham to league champions
Nottingham Forest sees him become
Diego Maradona the country’s first million pound

1982, 1984
becomes the first and footballer. Four months later, he
only player to break the scores the winning goal in the
world record twice in a European Cup final.
row with moves from

1996
Boca Juniors to Barcelona Alan Shearer’s £15m move from
and then Napoli. Blackburn to Newcastle sees him
become the first British player to be
Brazilian forward Ronaldo becomes
the third player to break the world
record twice with his £19.5m transfer
1997 involved in a world record-breaking
transfer in 45 years.

from Barcelona to Inter Milan. Christian Vieri cements his place in

Real Madrid break
the world record five 1999 history, becoming the most expensive
player prior to the 21st century with
a £32m (€49m) move from Lazio to

2000-2013
times in succession,
signing Figo (£37m), Inter.
Zidane (£46m), Kaka
(£56m), Ronaldo

2016
(£80m) & Bale (£86m). Paul Pogba sensationally rejoins
Manchester United - the club that
released him four years earlier - for

2017
Neymar is presently the world’s most £89m. The Frenchman is currently the
expensive footballer ever, moving most expensive player ever signed by a
from Barcelona to PSG for an Premier League side.
eye-watering £198m; a 125% increase
on the previous record - the biggest
percentage rise since 1903.

From £100 to £198 million... but what does the future hold?
In truth, it’s hard to predict what will happen in the future now regarding the global transfer record. Back in the 1890s, they’d have probably fainted
at just the thought of £200m alone, never mind the amount being spent on a footballer. Even taking inflation into account, Willie Groves’ £100 figure
would only stand at little over £10,000. Considering this jump in price, where will the game sit in say another hundred years?

To put it all into context, European Cup winner Trevor Francis’ million-pound move almost 40 years ago has since been bettered by a League Two club -
Notts County paid £1.5m for goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel.

In terms of going forward, who knows when the record will next be broken? But despite fees rising year on year, it’s difficult to see Neymar’s record
being broken any time soon - rather than being one of the world’s current superstars, it is perhaps more likely to be an upcoming talent in a few years.

TRANSFERS
22 FUTURE STARS

Ethan Ampadu and

Callum Hudson-Odoi
made a combined

3
PL apps this season

CHARLY MUSONDA

TRANSFERS

WILL CHELSEA’S LOAN POLICY FINALLY COME
GOOD FOR TOMORROW’S STARS?
After two Chelsea loanees receive an England call up, is it time for the Blues to place the trust in youth? Or will
the corrosive loan policy swallow up more potential stars of tomorrow?
A
fter the emotional departure of club
legend John Terry last summer, it
came to light that Chelsea’s longest
serving player in the club was now
Matej Delac. The 25-year-old Croatian
goalkeeper joined the club in 2010 but is yet
to play a single game since his arrival, being
loaned out on 10 separate occasions, proving
a fine example of how comical Chelsea’s
loan policy can be. Last season, the
Blues loaned out 37 players. Instead
of what was initially designed as a
development programme, it has
now mutated into a corrosive
money making scheme, but
how does this affect Chelsea’s
youth players coming
through? And will the
next John Terry be
given a chance in the
first team or simply
cast aside?
Chelsea’s
youth team
has won the
FA Youth
Cup
seven
During the 2016/17
season, Chelsea sent
38
players out on loan
FUTURE STARS
times in the last nine years, yet very few of
the academy players have made a first team
appearance. Most of them in fact have spent
the majority of their short careers at Vitesse
Arnhem in the Dutch league – Chelsea’s sister
club, where the young prospects go to fade
away in the memory, much like when Frodo
boards the ship to the undying lands at the
end of Lord of the Rings. The only notable
graduate from recent years has been John
Terry, using the term ‘recent’ loosely.  Yet
this season Danish centre back Andreas
Christensen has forged his way into Antonio
Conte’s first team. This is an unprecedented
feat for a youth team player at Chelsea in the
Abramovich era. Shipped out on loan to the
Bundesliga as a youngster, the Dane has come
back to Stamford Bridge after an impressive
two-year stint at Borussia Monchengladbach
with a wealth of Champions League and
international experience ready to don the
iconic blue jersey. And not just in the Milk
Cup, to the delight of Chelsea fans and no
doubt Christensen himself.
Time and time again does a young
prospect at Chelsea get shafted out on loan
to a European side which they’ve probably
had to google before jumping on the plane.
And in some cases there is no return ticket.
Mohamed Salah and Kevin de Bruyne are
prime examples, I understand they didn’t
come up through the academy but both
were scouted at a young age and were given
a game or two to impress in the first team
before they were quickly forgotten about,
and became disposable commodities
in a blink. Examples like these are
what makes Chelsea’s loan policy a
laughing stock to the rest of Europe
and rightly so. Granted, very few
of Chelsea’s expulsions have
gone on to be world beaters,
but the ones that do slip
through the net like the
aforementioned, have
a tendency to bite
the blues in the
bum.
Still however,
the Chelsea
faithful
live in
hope
for a
www.undisclosed.co.uk 23
home-grown hero to force their way into the
team. Last year, Conte teased the introduction
of Nathaniel Chalobah, who occasionally
made Premier League appearances and
featured regularly in cup games. However,
the summer pursuit of Monaco’s Tiemoue
Bakayoko put pay to any hope for Chalobah
to break through as a starter for Conte. The
academy golden boy was quickly moved
out to Watford for a small fraction of what
Monaco made the Blues pay for Bakayoko.
Interestingly, since his move across London
in July, Chalobah has already been called up
to the England squad – an accomplishment
he never achieved in seven years on Chelsea’s
books, while Bakayoko is still struggling to
acclimatise to English football.
So what does the future hold for Chelsea’s
youngsters? This season, Ruben Loftus-Cheek
and Tammy Abraham have already impressed
on their loan adventures, so much so that
both have earned senior caps for England.
Loftus-Cheek especially rubbed it in Chelsea’s
face with a stellar man-of-the-match perfor-
mance against world champions Germany.
The irony is so frustratingly cringe-worthy
that a player is not considered to be good
enough for the first team at Stamford Bridge,
yet is able to receive five-star reviews repre-
senting England. Despite the obvious embar-
rassment, can Chelsea really be blamed for
sending the boys out on loan? I can’t imagine
either one would have gained the Premier
League experience they have this season from
sitting in the stands game after game, perhaps
getting a 20 minute run out away at Hudders-
field – providing they’d thoroughly polished
Morata’s boots and made sure Cesc received
his pre-game massage of course. So does
their emergence this season expose Chelsea’s
maltreatment of their academy or simply
demonstrate the triumph of English youth
football in the last few years? No matter what
the conclusion, the sole beneficiary of the
outcome will ultimately be Chelsea Football
Club. It’s a win-win. This summer, Chelsea
will acquire two promising home-grown play-
ers with a full Premier League season under
their belt or alternatively, a wholesome pile of
cash after selling them to the highest bidders.
Letting them go however will not sit well with
Blues fans, who have already seen several
young English players come and go without
being given a real shot at the first team. While
Conte has been an advocate for promoting
youth in his sides in the past, he is yet to truly
experiment this philosophy at Chelsea. Will
the void left by JT and Lampard ever be filled?
Only time will tell.
TRANSFERS
 EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW www.undisclosed.co.uk 25

Are fame hungry intermediaries ruining football?

With fees skyrocketing in recent years, ex-footballer and veteran agent Tony
Finnigan has his say on the modern game.
In the world of modern football, agents are genuine interest in seeing the country’s young to an institution like Liverpool Football Club?
now more prominent than ever. From extor- prospects develop and flourish: How dare you say something like that when
tionate fees to constantly being in the public “I do believe you should have some knowl- you see the history of the club, the passion
eye, the life of an agent has changed drastical- edge of football, I do think you should have of the people, what it means to people? I just
ly. Nowadays, anyone can become an agent, or played the sport to connect with it properly think all of the people involved in the game
‘intermediary’, as they are officially named by – not necessarily at professional level but now just want to be famous. It’s a lifestyle.”
the Football Association. Following the dereg- just a level where you’ve played the Despite having dealt with many high profile
ulation of agencies in English football three game, on Sundays or Saturdays, just agents and intermediaries, the list of clients
years ago, there are now almost four times as so you can appreciate what goes into that Tony has represented during his career
many registered intermediaries as there were training and playing,” he says. is even more staggering. Some of his former
licensed agents in 2015. With the industry “You can be an average guy that clients include illustrious names such as
now open to anyone, football has seen a large just kicks a ball around with mates Liverpool legend Stan Collymore,
influx of intermediaries wanting to make their but you can appreciate what it’s like to Everton hero Leighton Baines and
mark on the beautiful game – heightening the chase after someone that’s better than Chelsea ace Victor Moses. Tony still
competition for clients. Amongst the hun- you, or to compete with somebody. represents an impressive list of
dreds of new wave intermediaries, some old I just think that’s more important footballers up until this day: “My
school football agents still remain. Anthony than someone who’s realised main clients now are probably
‘Tony’ Finnigan is one of them. Having played that football is a cash cow Albert Adomah who’s at Aston
for prestigious clubs such as Crystal Palace, that’s ready to be milked Villa, Lewis Grabban of Bourne-
Fulham and Blackburn Rovers, Tony has been but doesn’t have any senti- ment mouth and Solly March who’s at
involved in football for decades. Quickly after or attachment to the beautiful game.” Brighton which I’m very proud of.
retiring, he acquired an agency li- Tony’s pedigree as a top football agent I remember these guys playing at
cense so he could remain involved is unquestionable. Football has been youth level and non-league and
with the game he fell in love a constant in his life. He has proven I’ve got to mentor and help them
with so many years ago. Now time after time that his love for the become professional athletes which
looking back over his career as game is his only driving force, and is the bit I enjoy. You want them
a football agent, Tony compares that the money factor does not have to be successful, and
how things have changed over an impact on him whatsoev- when they’re success-
the years: er. He recalls how he ful you’re successful
“95% of people in this gave Aidy Ward, with them because
industry are wankers – the infamous you’ve helped develop them. You
and you can print that. representative have to believe in your clients if you
People are now called of Raheem want them to reach the next level.” Even with
intermediaries not Sterling, care in developing, things can still go wrong.
agents, because anyone his first For Tony, one of his biggest disappointments
can be one of those. You oppor- was Everton winger and
don’t have to have any tunity Brighton ace Solly March, one of DR Congo internation-
knowledge, as long as in the Tony’s main clients al Yannick Bolasie who
you don’t have a criminal agency he had represented for
record you can actually apply industry and how money over four years: “I mean with Yannick, we
to the FA, pay your money eventually got the better went to a Porsche garage and by the time I
and away you go. I just don’t
believe that people are in this
of him:
“I’ve helped launch so many “I love the game, I
business for the reason of
football anymore.
of these modern agents like
Raheem Sterling’s agent Aidy love football, I love
“I remember doing my agency
license back in the day and there
Ward – I gave him his chance
in this game. I initially tried everything about it. And
were a handful of people there.
You go and do it now and you’d get
getting Aidy into the sport
as a professional football- I won’t leave until I’m
3,000 people turning up if you were
to advertise it due to deregulation. If
er
in-
but he got a really bad
jury, so I introduced him dead and gone.”
they had the ability to cater for 3,000 to the world of agency a
people to sit that exam they would get few years ago instead. got back to my office I had a letter from him
that amount. So the FA have If these new agents were saying ‘I’ve gone as far as I can with you. I
Tony Finnigan playing for Barnet in
done very well out of that.” real football people, Aidy don’t think you can take me to the next level.’
League 1 during the 1993-94 season
Tony believes that modern Ward would never have Next level? We’ve just come out of a fucking
intermediaries are not getting gone public and say ‘I Porsche garage! When I met you, you had an
involved with the sport for the love of the don’t care if Liverpool Football Club offer my Oyster card – what are you on about? Some-
game. He thinks that they’re too busy looking client £1m a week – he’s not signing a new one got into his head so I told him ‘Go! Go!’,
for their next big pay day rather than having a contract’. How dare he say something like that shook his hand and told him ‘Bye!’.

AGENTS
26 www.undisclosed.co.uk
“I was just so disappointed more than
anything because I remember looking at his
mother in the eyes when I signed him and
telling her ‘Give me two and a half seasons
and we’ll be in the Premier League.’ I told
him ‘You’ve got some of the best natural
skill I’ve ever seen. Your end product
isn’t great but that skill you’ve got in
itself is incredible’.
to deal with
I’ve learnt
the
Yannicks of
world. He’s
this
desperate to
impress and to
get where he
wants to be, so
if someone says the
right thing to him he’s gonna leave,
you’ve just got to accept that and
move on sometimes.” Yannick Bo-
lasie’s story is a perfect example of
how a player can become unsettled
by a rumour, and how it is danger-
“I’ve learnt to deal
with the Yannicks
of this world”
ous for agents to become too attached
to their clients. Tony still has a vivid
memory of the first time he saw Bolasie
on the football pitch: “I went to see Yan-
nick playing in the reserves for Plymouth
at Fulham’s training ground. I then found
out he was loaned out to Barnet, so I went
to see him play again. I watched him jump
with the centre half, flick it on, land on his
feet, sprint to it, beat his man, and he put
the ball in the corner of the net
with his left foot. I couldn’t believe Yannick Bolasie, one of Tony’s the process. Tony,
it. I hung around afterwards to
speak to him and I saw he was
with Barry Gold. I think he was getting £200
a week and Barry was charging him 5% of his
£200 a week. I know he was a businessman
but that’s the bit that I can’t do.” Tony, unlike
the vast majority of modern intermediaries,
does not charge a fee in advance when his
clients are on a low income. Instead, he only
begins to charge an agent fee when his clients
reach a wage of at least £5,000 per week and
£260,000 a year. He adopts this approach as he
believes it establishes a trust between an agent
and a player, but also because he can relate to
young players who earn a low wage:
“It’s because I’ve been at that level, earning
£100 a week as a young player at Fulham with
Malcolm McDonald and learning from the
greats and grafting to earn that extra £25 a
week.
“I know what it’s like to get released,
having played for England in the youth World
Cup only to be told in October that I was get-
ting released in June! And I was on the way to
the World Cup! You just add all of those expe- lot of you, what’s wrong with 5%?’. You’ve got
riences together, digest it and then embrace it,
and then put it across for the next generation
of footballers in the hope that you can moti-
AGENTS
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
vate them.” Tony believes transfer rumours with talented guys whose families rely on
create nothing but trouble for clubs, players, them to better their lives, working class guys
fans and agents, which has seen him propose working so hard to become footballers and all
a different method to the current transfer of a sudden it’s gone crazy.” Tony is one of the
window system that is in place: “I don’t think few rare characters remaining in the
there should be a window, it should be open
market all season because it upsets players
“No agent should profit
everywhere. They will listen to gossip and
rumours and then suddenly a situation that from the sale of a
was harmonious goes wonky. Every-
one’s on the same ship getting footballer”
along with each other and
within three months, bang,
someone’s in a boat going
the other way, rowing in field of agency who isn’t just in the busi-
the wrong direction ness for a bumper pay day: “I love the game, I
to everyone else. love football, I love everything about it. And I
“It should be free won’t leave it until I’m dead and gone. At least
trade. All I’ll be able to look at myself in the mirror and
other indus- say I’ve done some great work.” If regulation
tries are, why is not introduced soon, characters like him
would you stop that? will become outnumbered by fame hungry
Why not? I just think, intermediaries that have no passion for the
beautiful game. For now, Tony will continue
to fight for what he believes in day in, day out:
“I’ll continue to walk around the jungle
as a fucking lion
high and where
with my head held
I choose to
dine – I dine.
dine with
And I will only
somebody that
why restrict it? Transfer win- wants to eat at my table.”
dows are damaging to so many
dressing rooms and clubs and
when you look at some of these
guys and what they try and do to
get out and the extreme levels they
go to in the attempt to try and get
out of a club.” As the amount of
intermediaries has risen rapidly
in recent years, the demand
for higher fees has also
sky rocketed in
former clients
however, is on a
one man mission to make sure that agents
everywhere don’t let greed get the better of
them. He said: “I got an email come through
today by the head of the AFA Mel Stein telling
every agent that’s a part of the AFA to lobby
against the proposed implementation of a
“I don’t think there
should be a window, it
should be open market
all season”
restriction in agent fees. You’re not meant to
get more than 5% gross off a contract and a
sale of a footballer. No agent should profit
from the sale of a footballer as it’s against the
regulations in this country. The AFA say that
it’s unfair to restrict agents to only 5% of a
fee. “So I’m going to turn up and I’m probably
going to be the only one that says ‘fuck the
the livelihood of young men at the palm of Tony Finnigan playing for Sealand vs Fulham
your hand and you want more money? Why? in a charity match long after retiring
You’ve been given the opportunity to work
28 www.undisclosed.co.uk WOLVES

