Liverpool Daily Post - Show Me The Money

Premier League chairman should become quick Lerners

2010-01-26T23:00:00Z

The "quiet revolution" continues at Aston Villa, with next month's Carling Cup Final against Manchester United bringing back memories of the last time they were a real top-flight force.

In the first Premier League season, 1991-92 they finished second, and beat Manchester United in the 1994 League Cup Final, which they won again two years later, this time against Leeds United.

But, despite a decade of mostly top-half finishes, the club was drifting listlessly when Randy Lerner bought the club in September 2006, a month after Martin O'Neill had become manager.

]]> While the progress hasn't been as quick as originally hoped - O'Neill was expected by some to turn them into Champions League material overnight - there have been solid developments that could lay the platform for long-term success.

The ever-excellent David Conn has detailed how Lerner's "quiet revolution" at Aston Villa is built on sensible finances - making them one of the few clubs in the Premier League who could make that claim.

And, although that approach will make it difficult for them to regularly secure a top-four finish, and entry into the Champions League, it does make it far more likely that they will still be a Premier League club in 10 years' time.

While that doesn't appear an optimistic view, Villa fans should take heart that the supporters of clubs who mortgaged their future and then failed to meet the repayments - or will soon be running out of cash - would gladly swap their rocky waters for the calm of Villa Park.

Rafa Benitez quits - have Liverpool FC done enough?

2009-08-19T17:16:19Z

The internet is alive with rumours that Rafa Benitez has left Liverpool tonight before tonight's Premier League game with Stoke.

It is pure speculation at the moment but it does show just how quickly rumours spread, especially on the micro-blogging website Twitter. That has spooked bookmakers Paddy Power into suspending betting on his departure - although it's not the first time they have taken that step - as odds on him going fell from 22/1 to 4/1 today.

But in a matter as critically important to the club's position and at least short-term performance, should Liverpool FC be more responsive to internet rumour?

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The days of speculation slowly traipsing down the high street from pub to pub have long gone. Without the input of a single media organisation tens, probably hundreds of thousands, of people are aware of the possibility that Rafa is now the former manager at Anfield.

And while it would be at times self-defeating, and occasionally exhaustive, to respond to online speculation, there are occasions when a quick denial would do a lot of good.

Of course, that's only possible if it is a false rumour.

At least the speculation will be shortlived - by the time Liverpool's match gets underway at 8pm tonight, we'll know the answer.

Football is a great example of UK business diversity

2009-08-16T20:25:34Z

Football on the international stage is commonplace these days, with pre-season friendlies and tournaments involving Premier League clubs taking place all over the world.

South America was the only continent not to receive a visit from a Premier League team (and Antartica, where, as Harry Thompson's excellent book informed us, the penguins play cricket).

These tours are often, correctly, seen as a great way of raising revenues - but as important is how football acts as a showcase for the UK's businesses.

]]> Gareth Hoar, UK Trade and Investment's deputy director in China, makes this point in his blog post, The Business of Football.

He said "the sheer size of the viewing numbers and passion for the game shows how much potential China might hold for the business of football", which explains why the country was visited by Manchester United, Hull City, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham this summer.

But football shows off some of the very best UK business has to offer.

Mr Hoar added: "Football is also a great example of UK business diversity - from the skill and professionalism of organising one of the most successful leagues in the world, to the quality of marketing, media and broadcasting, which bring the game to millions each week, to the state of the art venues like the new Wembley Stadium and The Emirates Stadium (Arsenal) which are wonderful showcases of British engineering, design, and innovation."

In short, football can give a kick-start to business opportunities, so long may the far-flung pre-season tours continue.

A Cup Final appearance could do more than keep the Wolves from the door

2009-08-06T08:09:19Z

Commercially the most important weekend in the rugby league calendar is here - with each game worth at least £250,000 to the winning teams.

It's the Challenge Cup semi-finals, which pit St Helens against Huddersfield Giants, and Warrington versus Wigan.

In pure cash terms, winning the trophy is not that valuable - most of the winnings will be swallowed up by players' bonuses - but a huge amount of revenue can be generated in the weeks leading up to the final.

