It’s all about the money

NOVEMBER is the money month in football: next week, a Deloitte report will reveal that Premier League earnings from overseas TV rights are on track to overtake the domestic contract, while in eight days, the Future of Football Conference takes place in London with one of the seminars entitled, ‘The Buying and Selling of Football Clubs’.

The first open-forum discussion of money matters in the game took place last week at the International Football Conference hosted at FIFA HQ in Zurich.

It was there that Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon explained that he would not accept an invitation to G-14 even if it was forthcoming (G-14 general manager Thomas Kurth responded by winning a signed Chelsea shirt in a raffle later that night and putting his prize back in the draw). Just as significantly, Kenyon agreed with former Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein, who said, “We want it both ways in England: we want the best talent but don’t want the foreign owners. At the moment, it appears you can’t have one without the other.”