AGENTS
 WOLVES
THE
BEAST BEHIND THE
BEAUTY
Under the ownership of Chinese business tycoons,
Wolverhampton Wanderers have returned to the
top. Undisclosed has the story...
T
his season, Wolverhampton
Wanderers have torn apart their
opposition in what has been an
astonishing season that has led
them back to Premier League football under
the guidance of former Porto and Valencia
boss Nuno Espirito Santo. The new manager’s
style of play has excited the Wolves faithful all
season, not without thanks to Diogo Jota and
Leo Bonatini, who have clocked a total of 30
combined goals.
However, while the football on the field
may warm the heart of the football purists,
the story of Wolves’ rise behind the scenes will
have many traditionalists tutting and finger-
wagging.
Wolves is a club proud of its history. In
fact, back when the Football League was
founded in 1888, Wolves were ready to show
off their famous orange kit. After winning
three first division titles during the 50s and
60s, Wolves’ comeback into Premier League
football will be welcomed by many avid
football fans.
Yet, even Wolves fans will admit, the
means of getting there has not been a fairy-
tale. In fact, their rise to the top has been
birthed from a financial business model more
fitting for a business growth meeting than the
football history books.
After Chinese super company Fosun
International purchased the club back in 2016,
things have looked promising for Wolves. The
investment business has been ranked as one of
China’s largest privately owned businesses and
www.undisclosed.co.uk 29
have around £100bn worth of assets spread
out across the globe. Last year, Fosun made a
profit of £1.14bn.
Wolves came along at the right time for
Fosun, who had decided to make their first
investment into the sporting industry. Before
their £50m bid for Wolves, Fosun’s football
assets were zero.
A year prior to Fosun’s takeover at Wolves,
the top echelons of Chinese business issued a
long term plan for sports investment for the
next 10 years and set out buying football clubs
in China and around Europe.
Fosun’s acquisition of Wolves now means
that Chinese businesses own all the big clubs
within the West Midlands. Aston Villa, West
Brom and Birmingham City have all been
bought outright by enthusiastic Chinese
business tycoons with ambitions of lifting
their clubs to the premier stage of European
football.
Guo Guangchang, Wolves’ chairman, made
his billions from nothing. After his gifted
ability with numbers was showcased at an
early age, Guangchang won the opportunity
of a scholarship at one of China’s top
universities. Upon leaving uni, Guangchang,
with the help of some others, set up his very
own investment advisory business. This was
at a time where Chinese investment in global
companies was on the notable increase and
Guanchang’s talents meant that he earned
copious amounts of money in no time at
all. His fortunes are now well on the way to
funding a football dynasty at Wolves and with
the right support can hope to achieve
AGENTS
30 www.undisclosed.co.uk EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

great things in the Premier League. So how advisory position at Fosun sky is the limit in terms of their ambitions.
have Wolves managed to pull off one of the International since their ambition to enter The owners have vowed to spend as much
most convincing Championship victories in the sporting industry. It was no coincidence as it takes to continue Wolves’ rise and said
history? that a matter of weeks after Wolves was sold when they arrived at Molineux in a statement
Look no further than Jorge Mendes, his to Fosun, they also invested a few million into to the fans: “We want to get this club back
influence of Wolves has most certainly put Gestifute, Mendes’ football agency firm. into the Premier League where it belongs…
them in a position of great power in the one day Wolverhampton Wanderers will be of
transfer market. The Portuguese super-agent, the biggest names in world football”.
who has Cristiano Ronaldo and David De “We want to get this club However, while Wolves’ players’ and fans’
Gea on his roster, to name just a few, has heads are understandably firmly in the stars,
not only bestowed his knowledge of the back into the Premier League there has been doubt thrown towards their
game onto the Wolves board, but has also where it belongs... one day seemingly revolutionary owners.
manufactured deals for Wolves with players After the strange disappearance
that he represents.
Wolverhampton Wanderers of Guo Guangchang in 2015
Now I know what you’re thinking, it is will be of the biggest names after being accused of money
against the rules of the FA for an agent or an laundering and
intermediary to lead a club’s transfer dealings.
in world football” corruption, a shadow is
After a thorough investigation by the Football firmly cast over Wolves’
League, they found that Mendes, as the hopes of football dominance.
With Mendes’ help, Wolves have
club had previously stated, is only an advisory During Guangchang’s time in
purchased and loaned in players into
figure. So why does Mendes bother with a hiding, Fosun’s stock value
positions where they were seriously
Championship side from Wolverhampton, plummeted and their
behind the pace before Fosun came
you might ask? shares were immediately
along. Also, Nuno’s signing eight
Well, while it may not be common suspended from selling
months ago was also orchestrated
knowledge, Undisclosed magazine shares.
by Mendes - the two were high
understands that Jorge After Guangchang
school chums.
Mendes has had a reappeared, the entire
Now, Wolves are set for their
football ordeal was brushed under
maiden season in the Premier
the carpet of the Chinese
League in the Fosun era of
authorities, and even
the club, the
until now both
Fosun International
and the Chinese
Government state
that Gunagchang
was merely ‘aiding
in the enquiries.
It would
seem at any
moment
their dreams
of Champions
League football
could come
crashing down
if Guangchang
finds himself
at the wrong
 www.undisclosed.co.uk 31
end of the law in China. This comes as a
further warning as political unrest in China
remains. The Chinese Super League saw
MENDES’ MOLINEUX ARMY
a gargantuan influx of spending after the
levy for transfers was lifted by the Chinese RUBEN NEVES
government. However, it wasn’t long before Age: 21
the billion dollar owners were stopped in their From: FC PORTO
tracks when a 100% tax on overseas signings
has halted the crazy spending for the time
Fee: £16.1M LEO BONATINI
Age: 24
being. Not only this, but there have now been From: AL HILAL
further sanctions set in regards to overseas Fee: LOAN
businesses and Chinese companies must tread
carefully. RODERICK MIRANDA
Recently in China, many businesses Age: 27
have been cutting corners regarding foreign From: RIO AVE FC
investment. The tax levy of investments in Fee: £2.7M DIOGO JOTA
sport has been very low until very recently Age: 21
when the government changed the tax and From: ATLETICO MADRID
finance structure. Therefore, there are now a Fee: LOAN
minefield or pitfalls that Chinese businesses RAFAEL MIR
are falling into left, right and centre. Only a Age: 20
few months ago did AC Milan’s Chinese boss From: VALENCIA B
find himself in hot water after being involved Fee: £1.8M
in a corruption scandal in his home country. RUBEN VINAGRE
Since Wolves’ nose-dive through the Age: 19
football leagues in the last decade, the From: MONACO B
Fee: LOAN
progress that has been made in the rebuild
of the club has been monumental. Other
ALFRED N’DIAYE
Age: 28
clubs that have suffered the plunge from
From: VILLAREAL CF
the Premier League such as Wigan, Bolton
Fee: LOAN
and Sunderland can take inspiration from
Wanderers. Nevertheless, Wolves have been
privileged with the luxury of a bottomless
pocket of cash and an ‘advisory’ in Jorge
Mendes that has all his fingers in very
WILLY BOLY
Age: 27
influential and valuable pies. From: FC PORTO
The club’s aspirations for next season have Fee: LOAN
already been set high, but the unforgiving
nature of the Premier League could bite the
Wanderers in the bum if the money behind
the project is cut. The beauty of Nuno’s
football at Molineux is now solely reliant on
the beast that is Fosun International.
32 www.undisclosed.co.uk
THESE FOOTBALL STARS ARE ALL REPRESENTED BY BASE SOCCER: ONE OF THEIR
INTERMEDIARIES, JOEL PANNICK, REVEALS ALL ABOUT THE LIFE OF AN AGENT IN A Q&A
Q: From your perspective, how has the
role of an agent changed over the years?
A: The core job of an intermediary hasn’t
changed too much; we remain responsi-
ble for negotiating the best contracts and
transfers for our clients. However, there are
two areas in which we have had to adapt over
the last few years. The first is in the number
of in-house services we offer our clients -
from financial advice to branding to media
training - our youngest clients in particular
look up to players such as Pogba or Ronaldo
who are brands as well as footballers and
therefore it’s important we can offer advice in
the digital space.
The second relates to our competition;
with deregulation of the industry three
years ago, there are now almost four times
as many registered intermediaries as there
were licensed agents in 2015. We welcome
competition as it helps to keep ourselves and
the industry in check, but with the industry
now open to anyone it means there are many
unqualified intermediaries giving poor advice
to players and their families. We sit on work-
ing groups with both UEFA and FIFA and are
calling for a new set of regulations so that the
industry can get back to having skilled inter-
mediaries rather than as many as possible.
Q: Why do you think agents have a more
prominent status within the sport nowadays?
A: It is unusual to find a professional
footballer today without an intermediary, as
such it’s inevitable that intermediaries are
more prominent as clubs, brands, the media
etc will all have to deal with them more than
ever before. Additionally, clubs are constantly
looking for people they can trust; they get
offered so many players nowadays that clubs
like to have good relationships with some
intermediaries that they know will only
offer them the kind of quality players they’re
looking to sign.
With regards to the specific transfer you
reference, each intermediary will have differ-
ing tactics and go to different lengths to try
and get a deal over the line.
Q: What difficulties would a modern
footballer face without an intermediary
AGENTS
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
representing them?
A: Our advice is that every modern day top
footballer should have professional representa-
tion. Intermediaries offer advice, support, a
range of additional services and importantly,
are there to help progress a footballer’s career
both when things are going well and find solu-
tions when things are not. It is important that a
player has somebody advising them who is ex-
perienced in working with professional football
teams, knows the market and is able to quickly
obtain accurate information and feedback that
is relevant to the player’s career progression.
When it comes to negotiating a deal, there
is no reason to suggest that a player would have
the right experience or knowledge to conclude
a contract/transfer without specialist advice
from an intermediary.
Q: How important is an intermediary’s
role when it comes to contract renewals and
transfer moves?
A: Whether it’s a first professional contract,
a loan for a young player, or a record breaking
transfer, the role of an intermediary cannot
be underestimated. Deals can take a year to
be planned, negotiated and concluded or can
be done in less than 24 hours at the end of a
transfer window!
An intermediary has to understand the mar-
ket both in terms of value and what clubs are
looking for; with that information it is possible
to both propose players to clubs for them to
watch, monitor and maybe buy/loan; and offer
advice to clients with regards to what he or she
should be earning. That is not to say that every
deal is driven by financial desires, sometimes
you have to offer multiple pathways for a player
to get regular first team football over a finan-
cially more rewarding contract.
Q: How does Base Soccer find suitable
clients to represent?
A: We pride ourselves on having an excellent
scouting system much like a club would and
we have trusted partners both domestically and
abroad that can offer both recommendations
and introductions. We believe in the sharing of
information internally and working as a team
to ensure that we have all bases covered. When
we combine match attendances with informa-
AGENTS
tion gleaned we feel we have a good idea of
which clients to target and then it’s up to us
to find a way to reach the player or family
to introduce and present ourselves.
Q: Has recent coverage of agents showed
that they are now more important than
ever?
A: There is undeniably a fascination with
intermediaries and a mystery surround-
ing what they actually do. It is perceived
to be a glamorous, financially rewarding
job, but the reality is often very different.
Most football fans are probably unaware of
what intermediaries do and the work that
goes into the job. That a few prominent
intermediaries get a lot of media coverage
somewhat warps the perception of the
industry. The reality is that there are many
intermediaries not operating at a high level
with high profile clients, and many earning
very low commissions or in some cases
nothing at all. Intermediaries have become
increasingly influential and important but
this can be misunderstood due to media
coverage.
Q: What is life like for a Base Soccer
agent during transfer windows?
A: Invariably it’s not too different to a
day at any other time of the year. There is
more focus on moving clients that have to
be moved but with the exceptions of the last
couple of weeks of the summer it is mostly
not that different. The winter transfer
window is unpredictable and we tend to
have to be a bit more responsive to where
clubs are in their respective leagues as they
may make snap-decisions on players and
positions they had previously decided they
didn’t need.
Q: And how does that compare to the
routine outside of the window?
A: Much the same as when it’s open!
Attending games, seeing clients, speaking
to clubs and forging new relationships,
researching and pitching to perspective cli-
ents, planning for the next transfer window!
www.undisclosed.co.uk 27

AGENTS
RUSSIA
2018
Your Undisclosed guide to
this summer’s World Cup
 WORLD CUP
36 www.undisclosed.co.uk

