Liverpool v Spurs: British football is booming

Anyone dare predict the result of the Champions League grand finale between Liverpool and Spurs being battled out in Madrid this weekend?

I certainly dare not be so bold. As a Chelsea fan, it’s more a case of “I don’t mind who loses rather than the usual I don’t mind who wins.”  Looking at the betting odds, though, the favourite to win – and the big money bet – is Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool team.

Klopp certainly deserves victory. Not only has the German manager done spectacularly this season but he wants the trophy so badly for Anfield you can smell the ambition seeping through the TV screen. He is also delightfully modest in his confident way: “We are one of the five or six best clubs in Europe again. I do not know when that was the case but it was a while ago. That is why I am happy for the people. They see where their club is and think – look at that red. That is Liverpool.”

Whether the Spurs boss and coach, Mauricio Pochettino, will see red is a moot point. Pochettino is an equally brilliant manager but so far has failed to beat Liverpool at its own game.

What is delicious though, and victory for all football fans, is that the winner of the ultimate competition will be an English club. Without sounding too sentimental, this is a good thing and the first time this has happened since Chelsea won against Bayern Munich in 2012 on penalties.

To have two Premier League English teams playing each other at the Wanda Metropolitano stadium is splendid. It marks the high point of England’s football renaissance over the last few decades. And it is a great business success story too.

That this renaissance has been achieved with a decline in hooliganism, and all the ghastly behaviour that has been associated with English fans abroad, is all the better. Let’s pray that fans at tomorrow’s match in Madrid stay cool whatever the outcome.

It’s also a rebirth that has seen English clubs take six out of the top ten slots in world football rankings of financial success for the 2017/2018 season. That success has come about because of a revolution of expectations and an injection of more professionalism in the sport that began with the work of genius managers such as Sir Alex Ferguson. His reign at Manchester United, starting in November 1986, set the highest of standards throughout the domestic game.

Whether you like it or not – and there are some good reasons to be sceptical of their motivations, but that’s another story – the invasion of rich foreign owners, who are prepared to invest for the long term, has had a huge and positive impact on the financial health of the UK’s football industry.

You only have to look at the figures. In the most recent Deloitte Football Money League report, published in January, British clubs set a record although Manchester United was pushed off its top slot by Spain’s Real Madrid, which earned a stunning and record €750m.

It was also Real Madrid’s twelfth time at the top. No wonder Los Blancos is expected to make a new bid for Chelsea’s Eden Hazard of £120m or more over the next few days.

Inevitably and predictably the great FC Barcelona came in second place. Otherwise, the Brits dominated. Manchester United came in third position with revenue of €666m while Manchester City scored fifth with €568.8m.
Liverpool was in seventh place with €514m and Chelsea came eighth with €505m. In ninth position was Arsenal, with €439.2m and Spurs, made it into the top ten in tenth position with €428.3m – only the second time the club has been in the top ten.

Being on the big stage really does pay. Liverpool’s rise to seventh position came after the Red’s Champions League final place last year. Although the club lost out to Real Madrid, Liverpool increased its annual revenue by €91m – up a quarter on the previous year – and the highest rise of any of the top ten in the Money League rankings.

There were other Brits in the top 20 as well. Everton, Newcastle and West Ham all made it, taking the total number of English Premier League teams in the list to nine. World-wide, the industry is booming, particularly in Asia where football, particularly English football, continues to capture the imagination. Global revenue is double that of a decade ago.

Indeed, the 20 highest earning football clubs in the world generated a record €8.3bn of combined revenue in 2017/18, an increase of 6% on the previous year.

TV rights and broadcast revenue are the biggest source of money for clubs, earning nearly half of the total compared to other commercial earnings and match day takings. Real Madrid earned more money from broadcast than any other club –  £222.6m.

According to Deloitte, the impact of UEFA club competitions will be even greater this year because distributions to participating clubs are predicted to rise to €2.billion in in 2018/19 from €1.84 billion in 2017/18 due to the start of a new broadcast cycle. And predictions for this year? The English clubs are set to do well again, particularly after this Madrid final where one of the winners will be from England.

Not a bad result for a little island, and, dare one say it, despite Brexit and all that. Messers Macron, Merkel and Sanchez can put that in their pipes and smoke it. The UK may be hopeless at negotiating withdrawal agreements but we still know how to go forward and play the beautiful game, with the help of some excellent European managers and wealthy foreign owners.

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