Football Transfer Tracker: what’s the final score?

Tuesday, February 01, 2011 | Posted by: Fiona Cullinan
Categories: Financing , Thought Leadership | Tags: business, statistics, finance, Grant Thornton, UK, insight, football, sport, expenditure, Football Transfer Tracker, tracker, transfers

Football is serious business. Last night, a late flurry of activity as the transfer window closed saw Premiership clubs paying out a record amount but, worryingly, lower league chairmen were again missing out on the benefit. Here are the final results from Grant Thornton’s Football Transfer Tracker…

What is Grant Thornton’s Football Transfer Tracker?
Our tracker is produced by Grant Thornton’s Sports Advisory Group and reviews the transfer activity of the top three tiers of the English league system (Premiership, Championship and League 1) during the transfer window.

Football economics in 2011
In January 2011, expenditure on football transfers rose significantly from 2010:

• Gross expenditure of Premiership clubs increased more than six-fold from £33m to £215m, as a result of the record transfer of Fernando Torres to Chelsea for £50m, and other large fees, including Andy Carroll (to Liverpool for £35m); Suarez (to Liverpool for £23m); David Luiz (to Chelsea for £21m plus Matic); Edin Dzeko (to Manchester City for £27m); and Aston Villa’s £18m outlay on Darren Bent from Sunderland.

• The Torres, Carroll and Bent transfers have seen significant funds being recycled within the Premiership. Notwithstanding that, net expenditure – the balance of the fee paid to buy players and the amount received from the sale of players – of Premiership clubs increased from £10m to £86m.

• Championship clubs spent similar amounts to last year but recouped considerably less from player sales, resulting in an overall net surplus of £0.9m compared to last year’s £5.9m surplus.

• Transfer activity in League 1 has been comparatively subdued this year, in terms of total monies spent. Overall League 1 clubs returned a net surplus of £2.4m from transfer activity compared to last year’s net spend of £0.9m.

Worrying income drop for lower leagues
Despite the big money deals and the increased expenditure of Premiership clubs, the benefits are not being felt further down the English league pyramid.

Geoff Mesher, a Partner in Grant Thornton’s Sport Advisory Group, said:

“Of the £215m of transfer fees paid out by Premier League clubs in January 2011, only £5m has been spent with clubs from the lower leagues. In January 2010 this figure was £12m despite a much lower level of overall expenditure. £100m has been spent abroad compared to just £6m in January 2010 and £110m has been spent with other Premier League clubs compared to £15m last January.

“This appears to be a continuation of a worrying trend for lower league clubs, evident in our review of the Summer 2010 transfer window. Lower league clubs often budget for income from transfers but the last few transfer windows have provided precious little such income at a time of economic stress.

“The gross expenditure of £223m is a record for the January window and a marked increase from last year. With the introduction of UEFA’s Financial Fair Play Initiative relevant to clubs hoping to participate in European competition, effectively coming into play this summer, it remains to be seen whether we will see expenditure on that scale again.”

Image: © Quinn

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