HOW RUSSIA LANDED THE TOURNAMENT

There has been much controversy over Russia hosting the 2
first place and what price tag has Russia pl
T
HE road to becoming a World nament was decided by the FIFA Executive would host the 2018 World Cup, noting that
Cup host is a long one. Bidding, Committee, comprising of 22 FIFA officials the committee had decided to “go to new
construction, the Confederations from different countries involved with FIFA. lands” and reflected a desire to “develop foot-
Cup and the World Cup itself must all be Originally, the committee consisted of 24 ball” by bringing it to more countries. It feels
planned to perfection. The entire bidding and members, but two members were banned in like an eternity since Russia won the right to
allocation process to decide who will host the 2010 over bribery allegations. Amos Adamu, host, but now, with the tournament rapidly
World Cup every four years appears to be a the former director general of the Nigerian approaching, all their hard work is (hopefully)
long, exhaustive and complicated process. National Sports Commission was banned for about to pay off. But at what price? It is time
Bids must be submit- three-years from all to consider how much has actually been spent
ted years in advance and football-related activity to make their dreams a reality. Recent reports
the decision is ultimately after being caught on have suggested that hosting the World Cup
made by the FIFA Council camera by the Sunday has cost Russia a pretty penny, more specifi-
(formerly FIFA Executive Times allegedly cally, £8.7bn. For comparison, this is almost
Committee). But how did telling an undercover three-times the £3bn spent by South Africa in
Russia emerge victorious reporter, posing as a 2010, but less than Brazil’s £11.25bn in 2014.
in their 2018 bid? Here’s lobbyist working on But where is most of this money going, unsur-
everything you need to behalf of the US bid, prisingly, it is on the actual stadiums.
know. that he wanted to build 12 stadiums will play host to games in this
The closing date for sub- four football fields in year’s World Cup, all concentrated towards
mission of full bids, includ- Nigeria, in exchange eastern Russia. Of these, nine, which can be
ing a contractual commit- for voting for the USA found below, were newly developed for the
ment towards hosting the to host the 2022 World tournament. Not since the 2002 World Cup in
event for the 2018 World Cup. Japan and South Korea has this many venues
Cup was on 14 May 2010, Reynald Temarii been developed specifically for the event.
and each country had to was banned for one- Think about that, despite the much larger bill
establish official bid com- year in 2010 after it Brazil drummed up, they did not build as
mittees by 18 September was revealed by the many new stadiums as Russia. Some would
2009. FIFA adopted a new same Sunday Times say that the organisers in Moscow went a bit
policy in 2007 meaning that investigation that construction mad. In addition to the nine new
FIFA confederations that President Putin with FIFA President in secretly filmed stadiums, the three existing stadiums being
hosted the previous two conversations, Temarii used were also heavily renovated. The Fisht
world cups were ineligible Gianni Infantino at the World Cup Draw appeared willing to Olympic Stadium, built for the 2014 Winter
to bid. As the 2010 World Olympics
Cup was hosted in South Africa, and the 2014 have his voting decision in Sochi,
World Cup hosted in Brazil, AFC (Africa) swayed by funding for a was given
and CONMEBOL (South America) nations, sports academy in Tahiti. a roof in
were unable to host the 2018 tournament. The voting process was prepara-
Four official bids were made to FIFA to host structured in a way that tion for
the 2018 World Cup. Russia and England one bid needed a major- the World
submitted individual bids, while Belgium & ity of 12 votes from 22 to Cup. The
the Netherlands and Spain & Portugal both win. If this majority was other two
submitted joint-bids to host the event. Russia’s not reached, members existing
bid claimed they would be willing to spend of the committee would stadiums
over $10 billion on the World Cup, with vote again with the - the Cen-
matches to be played across 14 cities. It was country with the lowest tral and
proposed that the final would take place at the number of votes from Luzhniki
Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, with the ex- the previous round being stadiums -
pansion of the stadium set to be completed in eliminated. In the first were fully
2018 before the start of the tournament. South round of votes, Russia recon-
Africa proved in 2010 that a developing world won 9 votes, not enough structed,
economy could successfully host a World Cup, needed for a majority. The FIFA World Cup Trophy. Germany with the
and this is how Russia’s bid was marketed. As England were bottom are the current holders. latter
Currently, attendances in Russia’s Premier with only 2 votes, they being de-
League are lower on average than the Scottish were eliminated and molished
Premier League, so the prospect of hosting the officials voted again. In the second round of and rebuilt before it can host the World Cup
tournament in an emerging football economy votes, Russia received 13 votes, enough to be final on 15 July. The tab for stadiums could
is something that appealed to FIFA officials. the winning bid. FIFA president Sepp Blatter have been way higher as well if Russia had
The decision on who will host the tour- announced in December 2010 that Russia stuck to their early ambitious plans. Original-

World Cup
 RUSSIA 2018 www.undisclosed.co.uk 37

AND HOW MUCH IS IT GOING TO COST?

2018 World Cup. Here, we take a look at how they won it in the
laced on being a part of footballing history?
plans. Originally, they proposed 16 stadiums
across 13 host cities. Along the way, we have
lost both the Dynamo and Podolsk stadiums
in Moscow, as well as venues in the cit-
ies of Krasnodar and Yaroslavl. While
Russia originally hoped to exceed
FIFA’s requirement, they have instead
limped to the minimum, axing four
new stadiums in the process. With the
last stadium to open, the Cosmos Are-
na, only opening two months before
the World Cup begins, maybe this was
wise. If FIFA had their way, Russia’s
stadium bill could have been even
lower, as they suggested the host nation
cut down from 12 to 10. They suggest-
ed this to avoid complaints with recent
World Cups where arenas have been
left without use after the tournament
concludes. In the case of Russia, they
may regret not taking this advice. They
shelled out billions building four new
stadiums which after summer will re-
place the world’s finest with not even Russia’s
finest. The Nizhny Novgorod and Kalinin-
grad Stadiums will play host to the Russian
version of the Championship, and there is
more bad news for Russian investment. Both
the Mordovia and Volgograd Arena’s will host
the Russian equivalent of League 1 football. the global stage as an opportunity to improve
Imagine a team like Walsall calling a 30,000+ infrastructure. These changes are not just for
seater stadium home. These are some very the tourists, who will leave Russia behind at
the end of the summer, these will
hugely benefit the locals for years to
come. A budget of a few billion is be-
ing used for major work on transpor-
tation. The organisers identified the
top priorities as airport infrastructure
and road networks, and who can
blame them. The furthest two host
cities, Yekaterinburg and Kalinin-
gard, are over 1,500 miles apart, so
getting around the vast expanses of
Russia was always going to be vital to
a smooth World Cup. The organis-
ers have already had an indication
their investment in transport was
well directed. Three Russian airports
which will be heavily used during the
tournament were recently recognised
as some of the best in Europe. Host-
ing the World Cup is clearly a huge
The Luzhniki Stadium. The World Cup Final undertaking, and a major investment. Russia’s
will take place here on July 15th £8.7bn spend may sound like a huge sum,
only eclipsed in hosting history by Brazil, but
costly white elephants. Where has the rest of it is money put toward the nation. Improved
the money gone? As with the 2010 and 2014 infrastructure for all, international event wor-
editions of the World Cup, Russia are using thy venues, what more could you ask for?

Primed for the World Cup...

A guide to the new venues built especially for the big tournament

Saint Petersburg Stadium Kazan Arena Spartak Stadium Nizhny Novgorod Stadium
Capacity: 67,000 Capacity: 45,379 Capacity: 45,360 Capacity: 44,899
Cost: £746 million Cost: £330 million Cost: £322 million Cost: £217 million

Elsewhere in Russia...
Volgograd Arena Rostov Arena Kaliningrad Stadium Cosmos Aena Mordovia Arena
Capacity: 45,568 Capacity: 45,145 Capacity: 35,212 Capacity: 44,918 Capacity: 44,442
Cost: £210 million Cost: £247 million Cost: £225 million Cost: £240 million Cost: £225 million

World Cup
40
38 www.undisclosed.co.uk Players
WORLDtoCUP
watch

2 0 1 8 S E
D C U P
E RI
W ORL T H
O N
L U ES
VA Every four years, the world’s best players come together for a festival of football.
Whilst many are household names already, some use the World Cup as a springboard
to bigger and better things. The Undisclosed team look at six players whose value may
go through the roof after Russia...

RUBEN LOFTUS-CHEEK
ENGLAND
Perhaps one of the biggest
surprises in Gareth Southgate’s
23-man squad, 22 year-old
Ruben Loftus-Cheek has
certainly impressed this season.
Despite battling through knee
injuries, he was
an integral part of Crystal
Palace’s rise from the bottom of
the Premier League table to an
11th place finish.
Appearing 24 times and
scoring twice for Palace this
season, the on-loan Chelsea
midfielder has certainly given
his parent club something to
think about for the upcoming
2018/19 season.
Currently under contract
at Stamford Bridge until
2021, he may attract interest
from other clubs in the Premier
League
should he not be part
of Chelsea’s immediate
plans for the future.
Loftus-Cheek made his debut
for England in November
of last year in a 0-0 draw
with world champions Germany,
receiving praise for his calm
performance on the night.
He is currently valued at
£7.2m by Transfermrkt, a value
that is arguably quite harsh
considering the season he’s had.
Loftus-Cheek may find his
opportunities limited in Russia,
but if he can leave his mark on
the England squad this summer,
he can definitely increase
his value and turn the
heads
of some of the
Premier League’s top
clubs.
KASPER DOLBERG
DENMARK
Christian Eriksen stole the If they do so, expect Dolberg
show when Denmark thumped to feature heavily, and a few goals
Republic of Ireland 5-1 in the would really make any potential
play-offs to reach this summer’s suitors sit up and take notice.
World Cup, hitting a hat-trick. He will have to compete with
Whilst he is undoubtedly the cult hero Nicklas Bendtner and
Nordic nations star attraction, Cardiff star Kenneth Zohore for
the other Dane to watch is a spot in the side, whilst Pione
likely to be Ajax striker Kasper Sisto and Christian Eriksen
Dolberg. are Denmark’s main attacking
The 20-year-old attractions.
has made just four However, if Dolberg gets
appearances for the nod then expect to see big
his nation but things- and don’t be surprised if
already has an he’s the next Ajax star to hit the
international big leagues.
goal. Dolberg
missed the
playoff with
Ireland due to
injury.
Despite a foot
injury ruling him out
for over three months this
season, he still scored nine goals
in 30 appearances- averaging a
goal just over every two games on
the pitch.
A direct, pacey forward who
can play anywhere across the
front line, Dolberg is still young
and has the world at his feet.
Big clubs have already been
linked, but Transfermarkt still
value the Ajax star at just €14m.
However, a favourable group,
with fixtures against Peru and
Australia favour the Danes,
who will fancy their chances
of sneaking through in second
behind France.

World Cup

ALEKSANDR GOLOVIN
RUSSIA
With the exception of South
Africa in 2010, the host
nation tends to either exceed
expectations or reach the later
stages of the competition. The
22-year-old is a key, dynamic
midfielder for the Russians and
his club side CSKA Moscow,
he will be at the heart of their
attack. He has two goals in 17
appearances for the national
team and played every minute
of their Confederations Cup
campaign. A crucial goal in
a knockout round could
cause his value to
skyrocket.
He has shown an
ability to cope
with pressure, having
been a regular for
CSKA since he was
18. During CSKA’s
quarter final loss
SERGEJ MILINKOVIC-SAVIC
SERBIA
Having already been compared
to greats such as Zinedine
Zidane and Yaya Toure, Sergej
Milinković-Savić is making waves
all around the world. Learning
his trade at Lazio in Italy’s
Serie A, the Serbian notched 15
goals for the Rome club in all
competitions this season.
Dynamic goal scoring central
midfielders are highly sought
after in the modern day market,
and Milinković-Savić is proving
himself to be just that. The
rumours of a summer move
for the Serbian are growing,
with stellar clubs such
as Manchester United
being heavily linked
with the player. His
younger brother and
goalkeeper Vanja
played for United
as a youngster,
which could have an
influence on where he’ll
move to next.
Lazio very
recently missed out
on Champions League
football for the
RUSSIA
Players
to watch
to Arsenal, he was arguably their
best player and scored a fantastic
free kick in the away leg.
He’s had previous international
success after winning
the European Under-17
Championship in 2013 and
finished runner up two years
later at the European Under-19
Championship.
This season he made 42
appearances, scoring seven
goals and adding four assists.
He received an average
WhoScored rating of 7.2.
According to
transfermarkt he is
currently valued at
£9m, which in the
current market could be
considered a bargain,
certainly low enough
for any Premier League team to
gamble on a potential star. He
currently has three years left on
his contract.
18/19 season
after falling
short against
Internazionale, which could
see Milinković-Savić push for a
move to a bigger football club.
The transfer fee is likely to
be around £100m, and it is said
that Lazio officials turned down
similar sums of money for the
player in January, indicating that
the club could be holding out
until after the world cup.
Milinković-Savić has
only been capped by Serbia
twice, but a lot of his
country’s hopes rest on
his shoulders after a
blistering season
for his club. His
market value is
already very high, but
a good campaign at the
World Cup could see
that number soar even
higher. It’s almost certain
that his fee will exceed the
£100m mark, with elite clubs
everywhere ready to battle it
out for his signature.
2018
TIMO WERNER
GERMANY
Don’t be fooled by the (relatively)
poor season Leipzig have had
- this boy has still been class.
He’s proven he can do it at the
higher levels of club football
this campaign, with seven goals
in 11 European games. He has
done himself no harm at all since
breaking into Joachim Low’s
national setup in 2017, with
seven in 12. With Mario Gomez
not getting younger, and Klose
and Podolski retiring since the
last World Cup, Werner seems
to be in pole position to start up
front for Germany this summer.
That just about guarantees
goals for a player of his quality -
the Germans always show up at
major tournaments, and this year
will surely be no different. And
displaying so many qualities
just 22 years of age, he’ll surely
be on the radars of
several big clubs
across Europe - if
he wasn’t
already.
Having
been
HIRVING LOZANO
MEXICO
After terrorising defenders
during his first season in Europe,
now is the time for ‘Chucky’ -
nicknamed after the murderous
doll from horror film series
Child’s Play - to step up and give
an even bigger fright to those on
the international stage.
Pacey Mexican winger
Hirving Lozano has
hugely impressed
in the Netherlands
so far, helping PSV to their
third Eredivisie title in four
years with 17 goals in 29
appearances - the second
best goals per game ratio
(0.59) in the league.
Despite being heavily
linked with Pep
Guardiola’s Manchester
City last summer, the
22-year-old sealed a
move from boyhood
club Pachuca
www.undisclosed.co.uk 39
linked with Liverpool and Bayern
Munich over the course of the
2017-18 season, a strong showing
in Russia would make just about
every big club out there sit up
and take notice.
With his market value
standing at a whopping £54m at
the time of writing, according to
Transfermarkt, that figure could
genuinely be set to double after
the World Cup, if he can replicate
his Confederations Cup form,
where he finished joint top scorer
last year with his country.
He’s very close to being a
complete striker already, despite
only turning 22 in March, and
what’s more, if James
Rodriguez’s move to Real
Madrid shortly after his
stunning performances
in Brazil four years ago
proved anything, it’s
that one strong World
Cup is probably the
most efficient way to
secure a big money
move, to a big, big
club.
- where he won the Golden
Boot during their victorious
CONCACAF Champions League
campaign - to PSV, signing on a
six-year-deal.
And due to the length of
his contract with the Dutch
champions, it is likely they
will be reluctant to part with
one of their most prized
assets on the cheap.
With his stock
set to skyrocket,
Lozano has been
snapped up by
super-agent Mino
Raiola, who works with
the likes of Paul Pogba and
Zlatan Ibrahimovic. This
has intensified rumours of
a possible move to the red
side of Manchester, but he has
also been linked with Chelsea,
Arsenal and Everton.
World Cup
42 www.undisclosed.co.uk BT & SKY
NEW ERA BECKONS FOR PREM
Undisclosed analyse the new Premier L
W
ith the current set of Premier
League TV deals coming to
an end next year, the future
of televised top-flight football
has begun to be auctioned off. So far, the
Premier League has sold five of their seven
rights packages, which equates to 160
live matches a campaign from the
2019/2020 season. Of the packages
already sold, Sky Sports won four
while BT Sport has only come
out with one.
Sky Sports have asserted
their dominance over
the weekends until the
2021/2022 season,
claiming all
Sunday fixtures,
continuing
its Super
Sunday
TV
programming tradition, and all Saturday late
kick-offs, including the new evening games.
The inclusion of these 7:30pm kick-offs is
uncharted territory for the Premier League as
they set out to compete for viewers with prime-
time Saturday shows like The X Factor and
Strictly Come Dancing.
Sky also won all the Monday and Friday
night fixtures, giving them 128 live matches a
season from the 200 on offer, which has been
increased from the 168 the Premier League
offered to broadcasters in the current deals.
Arguably the big victories Sky Sports can be
smug about from the new deals are about more
than the sheer number of games they bought.
They have been able to acquire first choice
on all weekend matches for the seasons covered
in the deal, building on the 26 rounds they
currently had first pick on. While they will not
have this privilege for every round of the season,
they have been able to seriously dent BT’s
current position, reducing them from 12 to a
maximum of four.
Sky will also be happy coming away from
the new deal paying less per match than they do
today. They have been able to make a huge saving
of £1.5m a match, now ‘only’ paying £9.3m. BT
Sport on the other hand have not secured
the best result from the new deal. They
will now be showing fewer matches and
paying more per match for the right.
The price they pay per match will go
up a staggering £1.6m a match to
a tear inducing £9.22m, placing
them in line with Sky Sports.
For that price, they
have been able to secure
Saturday afternoons,
ensuring the
lunchtime kick-
off will be on
BT. They will
have the
chance
to