]]> Even without making it sweat, the finalists will pocket a share of the revenues from 90,000 tickets, an uplift in kit and merchandise sales and usually a pre-cup final uplift in attendances.

A well-executed cup final run-in could be worth nearer to £400,000, especially for Warrington where reaching the final is rare enough for it to be an event that would take in the whole town.

St Helens have least to gain in that respect - they have won the last three trophies and reached the final in six of the last eight years - and will not expect the same uplift.

But for Warrington, who have not been to Wembley for 19 years and have not won the trophy for 35, the effect would be almost incalculable.

For years they have under-performed, but since the club moved into the Halliwell Jones Stadium in 2004 they have always been tipped to take the next step. So far, though, success has eluded them.

They now have a great foundation of the stadium, a wealthy backer in pop promoter Simon Moran, a top-class coach with a pedigree of winning trophies and a solid fan base with thousands more latent fans.

An appearance at Wembley, successful or not, could help to kick-start a period of major honours, funded by the profile and profits that come from the cup final.

All they have to do is make sure the road to Wembley doesn't end on Saturday.

Johnson shouldn't have brought the hammer down on Tranmere Rovers' eBay stunt

2009-07-31T08:16:23Z

Today's Liverpool Daily Post front page, For sale on eBay...Tranmere Rovers FC, tells the eye-catching story of how the Wirral club has been posted on the internet auction site with a $10m price tag.

However as soon as Tranmere became aware of the marketing tactic, they had the listing pulled from eBay.

American banker Joe Kosich, who is trying to sell the club on behalf of owner Peter Johnson, said: "The decision to list Tranmere on eBay was taken by me, without the knowledge or consent of Peter Johnson. It was done as a publicity stunt to get Tranmere onto people's radar over here in the US.

]]> "I could not have asked for more publicity and buzz about Tranmere than we are getting right now."

Mr Johnson, though, was furious. "I don't think we want this sort of publicity and I think a lot of people knew it was for sale because the Daily Post mentioned it last season," he said.

That's a staggering statement to make in the context of how attractive English football clubs are to investors across the world - and helps to explain why a buyer has not yet been found.

There are not many people with $10m to invest who live or work within the Daily Post catchment area and Mr Kosich would not be doing his job properly if he didn't make as many people as possible aware that Tranmere Rovers is up for sale.

He's done that - and should be applauded for his unusual tactic - and we will have to wait to see if it does bring any interest from new parties.

Now, how much money is in my Paypal account?

The tale of two Rugby World Cups

2009-07-28T20:40:13Z

Today was the best of times and the worst of times for two big, practically identical, sporting announcements.

Chances are though, that you've only noticed one of them.

This morning it was announced that the 2013 Rugby League World Cup will be hosted by the UK (effectively England), then hours later England was named as the hosts of the 2015 Rugby (union) World Cup.

]]> Today was, for rugby league, "a good day to bury bad news". Instead they buried great news.

It was a staggering decision by the Rugby League International Federation (RLIF) to break the news today, knowing that it was almost certain that England would be named as the hosts for their 15-man code.

Whereas the RU announcement was live on TV, the RL news slipped out by way of a press release from Singapore. And it will be overwhelmed in the coming days and weeks' media coverage.

This matters because international sport is - or at least, should be - the cash cow. If you can't even get the announcement right, what hope is there for the tournament itself?

It's not just that the 2015 RU World Cup is forecasting live audiences ten times greater than that of the 2008 RL World Cup.

But the International Rugby Board is expecting revenues of £220m from holding the tournament in England, a significant portion of which will end up in the pockets of national unions and, ultimately, clubs.

The RLIF hasn't put a value on 2013 - which is almost certainly because no-one has thought to work it out yet. But it will be a mere fraction of £220m.

And that means in the years after 2015, it will be rugby union which - globally - will be in a position to invest in everything from the grassroots to the elite clubs while rugby league persists in its amateur approach to the international game and bemoans its status.

One thing is clear though. If they think they are the poor relations now, just wait until 2015.

Aug 6 update: Chris Irvine of The Times makes some good points in his blog entry, Let's take on the world