MIER LEAGUE TV RIGHTS
League TV deals- and what they mean for the future
strengthen their position in the future however,
as the final two rights packages are still up for
sale.
Packages F and G are interesting as they
represent a new era in the Premier League.
Like with the final day of the season, they
collectively include the rights to four rounds of
fixtures – three midweeks and a Bank Holiday –
where all the teams play at the same time, with
all the games televised.
It is unsurprising that BT has already shown
“The Premier League
is set to make less this
time around. It is ap-
pearing unlikely they
will match the 5.14bn
they made in 2015.
interest in these packages, with the format
bearing similarities to how they currently
present the Champions League and Europa
League, but this is not the only broadcasters the
Premier League hope to attract. This shift in
scheduling is the clearest indication yet of their
desire to entice streaming services so far.
The format surely suits technological giants
like Amazon, Facebook, Netflix or Twitter,
who already have the infrastructure to support
streaming ten games being played at once.
Proof of this can be seen in the reported
interest Amazon has already shown in the
packages, with them already planning bids.
Where these companies may be scared off
is the price tag. It is not a matter of having the
funds, but a matter of if they see the investment
as worthwhile.
Amazon and Netflix spend millions upon
millions on original content on a daily basis,
but there is a catch – they can distribute it
worldwide. This would not be the case here, as
the international rights to televise the Premier
League are agreed separately. They would
therefore be stumping up hundreds of millions
just to air the games in the UK. Whereas they
can usually justify global releases to justify
exorbitant price tags, they would be paying
heavily just to serve the British audience for a
few afternoons, and that’s where the questions
over the probability of their bids comes into
question.
If the streaming giants are scared
BT & SKY www.undisclosed.co.uk 43
off by the current system surrounding
international rights, BT Sport may be a shoe-
in to secure the remaining packages, with THE RISING COST OF
Sky Sports reportedly not showing the same
interest. As they cannot purchase more than THE PREMIER LEAGUE
148 games per season, they are limited to
winning only one more package, and therefore
could guarantee BT more coverage in the 1992/1993 - 1996/1997
coming seasons.
The remaining packages were set to be Sky spend £191 million for the first ever
auctioned off with the others, yet proceedings rights, securing all 60 games a season.
were delayed, with the Premier League
supposedly taking time to sweeten the deal 1997/1998 - 2000/2001
to help raise the price. They may have already
thrown in the rights to air goal-clips and near
live re-broadcasts of matches, which are usually
Sky keep the exclusive rights, but end up
spending £670 million for no extra games.
auctioned off separately. But with £4.46 billion
already raised, why are the Premier League
2001/2002 - 2003/2004
haggling over the final two packages?
Simply, the Premier League is set to make
less this time around. It is appearing unlikely
Sky spend £1.2 billion fOr exclusive rights,
showing an increased 110 games a season.
they will match the £5.14 billion they made
in 2015, and that is with an extra 32 televised
matches thrown in. Some of their worries will 2004/2005 - 2006/2007
be offset when the international TV rights are
put up for sale however. There is no end to the Sky monopoly in sight,
These deals are set to be agreed at a later as they spend £1.02 billion for 138 matches a
date on a region-by-region basis, and, with season, paying less for more.
interest growing globally in the Premier League,
it has been predicted that their price tag will 2007/2008 - 2009/2010
rise dramatically from the £3 billion drummed
up in 2015. The rights monopoly is finally disrupted, as
While there are still TV rights to be Setanta Sports enter the market. Along with
auctioned off and deals to be struck, the current Sky, the price tag is driven to £1.7 billion for
outlook for the Premier’s League televised 138 games a season.
future does not break the existing mould.
Sky Sports are set to retain their majority
over coverage, somehow paying less for more
2010/2011 - 2012/2013
matches, and gaining more control over what
Setanta folds, and are replaced by ESPN.
fixtures are shown on their channels. BT Sport
Between them and Sky, they pay £1.77 billion
may have fewer matches currently, but will
to air 138 games a season again.
likely end up with a similar amount to their
current deal and keep the duology alive when
the final packages are sold in the summer. 2013/2014 - 2015/2016
The question mark heading into these final
auctions will be the actions of the Silicon Valley BT Sport outbid ESPN to claim TV rights. This
technology giants. Will it finally be time for deal sees a huge increase in price, with them
Amazon, Facebook, Twitter or even Netflix to and Sky spending £3 billion for 154 games a
increase their efforts in the sports streaming season.
market? If the Premier League have their way,
the answer will be a definitive yes. After all, 2016/2017 - 2018/2019
they have tailored the remaining packages to
suit their infrastructure, and will be looking The companies retain the rights, spending
for an opportunity to drive up prices to make £4.18 billion in the process, as 168 games a
the Premier League more profitable than ever. season are made avaialable - a new high.
However, for now, it seems likely that the
dominance of BT and Sky is set to continue for
at least another few seasons.
TV
46 www.undisclosed.co.uk RISING WAGES

Southampton’s annual
wage bill stands at
a staggering £67m-
Spotrac

OTHER

SOUTHAMPTON’S WAGE BILL
GOES MARCHING ON AND ON
Has the Saints’ policy of selling their best players for big money made
it harder for them to progress as a club?
S
outhampton Football
Club maintained their
Premier League status
by the skin of their teeth
in May, as newly appointed
manager Mark Hughes just
about saw them to safety.
While it would seem that the
Saints underperformed this
season on the pitch - off it
and particularly finan-
cially, things remained
positive.
Only six months on
from selling star man
Virgil Van Dijk to
Liverpool for a fee in
the region of £75m,
Southampton’s
financial stability as
a Premier League
club continues to
go from strength
to strength.
Southampton’s
recruitment
policy since
arriving
in the top
RISING WAGES
flight in 2011 has evidently been successful.
While many big names have come and gone at
Southampton, they still possess the uncanny
knack of finding a diamond in the rough.
Take Van Dijk for instance - three seasons
ago Southampton were forced to sell their
promising centre back Dejan Lovren, who
had impressed for the Saints in his first
season in the Premier League under Mauricio
Pochettino. The fee of £20m was agreed with
Liverpool, and Southampton’s search for a
replacement was underway. Just to add by the
way, Southampton made over £10m profit on
Dejan Lovren, and he was just the beginning.
FROM 2010/11
UNTIL THIS
THIS SEASON,
SOUTHAMPTON’S
WAGE BILL HAS
INCREASED BY
740%
Saints scouts identified Van Dijk as a
possible replacement for Lovren and quickly
sought to negotiate with Celtic for the
acquisition of the Dutchman. Having had a
reasonably impressive 18 months in the iconic
hooped jersey, Van Dijk seemed ready to take
a step up into the Premier League.
Van Dijk was bought for £14m and was
also made the highest paid player in the club’s
history. A worthy investment - as Southamp-
ton now sit on a healthy heap of cash that
Mark Hughes desperately needs to spend in
this summer’s transfer window in order to
have any chance of taking the Saints back into
the top half of the table.
Southampton’s notable growth as a squad
and as a football franchise in the past eight
years has seen an astonishing increase in their
wage bill. What was £15.2m in 2010/11 after
being promoted to PL under Nigel Adkins,
has risen to £112.5m last season. This vast
www.undisclosed.co.uk 47
increase not only demonstrates how South-
ampton have, in practically no time at all,
grown to become a Premier League stolwort,
but it also indicates the surprising anomaly of
this season’s final position for the Saints.
Had West Brom given Darren Moore the
reigns a few months earlier, or had Swansea
managed to cling on to some vital lost points
in the latter stages of the season, Southampton
could’ve been heading back to square one in
the Championship. The club that had worked
so hard to generate a successful footballing
and business model in the Premier League
was so close to putting it all to waste.
Their huge dip in form this season has
not gone unnoticed by the powers that be
at Southampton, Mauricio Pellegrino soon
found that out. However in the past, South-
ampton have made it their mission to guaran-
tee suitable replacements for their big name
players, it now seems that the Saints have
must focus on tying down players for the long
term rather than selling them on.
A dressing room that welcomed names like
Lallana, Shaw, Schneiderlin, Wanyama and
Fonte, players deserving of the hefty wage bill,
now resembles an empty shell.
Saints’ Major Sales
• Virgil Van Dijk to Liverpool-
£75m
• Adam Lallana to Liverpool-
£25m
• Dejan Lovren to Liverpool-
£20m
• Luke Shaw to Manchester
United- £28m
• Morgan Schneiderlin to
Manchester United- £28m
• Sadio Mane to Liverpool-
£34m
• Victor Wanyama to Spurs-
£13m
OTHER
 Paris Saint-Germain www.undisclosed.co.uk 49

WHY PSG COULD BE BANNED

FROM THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Fresh from a domestic treble and with one of the most expensively assembled squads in history, the French team's
plans for European domination could be facing a serious delay
Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain the news as PSG seem set to fail FFP. They means.
could be facing a substantial fine or a ban are also set to spend £165.7m on signing To satisfy
from participating in the Champions League 19-year-old Kylian Mbappé from AS Monaco FFP, PSG could
after benefiting from inflated sponsorship this summer after he spent the 2017/18 season be forced into
contracts. on loan at the Parc des Princes. The pair will selling several of
Contracts valued by the club at €200m be paid a combined €40m each season until at their stars, such
have been “significantly overstated” compared least 2022. as Uruguayan
with their market value. Contracts under In a statement PSG said: “The club has striker Edinson
review include those with Qatar National been closely monitored by UEFA for four Cavani and
Bank, beIN Sports and the Qatar Tourism years following the settlement signed Argentina
Authority, all of which are either owned by by both parties in 2014. winger Ángel
or with direct connections to the state of “As a result of this, the European Di María.
Qatar. body has a very clear and Since being
PSG have been owned since 2012 by transparent view of the club’s bought by
Qatar Sports Investments, a state-funded financial status, especially the Qataris
group founded by Sheikh Tamim bin with regards to multi- over €1bn
Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar. year contracts with club has been
Nasser Al-Khelaifi, Chairman and partners”.
CEO of beIN Media Group is Introduced by
also President of PSG. This is a very European football’s
similar situation to 2014 when PSG governing body in 2011,
also broke FFP rules. Back then UEFA FFP limits clubs to making
fined the club €60m, the prize money losses of no more than
they had earned from playing in the €30m over three seasons.
Champions League. That year UEFA Alongside PSG, the other
declared PSG had artificially inflated highest punishment was a
their income using a sponsorship £49m fine and a limit on
deal with another Qatari state-owned Edinson transfer expenditure for
enterprise, the Qatar Tourism Authority. Cavani: Manchester City in 2014.
The funding of the world record Could After a controversial invested in the
signing of Neymar for £200 start most clubs have
million in August 2017 will be
he be now learned to live
club.
leaving? They have
under further scrutiny after within their been accused
of “financial
doping” by other European
executives.
The club have won
numerous domestic titles,
including a domestic
treble this year.
They are yet to
win Europe’s
most prestigious
competition, the
Champions League.
This year, they were
knocked out in the last 16
by eventual winners Real
Madrid. A ban from the
competition will be a serious
dent to their Qatiri owner’s
ambitions.

New PSG manager

Thomas Tuchel
Neymar with PSG President
Nasser Al-Khelaifi
OTHER
50 www.undisclosed.co.uk
FAN-OWNED CLUBS: THE
The top end of English football is increasingly driven by billionaire bank accounts and a select few dominating the transfer market. However,
teams in the lower levels of the football league still rely on their supporters as the financial base for everything they do. The Undisclosed
team have been speaking to representatives of three fan-owned clubs in different tiers of the football pyramid.
Wrexham AFC - “Football
Without Fans is Nothing”
an-owned football clubs are
F
becoming more and more
popular in the UK, with four of
the 92 EFL clubs being currently
fan-owned in Exeter City, Newport County,
AFC Wimbledon and Wycombe Wanderers.
Fan ownership has seen a real surge in
non-league football over the past few years
also, especially from clubs that have dropped
out of the football league because of previous
financial struggles, such as Leyton Orient and
Aldershot Town.
The UK’s third oldest football club,
Wrexham AFC, has been fan-owned since
2011, and last year launched a scheme called
“Build the budget”, inviting fans to contribute
directly to the club’s transfer kitty.
The scheme raised over £100,000 in its first
year, and is set to run again for the 2018/19
season.
Wrexham have dealt with severe financial
problems over the past 15 years, after local
property developer Alex Hamilton took full
financial control of the club in 2004.
Hamilton’s plan was to sell the club’s
stadium The Racecourse Ground to DIY
giants B&Q and use some of the profits to
build a new stadium, before funding the club
with surplus cash.
The debts began to rise however, and less
than a year after Hamilton took control of
the club, Wrexham were in serious danger
of having to leave the Racecourse Ground,
sparking mass protests and pitch invasions
from supporters.
By the end of the year, the club’s debts were
up to £5m, including an £800,000 tax bill.
Hamilton was struggling to pay his players
and staff, and the club was officially put into
administration on December 3, 2004.
Wrexham became the first club in the
football league to be deducted 10 points as
punishment for going into administration,
and this deduction proved costly as Wrexham
were relegated out of the football league,
ending their 87-year stay.
Financial struggles continued in the
conference, with the club facing expulsion
from the league just days before the start of
the 2011-12 season over a £250,000 unpaid
bond.
Fans of the club raised £127,000 in 24
hours to make up the money needed to
pay the bond and save the club. Donations
included children bringing in their life savings
CLUBS
FAN-OWNED CLUBS
and people bringing deeds to their houses as
collateral.
It was confirmed in December 2011 that
the Wrexham Supporters’ Trust (WST) had
completed the purchase of Wrexham Football
Club, and that the club was now wholly
owned by the fans.
Former chairman and majority stakeholder
Alex Hamilton was banned from being a
“In 2017 we launched our “Build
the Budget” scheme, which allows
fans to contribute directly to the
club’s transfer budget.
“Fans raised over £100,000
in less than a year and this has
helped the club fund transfers for
some of our first-team players
this year.”
company director for seven years in 2013
following the ordeal at Wrexham, after
being found ‘unfit to be involved in the
management of a company’.
A judge ruled that Hamilton’s true
intentions at Wrexham were to asset-strip the
club without any regard to its fate.
Today, 14 years
after the ordeal,
the club is finally
becoming
financially stable
again.
Despite it costing
just £12 to part-own the club
each year, Wrexham reported
a second profit in three years
in March 2018, returning a
profit of £150,000 against a
budgeted loss of £70,000.
Although the club have yet
to return to the promised
land of the football
league, many fans
are simply
happy that
they have
a club to
support
and be
proud of,
and that
the structure of fan-ownership is helping the
club grow and be competitive again.
Wrexham AFC director Spencer Harris
spoke exclusively to Undisclosed Magazine.
SH: “There is no complete structural
difference between a fan-owned club and one
owned by a private individual or company as
each model can set itself up very differently
within that spectrum.
“At Wrexham we have a structural set up
which is very similar to many privately owned
clubs in that the Wrexham Supporters’ Trust
owns 100% of the shareholding in Wrexham
AFC Ltd and appoints a Board of Directors to
run the business on their behalf.
“Also, engagement levels with the
supporter base are enhanced, people can see
a direct correlation between their volunteer
efforts, attendance and spend at the club. In a
private ownership model it might not always
be apparent as to the priorities or the use of
income generated at the club.
“We have five directors at Wrexham and
each one is responsible for different aspects
of the running of the club. My role includes
the line management of on-the-pitch duties,
transfer negotiations, governing the board,
media responsibilities, and overseeing
financial matters.
“Other directors take charge of things like
maintenance, procurement and health and
safety. Every director role is voluntary and
we all pay for our season tickets at the club.
Our revenue is generated through
share capital investment from our
owners, the fans. Our fans have
invested over £1m in six years of
fan ownership.
“This leaves our club free
of debt compared to other
clubs where an owner will
put in cash as loans and
leave a club debt-ridden.
Match day ticket sales
and season ticket sales
also generate income,
as well as retail,
sponsorship and
corporate hospitality.
“In 2017 we
launched
our “Build
the Budget”
scheme, which
allows fans
to contribute
directly to the
club’s transfer
 FAN-OWNED CLUBS www.undisclosed.co.uk
www.undisclosed.co.uk 51
45

LOWDOWN
budget. Fans raised over £100,000 in less 2012 despite not achieving promotion
than a year and this has helped the club fund (Fleetwood had 103). I look forward to
transfers for some of our first-team players helping develop our club even further
this year. in the near future, with our next clear
“The club also benefits from cost avoidance priority being to get us promoted back
in volunteer labour that would probably cost to the football league.”
under another model. I would estimate this We concluded the interview by
cost avoidance on an annual basis is between asking Spencer if he thinks we will
£250,000 - £500,000 of expert advice and see fan-owned clubs in the highest
effort. levels of English football in the
“I don’t think that the club has to sacrifice future.
anything compared to other clubs at our SH: “Definitely. We’ve
level as we have one of the most competitive already seen part-owned fan
budgets in our league, and that is compared clubs in the Premier League
with a lot of clubs that have investment from (Swansea City).
companies and stakeholders. There are a small “In Germany there is
number of clubs in our league spending in an a rule in their highest
unsustainable manner that should the owner divisions that clubs have
withdraw their financial support or indeed to be part fan-owned,
have some life-changing event that would not and Barcelona are
enable them to do it, it would put the very fan-owned in Spain,
existence of the club in doubt. and it doesn’t come
“I’d say the biggest advantage of being fan- much higher level
owned is transparency, and the fact that as a than that, so I can
fan you know that your money is being used definitely see a
to directly benefit the club. Other than this, club at the top
direct engagement and involvement means of the English
that decisions are made in everyone’s best pyramid fully
interests. fan-owned
“The local community also benefits from one day.”
fan-ownership as we aim to support local
business as much as possible and build solid
foundations between those who run the club
and local people. I wouldn’t say there are any
disadvantages for the level of football we play
at.
“There are many sacrifices. It is an almost
full-time second job and means that the
family also are volunteering and giving up
time together. However, it is a privilege to be
part of the most important business in North
Wales and to have the opportunity to shape
the future direction of the club.
In my almost seven years on the board
we have saved the club from folding in 2011,
wiped out £500,000 of debt
within three years, turned around annual
losses of £750,000 to turnover a profit in
two of the last three years, and built up The Racecourse Groun
all the policies and club governance
from a standing start where there
was none, as we were previously
legally noncompliant in contracts
of employment.
“As well as financially, we have
enjoyed success on the pitch,
visiting Wembley three times
in the past five years when
in the previous 150 years
the club had not reached
a final at the venue, and
we achieved a record
points total of 98 in

CLUBS
52 www.undisclosed.co.uk

through thick and thin.

Darlington FC - “We are Having witnessed three different owners
the football club” plunge the club into administration on three
separate occasions in less than a decade, the
ew clubs in the English

F
Quakers’ supporters decided to step forward
football leagues have
in 2012.
gone through as much
Along with many other Darlington fans,
financial turmoil,
Chris became a shareholder at the club,
and as many highs and lows as purchasing the club’s assets, and saving them
Darlington FC in the last two from administration.
decades. However, the FA still saw fit to relegate
But now, under fan ownership, Darlington, from the fifth to the ninth tier of
the ‘Quakers’ are well and English football. The club were also forced to
truly on the up, and Chris change their name to Darlington 1883 (the
Stockdale, the Chair of the year of their inception), in a decision which
club’s Supporters’ Group, did not sit well with many fans.
has been heavily involved CS: “It was a really turbulent time for the
in their revival. club, there were lots of twists and turns over
Chris, who is 38, whether we would be saved.
has been going to “I actually felt that the FA applied the rules
watch his local side as expected, in relegating us, although a lot of
play ever since fans weren’t happy.
his Uncle started “The name change was a sore point for
taking him to myself and many supporters, but at the same
their games, time, it was fantastic to finally have control of
aged seven. A the club rather than having an owner making
season ticket decisions that a lot of us didn’t agree with.
holder for “Leaving the arena in 2013, for me was a
20 years, fantastic moment as well, because I just didn’t
Chris has see a future with us playing there.”
been So, with fans growing weary of these
there so-called businessmen dragging their club
into financial turmoil, the artist formerly
known as Darlington FC became fully fan and
community owned in February of 2013.
On the pitch, the Quakers’ ascent back
in the direction of the Football League was
instantaneous.
With three promotions in four years,
Darlington 1883 made their way into the
sixth tier of English football, and the National
League North, which is where they currently
reside going into the 2018-19 season.
The club received another huge boost on
Boxing Day 2016. They played their first
match back in Darlington, having played
out of town for nearly four years, in what
Chris described as the best moment,
and his proudest moment, in the club’s
recent history.
CS: “Returning to Darlington
was always the ambition. It was a
great moment, funded by the fans.
“The Football Foundation
also provided us with a
substantial grant, but getting
back into town was done by
ourselves.
“That was a really
significant step forward
for the football club.”
The summer of
2017 was a mixed
one for the Quakers
- in April, the FA
granted them
permission to
revert back to
their old name
- Darlington
FC.

CLUBS

However, just weeks later, the club were
denied the opportunity to make it four
promotions in five years.
Despite finishing fifth in the National
League North table, a lack of covered seating
at their stadium meant they were ineligible to
compete in the playoffs. That was when Chris
decided to intervene.
CS: “When we couldn’t compete in the
playoffs last season I decided it was time to
step forward and see if I could help.
“We offer supporters who
pledge a certain amount of money
some unique experiences.
“Some fans get to line up with
the squad in team photos, one fan
will get to design a home kit for
next season which the supporters
get to vote on.”
“I got involved with the Supporters’ Group
as a board member about a year ago, and have
been Chair since November of 2017.
“The board consists of 12 members, and
we appoint the directors who run the club on
a day-to-day basis, in terms of the football
side of things.
“We’re a mutual organisation, one member
one vote, and everyone has an equal say on
the running of the club.”
The most recent piece of good news for
Darlington came at the start of 2018, as they
surpassed a total of one million pounds in
supporter contributions since the fans rescued
the club and became majority owners in 2012.
CS: “That was a massive milestone to
reach, and a huge boost to our budget
obviously.
“It’s fantastic, and we want to build on that
and grow our crowds next season.
“We initially raised £150,000 in 2012 to
purchase the club’s assets once Raj Singh
placed us in administration.
“We’ve also raised £100,000 since then
through a community share issue. The rest
comes from fans pitching in regularly.
“For the second season running we’ve
launched a ‘boost the budget’ scheme, where
fans pledge an amount to pay on a weekly or
monthly basis.
“Whether it’s a pound a week, ten pounds
a week, or more – the most someone’s
contributed is £400 a week. About 300 fans
have already pledged to helping the club
financially next season as well at this point.
“It all adds up and we’re all working
together to achieve what we want at the club.
“What we’ve found over the last five
years is that our supporters really buy into
the idea that ‘we are the football club’.
“When you’re owned by a private
individual you might buy a season ticket,
or a match ticket, maybe a football shirt and
FAN OWNED-CLUBS
that’s about it.
“But the fans now really want to support
the club financially, above and beyond just
buying tickets for the matches. We have a
real say in the direction and strategy of the
football club.
“People have really got behind that concept
and that’s part of the reason why we’ve been
so successful as a fan-owned club.
“We offer supporters who pledge a certain
amount of money some unique experiences.
“Some fans get to line up with the squad
in team photos, one fan will get to design a
home kit for next season which the supporters
get to vote on.
“We’ve had enough years of poor, private
ownership, and bad decisions, and this is our
opportunity to make the football club what
we want it to be.
“Therefore fans are prepared to put their
hands in their pockets and give a little extra.”
Chris still believes the system is a work in
progress.
“When we were placed in the Northern
League, we had much greater resources and
money than the other clubs in the division,
and we got more fans through the gates than
anyone else.
“But we are no longer the biggest club
in our division, there are other ex-Football
League teams like York City and Stockport
County.
“Some will say that we can’t progress much
further under fan ownership, but equally
other clubs like Exeter City and Wimbledon
have done it.
“There’s no
quick fix, we
need to
focus on
success
on the
pitch, but
also on
building
the
www.undisclosed.co.uk 53
foundations of the club, so that it can last for a
lot longer than just the next year or so.
“We can be successful as a fan-owned club,
but we need to grow our revenues, get more
people through the gates, and we need to
engage even more with the community. It’s a
process.”
Even with the tremendous efforts of
Darlington fans over the last few years, there
are other important sources of revenue for
them, and indeed all fan-owned clubs.
Sponsorship plays a big part in sustaining
Darlington Football Club financially, but
luckily, they’ve received the backing of a
couple of big names.
As well as being partnered with BT Sport,
the club have also managed to attract a
very successful, worldwide manufacturing
company named Ebac as their shirt sponsors
for the 2018-19 season, after Virgin Trains,
their previous shirt sponsors, stepped away
from that setup.
After multiple administrations and an
identity crisis, as well as a host of relegations
and promotions, to an emotional return
home - not to mention winning in the FA
Trophy with practically the last kick of the
game in 2011 - the last fifteen years have been
something of a roller coaster for everyone
associated with the club, both on and off the
field.
However, they still hope to progress and
the concept of a ‘sporting village’ has been
discussed.
CS: “Right now we share our home,
Blackwell Meadows, with Darlington Rugby
Club.
“We’ve built stands there, redeveloped the
pitch, and we’ve got a contract to play there
for the next 20 years. But our CEO David
Johnson has been talking to the council about
the concept of a ‘sporting village’, which
would be built on the Darlington Arena site.
“The council are speaking to several sports
teams in the area, including the Rugby Club,
about the possibility of all the local teams
playing matches and training in or around
this new facility.
“However, it is in the very preliminary
stages, and until something more concrete is
put forward we will be staying at Blackwell
Meadows for now.”
The club also has shorter term aims and
hopes that they can compete next season.
As well as this, they want to encourage the
local community to get behind the side.
CS: “In terms of what the future holds,
we’ve now established ourselves in the
National League North, we’ve built a
strong platform to compete on the pitch
next season.
“We’d also like to improve our
community links and engagement in
and around Darlington.
“We want to get the word out
there about what we’re trying to do
as a fan-owned football club, grow
our revenue, and get more and
more people through the gates
each week.”
CLUBS
54 www.undisclosed.co.uk
Exeter City - Presenting the
alternative to sugar-daddy
football...
e exist in a time where big-
W money investors coming in
and changing the fortunes of
a club overnight has become
commonplace. Gone are the days where local
businessmen were the investor of choice,
replaced with Arab princes and corporate
bigwigs looking for a place to invest those
millions burning holes in their pockets.
What they find are football teams ripe for
the taking, and riper for making a profit on.
But down in Devon, the scene is different.
Here, just a few minutes off the high street,
sitting above a railway line which prevents
them from expanding, is Exeter City, a club
with absolutely no interest in that sort of
investment.
Quietly fan owned for 15 years, it is the
supporters and the supporters alone here who
keep their club running. They do not have a
big investor, a wealthy member, it all comes
down to their loyal fans coming together to
pull their weight for the team.
“There’s no messing around with selling
the club to anybody because it’s ours. It’s
literally priceless.”
“Whilst AFC Wimbledon and F.C. United
of Manchester are sort of media darlings [for
being fan-owned] we have just been getting
on with it. It’s simply lots and lots of not-so
significant people like myself dropping in £2,
£5, £10 a month plus volunteering.”
That’s Alan Crockford, a fan who decided
to get creative with the few pounds a month
he invests into his favourite club.
He set up the 1931 Fund back in 2009 with
one simple goal in mind: to earn the club a bit
of extra spending money once they had been
promoted to League One.
“When we got promoted the crowds went
up by a thousand or so but we knew nothing
was going to change for us. In sugar daddy
CLUBS
FAN-OWNED CLUBS
football if you get promoted the chairman gets
ever so excited and throws yet more money at
the project to ensure you can survive.”
“In our case, there was no reason why we
were going to pay in more as supporters now
we were at a higher level. If anything, because
the club was doing well, fewer people were
going to think I need to pay for this.
“We knew nothing would change so we
looked for a way to increase our contributions
and one idea we came up with was the 1931
Fund.”
The idea was for fans to pay in £19 in a
month in the hopes it could pay for a player,
even if it was a mediocre player from lower
league. Inevitably, it became a scheme to fund
their number 31. So why the name, and why
this obsession with 1931?
1931 represents a highpoint in Exeter’s
history. They had their furthest ever cup
run in that season, with their sixth round
replay against Sunderland setting a record
attendance which still stands today.
“In the old days where all your records
where kept at the bottom of the little football
year book 1931 kept cropping up so that’s why
we chose the name. That is the pinnacle of our
history.”
In its first season, the 1931 Fund was used
to bring James Norwood to the club, signed
from Eastbourne Town.
Former Exeter
star Joel Grant,
who moved
to arch-rivals
Plymouth
He would make his debut coming on as
a sub against Leeds United at Elland Road,
a battle which saw one team at their football
league highest, and one team facing one of
their lowest of times.
With his first touch, Norwood beat his
man, with his second, he nearly scored. Being
able to firstly bring in a player at all off the
back of the scheme, and then for them to
actually make some sort of impact, you would
think mission accomplished, but the scheme
has changed focus in recent years.
“Luckily for Exeter our youth policy
is amazing, we’ve always got some really
good £15,000 a year footballers that we can
support, we don’t need to buy more of them,
we produce our own.”
“What we typically do is look for a player
preferably that has come from getting his
chance in the game background and put our
money into supporting the wages of this
promising young player.”
This season, the player selected by the fund
was Jack Sparkes, a 16-year-old midfielder
who scored his debut goal for the club
weeks after his debut. In the past, the money
drummed by Alan Crockford and his fellow
supporters has brought vital players into the
club, most notably Joel Grant, the darling of
last season’s play-off run, who left the club last
summer to local rivals Plymouth Argyle.
The power of the fans to continually bring
in and support a player proves the passion felt
by Exeter’s supporters. They brought 30,000
fans to their first Conference play-off final,
decimating the numbers brought by their
opponents Morecambe, and this dedication
lives today through the fan-funding, through
the 1931 fund, and they would not seemingly
have it any other way.
“Whether it’s Chelsea or Manchester City,
everyone is having a cracking time on the
basis of somebody else putting millions and
millions into their club by the way of sugar
daddy investment.
“In our case, we have turned out back on
that.”
56 www.undisclosed.co.uk
NICK POPE: AN IMPOSSIBLE JOURNEY
From Sunday league football with Bury Town reserves to World Cup stardom. Nick Pope’s short journey to
the top of the game has seen his value increase by 150% in eight months. In this player special, Undisclosed
magazine track Pope’s career from the beginning.
S
even years ago, Nick Pope would set
the alarm clock at 4am ready for his
early morning milk rounds in his small
home town of Soham, Cambridgeshire.
Dragging himself out of bed each morning,
Pope would never have predicted that in a few
years time, he would be joining up with the
England football squad and be preparing for
the World Cup. But today, against all odds,
that impossible dream has become a reality.
After his ambition of playing professional
football for his boyhood club Ipswich Town
was dashed, when he was released from their
academy set-up at youth level in 2008, Pope
turned his attention to his studies and applied
to a business marketing course at West Suffolk
College(WSC) in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.
Working as a part-time milkman at the time,
CLUBS
INCREASING IN VALUE
his college, affiliated with Bury Town Football
Club, encouraged Pope to continue playing
football for Bury’s ‘Rams’ development pro-
gramme while completing his academic work.
When Pope was released from Ipswich
Town at the age of 16, neither himself or any
of his college coaches, would have envisaged
where he would be today.
While he clearly had the potential of
becoming a top professional goalkeeper, it
would have seemed that his pathway to the
Premier League had been blocked before the
journey had even begun.
Pope was involved with the Ipswich acade-
my from a very young age and was part of a
successful age-group that included the likes of
Connor Wickham and Luke Hyam, who both
went on to represent the Tractor Boys at first
team level. While Pope
was determined to
follow his team mates
through the system
and finally wear the
blues no.1 shirt like his
idol Richard Wright
had done, Pope was
never able to receive
that honour which was
a mammoth blow to
his confidence and his
chances of professional
football all together.
Pope will now go
a step further than his
hero, Wright ever did
and will most likely
wear the Three Lions
jersey for the first time in the next few weeks
when England will play host to Nigeria and
Costa Rica in preparation for this summer’s
World Cup tour.
Back in the days when Pope would leap
onto his electric milk float before going to col-
lege and then at weekends clocking in to his
other part-time job with retail chain NEXT,
despite Pope once having a burning desire
to become a professional footballer, it would
surprise no one that at the time, with his busy
schedule, he considered leaving the game all
together.
However, today at the age of 26, the
Ipswich Town reject himself, is on the cusp
of a World Cup campaign with his coun-
try after what has been a truly remarkable
breakthrough season for him in the Premier
League.
Pope has spent the last eight months in
the Premier League coming to terms with
top-flight football, after making his debut for
Burnley when the Clarets’ no.1 keeper Tom
Heaton suffered an injury very early on in the
season.
Since then, Pope has stepped in to patrol
the goal line at Turf Moor and has consistently
impressed the footballing world throughout
the campaign.
His performances have helped Burnley
record their highest Premier League finish
since the club’s first promotion to the division
in 2009.
Seventh place for Burnley this season
has been no fluke by any stretch. Under the
leadership of Sean Dyche, Burnley’s defensive
record, especially at home, has been tre-

mendous. Pope has played a leading role for
Dyche’s men, following on from the fans early
scepticism of the young goalie’s capability in
emulating the injured Tom Heaton’s form in
the past couple of seasons, that has lead to
him earning a few England caps himself.
It seems like a tricky conundrum for Sean
Dyche, when Heaton returns from injury, as
to who will start between the sticks when the
2018/19 season gets under way in August.
However, Pope will not be thinking about
what is to come next season as he has the
“Statistically, he’s
the best English
keeper and only be-
hind David De Gea in
the Premier League
this season.”
small matter of representing his country at the
World Cup in Russia next month.
When he was encouraged to get back into
football at college, he joined Bury Town Foot-
ball Club and made his way up through youth
level and reserve teams to finally represent
their first XI in the Isthmian League North
Division
Pope’s time at Bury Town helped him
regain the love that he had lost for the game
after the disappointment of Ipswich rejection.
At Bury’s home ground, Ram Meadow, Pope
kick-started his goalkeeping career once
again, with guidance from manager and close
friend Richard Wilkins.
Undisclosed Magazine spoke to Richard
Wilkins, now manager of Needham Market
Football Club, a stone’s throw from where
Pope grew up:
“It’s fantastic news for every young player
INCREASING IN VALUE www.undisclosed.co.uk 57
who gets released at 16 and just shows if you League still felt so far away. Pope said in a
keep working hard then people do take notice press conference last month, he “played in
and dreams can come true. some cold, dark leagues” during his stint with
“He was always a quiet lad but had a good the Bury reserves side, but he wouldn’t change
sense of humour and was very focused. his route to the top for anything.
“He was quite a shy lad when he first came Russell Ward, Chairman of Bury Town
to us at Bury, but once you got to know him, Football Club, was elected in time to see
his cheeky personality and his drive to be the Pope’s rise through the team and was involved
best he could, in the resulting negotiations with Charlton,
“He worked very hard and sometimes after Pope’s trial at the Valley, he said.
you had to drag him off the training pitch. He “Charlton came knocking after the season
had a fondness for trying overhead kicks in we got promoted. Nick was blown away by it
training which often resulted in him injuring all and couldn’t believe it.”
himself or another player, so we had to cut Richard made sure he was in good shape
that out.
“His kicking wasn’t the best when he first
for the trial and at times had to keep Nick
together because he was a nervous wreck!”
came here but we were able to work with him
to improve that.”
Russell Ward told Undisclosed Magazine
that after Pope’s trial with Charlton was suc-
“He played a lot of games in that time and
I think that experience really helped him to
cessful, Charlton offered Bury Town compen-
satory gifts.
push on,” he said. “We had an e-mail from Charlton to let
“He’s got his chance with Burnley this sea- us know that Nick had impressed them in the
son through Heaton’s injury, which happens trial and that they were going to offer him a
in football, and he’s taken it. contract,, they would pay for new balls, new
“Statistically, he’s the best English ‘keeper nets and new kit for us as a thank you.”
and only behind David De Gea in the Premier “While it was nice to receive that from
League this season.” Charlton, I think deep down were all gutted
Pope’s performances caught the eye of to see Popey leave but you have to give him
League One side Charlton Athletic after credit for what he’s achieved.”
a scout of theirs
attended Bury Town’s
final game of the
2011 season against
Billaricay Town.
After scrapping his
way through a tiring
series of loans to
earn a first-team
place, Pope secured a
dream move to new-
ly-promoted Premier
League side Burnley
last summer for an
undisclosed fee.
His initial route
to The Valley was a
long slog for Pope
and the Premier
CLUBS
58
52 www.undisclosed.co.uk WOMEN’S SPONSORSHIP

ALEX MORGAN
ALEX MORGAN
WOMEN’S
WOMENS
 WAGES
BRIDGING
THE GAP:
IT’S A WOMAN’S GAME
In a time where one man can earn more than thousands of women
for playing the same game, many are beginning to step-up their
efforts to bring women’s football into the 21st century.
he world’s top seven women’s football
T
leagues boast over 70 clubs, many
of whom are household names such
as Barcelona, Liverpool and Bayern
Munich. Games are fiercely competed
across England, Spain, USA, Mexico
and many more countries, as nearly two thousand women
prepare to be world’s best. If you combined the wages of
all of these women, they still earn less over a single season
than Paris Saint-Germain’s Neymar.
If each of these 1,693 individuals, all playing football at
the highest level they possibly can, put their wage packets
together, one man would still earn more for playing the
same sport. It’s damning.
This is of course before you add the various millions
more that Neymar earns through sponsorship deals and
campaigns. These statistics are solely based on the money
Neymar receives for playing football for PSG.
Although more money is being put towards women’s
football, especially in England where the FA have
gradually increased funding for the women’s game over the
past few years, including introducing central contracts for
England’s women players, revelations like this do nothing
to dispel the obvious gender pay gap within the sport.
Players like Alex Morgan, who plays for Orlando Pride
and the USA, are an exception to the norm, as she earns
an estimated £1.9m per year mostly through sponsorships
and endorsements. Most women players however can
only dream of earning anything similar to their male
counterparts.
The FA revealed in March that their gender pay gap was
23.2%, meaning that for every £100 a man earns, a female
counterpart earned £76.80 on average. The FA stated that
they are “committed” to narrowing their gender pay gap
and are working on plans to address the disparity.
Some argue that male professional footballers do more
than enough to earn their money; attracting the world’s
biggest audiences, signing deals with the world’s biggest
sponsors, and selling the most merchandise, but are these
reasons enough to justify one male earning more than an
amount of people big enough to fill a small town?
www.undisclosed.co.uk 59
A survey conducted in 2017 by FitPro, the World
Players’ Union, discovered that 88% of players in the
Women’s Super League, England’s highest female
football division earn less than £18,000 per year, and
58% of players are considering quitting for financial
reasons.
To put this in perspective, Benjamin Mendy, a left-
back for Premier League champions Manchester City
has only made four league appearances this season
due to injury, yet gets paid £90,000 per week, and has
earned well over £1m since joining the club.
This means that potentially a female footballer
playing in England’s highest women’s level of the
game could play week in, week out for a whole season
and earn less than a quarter in a year than what
Mendy earns in one week for Manchester City.
Early steps have been taken however to bridge
the glaring pay gap in English football, as Lewes FC,
based in East Sussex, announced last year that they
would be the first professional or semi-professional
football club in the world to begin paying their female
players the same as their male players.
As well as paying male and female players the
same wage, Lewes FC aim to invest in local grassroots
outreach to drive equal participation in football from
girls and boys.
Likewise, in Norway, the Norwegian FA
announced in December that players representing
the men’s and women’s national teams had signed an
agreement for equal gender wage.
Prior to this agreement, women playing for the
Norwegian national team were paid less than half the
wages of the men, despite having more success on the
international stage, and it wasn’t until 1976 that the
Norwegian FA officially recognised women’s football.
Agreements and campaigns like these do show
a development in equality within the game, but for
the world’s most important officials to stand up and
listen, likewise with the majority of football fans
across the world, it will take a statement from one
of the biggest clubs or organisations to bridge the
gender pay gap.
WOMENS
 SEASON TICKET PRI
60 www.undisclosed.co.uk

Ajax, Netherlands. FC Copenhagen, Denmark.

Cheapest season ticket: £201.49 Cheapest season ticket: £119.80
Dearest season ticket: £626.85 Dearest season ticket: £445.48
Celtic, Scotland.
Cheapest season ticket: £376
Dearest season ticket: £609

Arsenal, England.
Cheapest season ticket: £891
Dearest season ticket: £1768.50

Anderlecht, Belgium.
Cheapest season ticket: £205.99
Dearest season ticket: £537.36

FC Barcelona, Spain.
Cheapest season ticket: £87.78
Dearest season ticket: £737.24

FC Porto, Portugal.
Cheapest season ticket: £89.50 FC Basel, Switzerland.
Dearest season ticket: £895.90 Cheapest season ticket: £355
Dearest season ticket: £800

SEASON
TICKETS
CES ACROSS EUROPE
Malmö FF, Sweden.
Cheapest season ticket: £153.40
Dearest season ticket: £470.15
FC Bayern, Germany.
Cheapest season ticket: £125.36
Dearest season ticket: £671.55
Wisła Kraków, Poland.
Cheapest season ticket: £21.48
Dearest season ticket: £33.75
FC Shaktar Donetsk, Ukraine.
Cheapest season ticket: £14.30
Dearest season ticket: £62.92
PSG, France.
Cheapest season ticket: £357.26
Dearest season ticket: £2817.50
Juventus, Italy.
Cheapest season ticket: £407.41
Dearest season ticket: £1477.58
www.undisclosed.co.uk 61
JUST TO CLARIFY...
In case you thought it was a typo, you
really can go and watch Barcelona, featur-
ing the greatest player of all time, play every
week for a TENTH of the price to go and
watch Shkodran Mustafi and Laurent Ko-
scielny do their best impression of Laurel
and Hardy.
At this point it would almost be cheaper
to fly out to Germany or Spain to watch
Europe’s top teams each week, and front
the travel costs, than pay for a season ticket
at one of the elite sides in England - not to
mention you’d get a nice weekend holiday
out of it.
On a serious note, how can season
tickets in abroad be a fraction of the price
they are in England? The old argument that
the Premier League is the most competitive
league in the world seems to be wearing
thin at the moment, with Manchester
City’s romp to the title this season and the
ever-increasing gap between the top six and
the rest of the league, as well as Spanish
sides dominating in Europe.
Surely this is further evidence that the
commercial side of football in this country
has seriously damaged the sport, particu-
larly for its traditionally working class sup-
porters - who more often than not, are the
backbone of a club’s fanbase. The astronom-
ical prices of season tickets throughout the
divisions also goes a long way to explaining
why we’ve become accustomed to seeing
masses of empty seats in the stands week
after week.
Put simply, fans are becoming less and
less willing to follow their team through
thick and thin if they feel as though the
club they love is pricing them out of it.
SEASON
TICKETS
62 www.undisclosed.co.uk

The Penny Finally Drops at

THE FAMOUS STRETFORD END

This is the section of the

ground where the new
pricing will be implemented
from next season onwards.
The Stretford End is Old
Trafford’s most iconic stand,
and the club are hoping to
restore it to its former glory
with their latest scheme.

SEASON
TICKETS

t the Theatre of Dreams
M anchester United have taken a massive
step forward in improving Old Trafford’s
flat match day atmosphere. Apart from big
games such as Liverpool and Manchester City,
there have been occasions this season when
the ground has been like a library. The club
have announced that from next season onward
they will implement an 18-25 year old section
at the lower part of the Stretford End, where
ticket prices have been slashed for those that
meet the age bracket in an attempt to improve
atmosphere.
Club officials have faced heavy criticism
from fans due to the lacklustre atmosphere
at the Theatre Of Dreams which has been
building up gradually for years, but seem to
have taken that criticism on board following
the announcement that up until the age of 25,
people in that section of the ground will only
pay £15 per game. The reduction means that
some fans could see their season ticket almost
halve in price, with fans who range from 20 to
25 years old in the section saving 46% on their
former price.
The announcement followed the news that
the club would freeze season ticket prices for a
seventh consecutive season.
The Red Devils hope that the reduction in
price will improve the ground’s noise during
matches. United’s Group Managing Director,
Richard Arnold, told Undisclosed Magazine
that they had listened to the fans when making
the decision.
“The introduction of reduced ticket prices
for young adults in the Stretford End lower tier
stems from suggestions generated by fan groups
through our Fans’ Forum, aimed at building on
the tradition of vibrant support, ” Arnold says.
The Manchester United Supporters’ Trust
(M.U.S.T) released an online statement wel-
coming the news of the price reductions for
fans, saying:
“We welcome the precedent of a new 18-25
ticket price. While this is only available in a
small area for now, it starts to demonstrate an
understanding that groups of young adults
have felt priced out in the past particularly at
the transition point from youth to full adult
pricing.”
Whilst happy with the news, the Supporters’
Trust still await more progress on the ground’s
atmosphere:
“As only pricing is known for now, we still
await full details of the Club’s decisions for next
season following our requests around atmos-
MANCHESTER UNITED www.undisclosed.co.uk 63
phere. We hope to hear news in response to
other proposals contained in our open letter
to Manchester United - particularly to free
becomes a problem on it. When Old Trafford is
loud, United respond, the quality improves and
attacks are more frequent.
up thousands of seats in the Stretford End for “For a club that is breaking revenue records
vocal fans including a youth area, by relocating with financial figures that are scarcely believ-
parts of the Family Stand when natural churn able, it is shameful that United have neglected
permits and the International Suite when su- the core of their youthful support, the people
perior alternative accommodation is available. that are the heart and soul of the club. It is for
We await further information on these issues
following our requests to the Club.”
WHAT DO THE FANS THINK?
It is widely acknowledged that Manchester
United’s harshest critics are the fans themselves.
Will Lumb is a 22-year-old United fan and has
owned a season ticket at the club for ten years. The Old Trafford seating plan
As a local from the Altrincham area in Man-
chester, Will grew up watching the reds. He
hopes that the move is a sign of things to come: this reason why the news has been greeted with
“It’s great to see the club finally taking a step cautious optimism amongst Reds. We appre-
in the right direction. Since 2005, the atmos- ciate that changes are finally being made to
phere at the ground has gradually decreased accommodate 18-25 year olds but actions speak
to the stage where sometimes I’ve considered louder than words, and until things improve
sacking off actually going. A massive cause of on the terraces, I won’t be holding my breath
this is the age of your average season ticket for the immediate return of the once famous
holder, the younger generation have simply Stretford End.”
been priced out. I can count on two hands the The club has stated that the section will be in
number of times in the past 10 years that Old place for a minimum of five years, in the hope
Trafford has genuinely been rocking to its very that Old Trafford finds its voice once again.
foundations.
“The Champions League Semi Final of 2008
where United edged through against the mighty
Barcelona was memorable not just for Scholes’
stunning goal but also for the barrage of noise
that willed the team on for every single minute
of the game. Some of the best nights of my life
have come in spite of the result: The Rooney
derby in 2010, AC Milan and the famous green
and gold protests of the same year. Even when
we got knocked out by Bayern Munich and
Real Madrid in 2010 and 2013 respectively, the
buzz from the atmosphere generated eclipsed
matters on the pitch.”
He also believes that if Old Trafford’s atmos-
phere is to improve, the performances on the
pitch will also benefit:
“For years, the decision-makers behind
the scenes have vastly underestimated the
dwindling number of teenagers and young
adults going through the turnstiles. It is a sad
indictment of modern football in general,
but for United the problem off the pitch soon The full price guide for United’s 2018/19
season tickets
SEASON
TICKETS
64 www.undisclosed.co.uk
Behind the scenes of the Ter
H A:
uddersfield Town shocked
the world when they were
promoted to the Premier
League last season, beating
Reading in the Championship
Play-Off final on penalties.
We spoke to The Terriers
commercial director Sean Jarvis to
see how promotion has impacted
the West Yorkshire club.
Q: From a commercial point of view,
have you noticed a sizeable difference since
you were promoted to the Premier League?
A:
Yeah. When we were promoted 12
months ago, there was almost a tsunami of
interest in the football club and you start to
see interest from international businesses, in
particular Asian gaming companies who are
very keen to be in the Premier League. We’ve
also seen an increase in interest from places
like Germany. We’ve got a German manager
and a number of German players so we see
some companies expressing interest in us
because of our German connections. We’ve
gone from being a local, regional business to
being an international business that attracts
interest from around the world, which comes
with higher prices for them to get involved in
Huddersfield Town.
Q:
Have you noticed that the money
you are being offered by companies as
a Premier League football club is in a
different ballpark to what you were offered
when you were in the Championship?
A:
Without question. What tends
to happen, due to the global exposure that
you get, is that people then pay the privilege
for that exposure. By simply having one
advertising board here at the football club,
that gains you over £1m worth of exposure
through British TV and global TV. That
doesn’t include social media and those sorts
of things, so that really demonstrates the
exposure that you get being in the Premier
League. So obviously to buy those commercial
opportunities is more expensive than they
were in the Championship. There is now
national and international interest in teams
such as ourselves so the prices and revenue
CLUBS
HUDDERSFIELD TOWN
streams definitely go up.
Q:
There is a core of supporters and
commercial organisations that support the
It’s often reported that teams club and our journey was always to keep
who are relegated from the Premier League recognising these individuals. Our journey
are in a much better position to go up has been from languishing in League One
from the Championship due to the money 12 years ago to now being a Premier League
they’ve received in the top-flight from TV team. That journey has been made possible by
sponsorship and revenue. Do you think this Dean Hoyle, the board and David Wagner but
is true? Is it something you noticed in the the businesses that have been there have also
second-tier? played their part in ensuring Huddersfield
Town continues to grow and more and more
A: Yeah, definitely. When we
businesses have joined us along the way.
You’ve got to recognise those individuals
got promoted we had the same budget
as Rotherham who
relegated. It was
got
and they are the fabric of the club. However,
by the same token, with the globalisation of
Huddersfield Town, there is a global audience
incredibly difficult in that’s been attracted to us, as well as global
the Championship but businesses. We’ve put together a higher
when you’re in the echelon of partners and supporters that are
Premier League you get called the global partners, so we’ve got the
those funds from TV global partners at the top. Then, in the middle
deals which give you a we’ve got the Huddersfield 100, so we have
fighting fund if you go 100 partners that have stood shoulder to
down. However, the key is shoulder with us over those years and then
how you manage it and we have other opportunities that
how the board have been tailored to other
of directors budgets so we have offerings
manage that appeal to all audiences
the spend but also rewards loyalty.
of the We’ve effectively expanded
income. the strategy if you like.
Even
Q:
with the
funds In terms
that of the day to day
come running of the club,
from
has much changed since
the promotion to the Premier
Premier League?
League,
A:
at the end
of the day,
There’s been a
it’s the same
tremendous amount of
game just
change. Going up to the
Terriers Commercial Director Sean Jarvis, Premier League has
meant there’s been a lot of
who has played a key role in Huddersfield’s interest in us and a lot of
rise to the Premier League. businesses offering their
services to Huddersfield
Town. You almost get a
with bigger numbers. This means you have to
hoard of golden geese running towards you
manage it more carefully to make sure that if
but not all of the geese lay golden eggs and
teams like ourselves do get relegated, we have
when you’re in the Premier League you have
a stronger future and a good chance of getting
to chase the dream and make sure you’re
back in the Premier League.
not missing any opportunities. Now we’re 12
Q:
months on, I think we’re a bit wiser to which
geese lay the golden eggs and which don’t.
Has the commercial strategy What you actually go through in a 12 month
of Huddersfield Town changed since period is very beneficial so for us to stay in
promotion or is it quite similar to before? the Premier League is absolutely huge. In
 HUDDERSFIELD TOWN www.undisclosed.co.uk 65

rriers’ top-flight journey

terms of us phoning people and seeing
if they want to sponsor games and so on, it’s
now the other way round, there is demand
from outside. It’s easier in a way but also
demanding because we’ve got to make sure we
look after the people who’ve looked after us
over the years.

Q: What’s viewed as the long-term

commercial vision for Huddersfield Town?

A: The long-term vision for Huddersfield

Town is to continue to build on the founda-
tions that we’ve developed.
We will not lose sight of our roots or
our community and we will continue to
work with those people but at the same
time, we will continue to build our
profile and brand on a global stage
whilst we’ve got this opportunity.
There are certain territories that
we target. We currently have
an Australian that plays for us
(Aaron Mooy) so we are very
big in Australia and we want
to continue and develop
that. We also have a US
international (Danny Wil-
liams) so we’re looking
at how we can get into
the US market, so we
will always look to
develop and build
with new markets,
but at the same
time, you must
not take your
eye off your
local market.

CLUBS
66 www.undisclosed.co.uk
OPINION: Are football fans the light
at the end of the tunnel?
With the number of clubs being
run into the ground rising, we
look at one example where fan
power has turned the tables on
neglectful owners...
Imagine having the soul, the heart, the life-
blood ripped right out of not just any football
club, but your football club.
Unfortunately at Nottingham Forest, a team
I have loved and followed since I was a boy, we
don’t need to.
Imagine dedicating your life to something
then seeing a complete unknown come in with
his cash-fuelled desires, causing complete and
utter destruction to all you’ve ever known.
Again, we don’t have to, and it’s absolutely
heartbreaking.
It has been a dark reality for six years; an or-
deal that we have had to sit through and suffer
- seeing our beloved club trashed, tossed aside
and left to rot by an oblivious, bigoted owner.
But how can it be that a club like Forest - the
miraculous back-to-back European champions
of yesteryear, led to those successes by legend-
ary manager Brian Clough - is allowed to be
brought to its knees?
They say such successes immortalise a club,
but not here. Serious questions need to be
asked about why Kuwaiti tycoon Fawaz Al-Ha-
sawi was allowed to bring this club to within
an inch of its life; with effectively no opposition
from English football’s governing bodies.
“You don’t know what you’re doing” would
be an apt chant from the terraces for Mr
Al-Hasawi. Early in his reign, there were sug-
Nottingham Forest
supporters protest
CLUBS
NOTTINGHAM FOREST
FANS: Forest supporters have stood up to their owners
gestions that the Reds could cut back on their
expenditure - by instead sourcing footballs for a
fiver each from Asda.
Of all the crazy, incomprehensible and
utterly stupid stories you hear regarding mad
owners in English football, surely that’s got to
be right up there - and might even take the
biscuit itself.
But Al-Hasawi’s failings went much further
- numerous winding-up orders, late payments,
an 18-month transfer embargo, countless cases
of unprofessionalism and downright ignorance
shown to a proud club and its even prouder set
of supporters. Enough was enough.
We would not suffer in silence or go down
without a fight - and no club should.
From Charlton and Coventry fans throwing
pigs onto the Ricoh Arena pitch in unison, to
Blackpool fans stopping a game to make their
voices heard - for almost all clubs who have
found themselves in a similar predicament, it
seems that it isn’t until fan action begins that
the wider public begin to take notice. But why
should the responsibility and duty of care to
off-pitch proceedings fall into the hands of
supporters?
In fairness, it gets the message across - like
with any demonstration, it isn’t until discom-
fort is voiced on a united front that anyone
realises there’s an issue, but the reality here is
that they shouldn’t be needed in the first place.
The regulators in English football need to be
the first to pick up on any problems - after all,
isn’t that their job?
Al-Hasawi’s unreasonable demands led to
one possible takeover falling through last year,
and something snapped. That really was the
straw that broke the Kuwaiti camel’s back.
Organised fan protests followed and Al-Ha-
sawi was nowhere to be seen. Soon after, he had
washed his hands with Forest - for good. We
were finally rid of our worst nightmare, and the
dark clouds that had been lingering over the
City Ground for years had at last been lifted.
Since the arrival of his successor, Greek
shipping magnate Evangelos Marinakis, the
feel-good factor is back. The Olympiakos
owner has hired ‘football people’ to do ‘football
jobs’, unlike Al-Hasawi before him. He has
brought in a solid team at boardroom level who
know exactly what it takes to run a football
club - and a successful one at that.
The latest era of ownership at Forest has
brought much-needed positivity to our long
suffering fan base; the club is engaging with the
local community and doing its city proud.
But even now, there are concerns among
supporters due to speculation over criminal
allegations against Marinakis, ranging from
bakery bombings to drug trafficking. He’s never
been found guilty of any wrongdoing, but after
all we’ve been through, can you blame us for
worrying? For being scared we’ll end up going
down that same route all over again, or even
worse?
Maybe not. But likewise, maybe now is our
time. Maybe now is when we put things right,
rebuild a club from the lowest of lows, regain
an identity for ourselves and
create something special for
everyone to enjoy.
Maybe there is light at the
end of the tunnel, and
just maybe one of
English football’s
sleeping giants
will finally awak-
en from its pain-
fully prolonged
slumber.
New owner: Evangelos Marinakis
68 www.undisclosed.co.uk BLACKPOOL FC

“HE NEEDS TO SELL THE C

TO DO IT SOONER RATHER
A club illegitimately stripped of millions of pounds. Fans sued by the
This is the story of Blackpool F.C. and

O
n 22 May 2010, Blackpool secured a
3-2 victory over Cardiff City in the
Championship play-off final at Wemb-
ley Stadium. They returned to the top
flight of English league football for the first time
since 1971. The fixture was the richest in club
football with the winner receiving £90m, more
than double the £36m Inter Milan received
for winning the Champions League. Club
president Valeri Belokon had promised a £5m
reward fund to be shared between the players.
The then Blackpool manager Ian Holloway
said: “I’ve jumped on the best ride of my life
and I don’t want to go home.”
It should have been the start of a pros-
perous future for the club. The following eight
years have proved anything but. The team was
immediately relegated, missing safety by a
single point. Two weeks before the 2014/15
Championship season the club had
only eight outfield players and no
goalkeepers.
The final match of that
season, against Huddersfield
Town, had to be
abandoned after
hundreds of fans
invaded the pitch to
protest the actions of
the club’s owner and
directors. After 46
games Blackpool had
just 26 points and were
relegated. As recently
as May 2017
Blackpool
were in
League Two
after consec-
utive relega-
tions. They
finished the
2017/18
12th in
League
Owen Oyston
One, a long way from the glamour ties of the
Premier League.
With the season over attention is now on
the bitter legal dispute rumbling through the
courts between majority owner Owen Oyston,
84, and Latvian banker Valeri Belokon, 58, who
has owned a 20% stake in the club since 2006. Those who weren’t already boycotting decided
Owen Oyston has owned the club since May that they were going to start. The relationship
1988. In November 2017 a high court judge has been incredibly toxic.” In March
ruled that Owen and his son Karl, 50, had 2015 then Chairman Karl Oyston
taken £26.77m out of the club in 2010 as was charged by the FA with mis-
part of an “illegitimate stripping”. They conduct after calling a supporter
were ordered to pay Belokon, who was “a massive retard” and telling him
not involved in the stripping, £26.77m, the to “enjoy the rest of your special
£4.5m original cost of his shares, his signifi- needs day out”.
cant legal costs and interest. Belokon was dis-
We spoke to Christine Seddon, Chairwom- qualified from the
an of the Blackpool Supporters’ Trust, about Blackpool board
what’s happened to the club. “The mon- by the EFL in Sep-
ey that has come into the football tember 2017 after
club is well in excess of £100m failing the Own-
since we got to the Premier ers’ and Direc-
League but instead of reinvesting tors’ Test (ODT).
that money, the Oyston’s have He failed after
stripped the assets out of the being convicted
club. in Kyrgyzstan for
“Blackpool fans started money launder-
to realise something was up ing, tax evasion
in the Premier League season because and dishonesty
there was no investment. There was no in May 2017.
real attempt to keep us in the He was given a
Premier League. As the 20-year prison
accounts started being sentence which
published we started he is contesting.
seeing all these huge sums “He had a bank
of money going out as interest out in
loans to Oyston’s other Charlie Adam, former Kyrgyzstan and there
businesses. It became star player was a military coup
obvious what was and all his bank assets
happening. were taken by the then government. He took
Fans started them to an international court and he won.
complaining, This didn’t go down well so they have tried
some publicly to discredit him ever since. A couple years ago
did on message in absentia without giving him any option to
boards so the give any evidence, they just suddenly decided
Oyston’s started to announce he was guilty of money laundering
trying to sue and they sentenced him to 20 years in prison.
their own It’s a kangaroo court, utter nonsense. There’s
fans.” Retired only two authorities in the whole world that
pensioner, recognise that judgement. One is Kyrgyzstan
Frank Knight, itself. The other is the English Football League,
70, was sued by the Oyston’s for libel in April who have failed to ban Owen Oyston, who is a
2015. He was ordered to pay £20,000 damages. convicted rapist and on the sex register but act-
Football fans across the country responded ed immediately to disqualify Valeri Belokon.”
by crowdfunding the money. This was just The EFL’s ODT is a controversial topic
one of the many cases brought by the Oyston’s amongst Blackpool supporters. “Owen doesn’t
against fans. “[It’s] absolutely, utterly disgrace- pass it [due to his rape conviction], but the
ful. I think that’s about as low as they could go. problem with the EFL is they don’t apply it ret-

OWNERS

CLUB AND HE NEEDS
R THAN LATER“
owners. A team in dire straits on the pitch.
the Oystons.
rospectively and the ODT came in after Owen
was convicted.” The test was introduced in 2004
while Oyston was jailed for 6 years for rape in
May 1996. “We had a meeting with the EFL at
the end of March. When we went through all
their rules and regulations there was absolutely
nothing to support their assertion that they
cannot apply it retrospectively. The Premier
League apply it retrospectively.
Shaun Harvey (Chief Executive of the EFL)
couldn’t answer at the time. He came back to
us and it was a load of gobbledygook. The EFL
maintain that they are a competition organiser,
they do not have the authority to intervene in
football governance, that’s a matter for the FA.
But then when we go to the FA they say ‘oh no,
you need to speak to the EFL because you’re an
EFL club’. It’s pass the parcel. Blackpool Sup-
porters’ Trust started a petition to get the gov-
ernment to appoint an independent regulator
because nobody is dealing with all of this. We’re
not the only club that’s suffering from bad own-
ers. Somebody needs to do something because
at the moment nobody is doing anything.”
When Blackpool were in the Premier
League Owen Oyston was told that he could
not own the football club because they apply
the ODT retrospectively. He had to dispose
of his majority shares if Blackpool were to re-
BLACKPOOL FC
main in the Premier League. However,
the Premier League didn’t follow it up
and at the end of the season Blackpool
were relegated. “That meant once we
were back in the Championship Owen
Oyston had absolutely no incentive
whatsoever to follow the integrity of the
competition and do his best to get us
promoted again. If we got promoted again he’d
have to get rid of the club. So for 4 subsequent
seasons when we were in the Championship
the integrity of the whole competition has been
undermined. Neither the Premier League or
the EFL seem to think that was a problem. It
just shows that they don’t really take any of it
seriously and they’re not safeguarding football.
They failed, they’ve just failed us all the way
round.”
After the high court ruling Oyston offered
control of the football club and stadium to
Belokon. “The maximum value of all of that is
about £10-12 million. He still owes Valeri over
£30 million. Owen is not in a position to start
negotiating. You cannot deal with somebody of
his mind-set, he’s lost his marbles.” If Belokonis
successful in overturning his disqualification,
he has strong support to become the club’s
majority owner. “I would be delirious. He is
a decent chap who has got the right attitude
www.undisclosed.co.uk 69
towards owning and running a football club.”
The future of the club is still to be deter-
mined but hopes are high Owen Oyston will be
forced into a sale. “We believe that the combi-
nation of the huge sum of money that Belokon
has been awarded coupled with the boycott
that’s been going on for almost four seasons
now, the football club is losing about £45,000 a
week so over £2m a year, that’s unsustainable.
Owen doesn’t have the money to pay Valeri. If
he managed to pay Valeri he’d just be left with
a football club that’s haemorrhaging money
and hasn’t got any fans going. If Owen had any
concern for the football club at all he would see
what damage he’s done and he would get a bit
of dignity and go. But he’s still hanging on in
there by his fingernails. The longer it goes on;
the more damage is done.
He needs to sell the club and he needs
to do it sooner rather than later.” There is a
cautious sense of optimism at the prospect of
new ownership. “We need owners who actually
un- derstand how football clubs should be
run and how they’re part of the com-
munity and do it properly. A bit like
Andy Holt at Accrington [Stanley],
that kind of attitude is what we need.
“I believe there are Blackpool fans
desperately waiting to come back and
I think we’ll move the club forward.
When we got into the Premier League
it wasn’t just wonderful for the club
and its fans, it was wonderful for the
whole town.
“It brought business in, it brought
sponsorship and advertising. That’s
just completely disappeared. As long
as we’re all pulling together and doing
the best that we can, that’s all that
most football fans want. It’ll take a
while to rebuild but we’ll do it.”
Blackpool fans protesting
on the pitch in 2015
OWNERS

THE FIT AND PROPER PERSONS TEST
WHAT EXACTLY IS IT AND HOW DOES IT WORK?
The ‘fit-and-proper-person’ test was
introduced to British football in the Premier
League, the Football League and the Confer-
ence - by the FA - in November 2004.
It became a mandatory requirement for
any individual wanting to remain or become a
director, or owner with upwards of 30% share-
holding at an English, or Scottish Premier
League side, to pass the test.
It is designed, first and foremost, to protect
football clubs from owners who may not be fit
to run them. Prior to 2004, anybody, no matter
what crimes or misdeeds they had committed
in the past, could technically buy in.
In the summer of 2009, after coming under
pressure from the Labour government, the
Premier League strengthened and tightened
their restrictions, and while the Football
League did not follow suit, it didn’t take long
for the first club owner in England to fail the
fit-and-proper-person test.
This happened to Chester City FC owner
Stephen Vaughan in November 2009, after he
was found guilty of VAT fraud in his previ-
ous role as owner of Widnes Vikings Rugby
Club. More recently, in 2014, One Direction
WRONG DIRECTION: Louis Tomlinson, singer who failed the test in 2014
OWNERSHIP TEST
member Louis Tomlinson (alongside former
chairman John Ryan) attempted to buy Don-
caster Rovers, but failed the test due to a lack
of funding.
Premier League teams and, more recently,
the rest of the Football League, have also been
legally required to disclose the names and de-
tails of any individual who owns a stake equal
to or greater than 10% in their club to improve
transparency between them and their fans.
However, former Sports Editor at the BBC
David Bond claimed in 2014 that the system
is “flawed” and is “failing the game”. This
followed Birmingham City’s then majority
owner Carson Yeung being sent to prison
for five counts of money laundering, but still
maintaining a 15% stake in the club.
In the 14 years since the test was intro-
duced, the regulations have been improved
and strengthened across professional football
in the UK, but with so many disputes and
protests from fans over the way their club’s are
run still going on today, it seems there is still a
fair way to go before the test is foolproof and
totally effective.
www.undisclosed.co.uk 71
An owner or director will fail
the test if any of the following
applies to them:
• Either directly or indirectly they
are involved with ownership,
management or administration
of another Football League club.
• Either directly or indirectly they
hold/acquire a significant interest
in a club while they also hold
interest in shares of another club.
• They are legally prohibited from
being a director/owner.
• They are convicted of an offence
under the Appendix 12 Schedule
of Offences, or are convicted of
an equivalent offence by a court
with jurisdiction outside Eng-
land and Wales - this includes
crimes such as fraud, forgery,
and suppressing company docu-
ments.
• They make an Individual Volun-
tary Arrangement or become the
subject of an Interim Bankruptcy
Restriction Order, Bankruptcy
Restriction Order or a Bankrupt-
cy Order i.e. they are filing for
bankruptcy.
• They have been the director/
owner of a club which, during
their time as director/owner, has
suffered two or more uncon-
nected events of insolvency i.e.
they have led the same club into
administration on two separate
occasions.
• They have been the director/
owner of two or more clubs, each
of which, during their time as
director/owner, has suffered an
event of insolvency i.e. they have
led two or more different clubs
into administration.
OWNERS
72 www.undisclosed.co.uk RED BULL

RED BULL
CHANGING MARKETING
Red Bull are an Austrian company known and won the Supporters’ Shield in 2015. with thousands of away fans boycotting the
world-wide for producing the Red Bull Red Bull Brasil now compete in the trip to the Red Bull Arena every year. The
energy drink, they are owned by Dietrich top tier of the Campeonato Pau- owners have already dealt with one potential
Mateschitz. Since 2005 they have been lista, the São Paulo state league. major issue. After both Leipzig and Salzburg
involved in professional football after RB Leipzig are undoubtedly the qualified for the 2017-18 Champi-
purchasing SV Austria Salzburg. They now biggest success story of Red Bull’s ons League there were fears one
own four teams across three continents - RB involvement in football. Having team may be forced to miss
Leipzig, Red Bull Salzburg, Red Bull Brasil formed in 2009, they have risen out due to shared owners
and New York Red Bulls. So why have through Germany’s divisions affecting the integrity
Red Bull been purchasing and cre- and qualified for the of the competi-
ating football clubs? Simple, the 2017-18 Champions tion. Fortu-
endless free marketing available. League, the pinnacle nately for
They change almost every as- of European football. Red
pect of the clubs including the Red Bull’s owner- Bull
team name, crest, colours, kit ship has not been they
and even the stadium name without contro-
to reflect the brand. versy however.
Due to DFB (German According to were
FA) regulations, Leipzig are the German able to re-
unable to be officially named FA’s “50+1” structure the
after Red Bull so are actually rule, clubs ownership of Salzburg
called RasenBallsport Leip- must hold a so they tech- nically
zig. But these clubs are not majori- ty of their no longer have a
just being used for ‘free’ own voting controlling stake and
marketing, the company rights rather merely sponsor the club.
also backs them financial- than owners. It is not clear who the
ly in the transfer market. Only investors official owner is now.
With Red Bull owner who have been This was suffi- cient
Dietrich Mateschitz having involved enough for Uefa to rule
a net worth of roughly Naby Keita, has moved to Liverpool with a club for that “no individu- al
over £19bn (that’s some for £52.75 million from RB Leipzig more than 20 or legal entity had a
mighty backing to have). In years can apply decisive influence over
the 2017 summer transfer window for an exception to the 50+1 rule. RB Leipzig more than one club”. If Bruma, RB Leipzig
alone, RB Leipzig purchased technically adhere to the rule but some Uefa had banned one of the clubs then Leipzig
Kevin Kampl for £18.4m, say corrupt its spirit. Being a “gold” would have missed out because priority is giv-
Jean-Kévin Augustin for member at Leipzig will set you en to national champions. It’s not clear what
£14m and Bruma for back €1,000 a year and that still Red Bull’s future plans are, maybe they will
£11.4m. Red Bull are only makes you a “supporting” purchase more clubs, perhaps we will even see
committed owners and or non-voting member, signifi- them in the Premier League one day. But it’s
undeniably want success cantly more than any other club certain they are here to stay in professional
on the football pitch. in Germany. Leipzig only have 17 football.
Their clubs are not members with voting rights, the
languishing in their re- majority of whom are either
spective divisions either. employees or associates
Since being taken of Red Bull. The club
over, Salzburg have claim the severe re-
won nine league strictions on voting
titles, includ- membership is to
ing the last five avoid the ultra fan
in a row. The culture that exists
NY Red Bulls at other clubs. As a
are currently result, the club have
fourth in the gained a reputation
MLS’ Eastern as the most hated
Conference team in Germany,
Dietrich Mateschitz, Red Bull Owner
OWNERS
 QUIZ www.undisclosed.co.uk 73

TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE

How much do you know about the world of football
business? Take the Undisclosed quiz to find out...
1. Who is currently the world’s most expensive footballer?
2. Which football club overtook Real Madrid in 2017 as the world’s
most valuable club?
3. Which broadcaster extended its TV rights deal to 2022, agreeing
to show 128 Premier League matches per season from 2018/19?
4. In which year did Sheikh Mansour complete his takeover of
Manchester City?
5. Commonly referred to as a “super agent”, which football agent
represents Cristiano Ronaldo, David de Gea and Jose Mourinho?
6. In which year did Ken Bates buy Chelsea FC for £1?
7. Which Portuguese club was given a €700,000 fine and a restric-
tion on the number of players in their Champions League squad for
the following season after failing to comply with Financial Fair Play
regulations in 2017?
8. Which Japanese electronic commerce and Internet company
currently sponsor Barcelona’s home and away kits?
9. Which goalkeeper moved clubs for £1 due to a relegation clause
in 2016?
10. Which Russian businessman bought a significant stake (around
30%) in Arsenal Football Club in 2007?
11. Ronaldo Luis Nazario de Lima became the most expensive
player in football history when he transferred from Inter to Real
Madrid - what was the fee in euros?
Answers:
12. In what year did BT Sport secure the rights to broadcast Cham- 20. £168 million
pions League football, taking over from ITV and Sky Sports? 19. The Bosman Ruling
13. How many fully fan-and-community owned clubs are there in 18. Portugal and Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands
the Football League (as of the start of the 2018-19 season)? 17. Boston Red Sox
14. Which radio station agreed a deal to broadcast commentary of 16. Davinson Sanchez (£42 million)
the Women’s Super League in 2017?
15. Juan Mata
15. Which Premier League footballer supported the launch of Com- 14. BBC Radio 5 Live
mon Goal’s pledge, where players and coaches donate 1% of their
salaries to charity. 13. Four
12. 2013 - although the contract didn’t begin until 2015
16. Who is Tottenham Hotspur’s record signing?
11. 46 million
17. Which US baseball team do Liverpool’s majority shareholders, 10. Alisher Usmanov
Fenway Sports Group, also own?
9. Colin Doyle - moved from Blackpool to Bradford City
18. England lost out to Russia in their bid to host the 2018 World 8. Rakuten
Cup in the first round of voting - but who were the other two joint-
host nations in the final ballot?
7. FC Porto
6. 1982
19. What is the name of the rule whereby footballers can move from
one club to another at the end of their contract, without a transfer
5. Jorge Mendes
fee being paid? 4. 2008

20. How much did Everton reportedly spend on transfers in the

3. Sky Sports
2017 summer transfer window? 2. Manchester United
1. Neymar Jr

QUIZ
PRE ORDER OUR 2ND
ISSUE AND GET THE
3RD FOR HALF
PRICE!
Hurry! Offer ends December
14th 2018!

SAVE LIKE DAVE TODAY!

 Choose the subscription
HOW TO SUBSCRIBE that’s right for you
Visit: themagazineshop.com/
Undisclosed/June to pre order online
save money on our bundle
Call: 07975555593 or 03448488811to
pre order Undisclosed Magazine via deals today!
phone

Terms and conditions: This offer is open to UK

residents only. If you wish to cancel your sub- Magazine + Tablet + Phone bundle
scription, it will be cancelled on the expiry of
the current term, which will not be refundable PRE ORDER OUR FIRST ISSUE AND
other than in exceptional circumstances. This
offer will end on June 14 2018. Please allow 35 GET THE SECOND FOR HALF PRICE!
days to receive your first issue of Undisclosed.
Unlimited access to all platforms!

Get exclusive
offers, deals and
competitions when SAVE 50%!
you subscribe to
our magazine
EXCLUSIVE SUBSCRIBER
COMPETITIONS
U UNDISCLOSEDMAGAZINE.COM

Every time a new issue of Undisclosed is released, we will

give away a different Premier League shirt to one lucky
subscriber...
@UNDISCLOSEDMAG

This issue’s subscriber giveaway is the brand

new Manchester City shirt for the 2018/19
Premier League season. With an RRP FACEBOOK.COM/UNDISCLOSEDMAGAZINE
of £89.95, this prize is definitely worth
getting your hands on.

To be in with the chance of winning

this prize and other future Undisclosed UNDISCLOSEDMAGAZINE_
competitions, subscribe now!

UNDISCLOSEDMAGAZINE