By Paul Nicholson
January 12 – UEFA has released its latest club benchmarking report – an impressive and exhaustive (and exhausting) analysis via a range of indicators of the health and current position of European club football.
January 12 – After a wait of more than a year, Chelsea have been granted planning permission to rebuild their Stamford Bridge stadium replacing the current 41,600 capacity venue with a 60,000-all seater.
January 12 – Partizan Belgrade have been banned from European competition by UEFA for the next three seasons in the latest crackdown over unpaid debts.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 6 – In an unprecedented move that could prove a watershed moment and potentially change the face of football’s global transfer landscape, Chinese authorities have rebuked the country’s leading clubs for “burning money” in the relentless race to enlist top foreign stars to the detriment of local talent.
By Paul Nicholson
January 6 – Everton reported a £121.5 million turnover, £75 million in new revenues going forward and a big ambition for the future at their annual general meeting this week.
By Samindra Kunti
January 5 – Paris Saint-Germain director of football Patrick Kluivert (pictured) has vowed that the French champions will continue to reinforce before the end of the January transfer window.
By Paul Nicholson
January 4 – The on-off entry of Italian businessman Andrea Radrizzani into the boardroom at English Championship club Leeds United has been concluded with the announcement that Radrizzani has bought a 50% stake in the club from currently banned owner Massimo Cellino for an estimated £25 million.
January 4 – Hull City became the fourth Premier League club to sack their manager this season and the first in 2017. Mike Phelan, appointed only 12 weeks ago, follows the departures of Francesco Guidolin and Bob Bradley from Swansea City and Alan Pardew from Crystal Palace.
December 30 – World Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo turned down the chance to leave Real Madrid for a staggering 300m Euros to join the flow of expensive talent towards China according to his agent.
December 30 – KV Oostende have accrued a loss of €7 million in the 2015/16 book year, with the Belgian club’s debts mounting to €23.4 million. In comparison Anderlecht reported a net profit of €1.6 million.
By Paul Nicholson
December 29 – The increased difficulty of getting Chinese money into Europe to complete club acquisitions has been highlighted with Ligue 1 Olympique Lyonnais owner OL Groupe announcing that it had now received the first €30 million of a €100 million investment by Chinese investment fund IDG Capital Partners. At the same time Dutch club ADO The Hague said it was suing its Chinese owners for €2.3 million in unpaid investments.
December 29 – It would be fair to say that Tottenham Hotspur are not having a love affair with Wembley, either on the pitch where they failed to get the Champions League results to take them to the knock-out rounds, or off it as they prevaricate over committing to playing Premier League games there in the 2017/18 season while their rebuilt White Hart Lane stadium is completed.
“Greatness inspires envy, envy engenders spite, spite spawns lies.” Lord Voldemort, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, JK Rowling
There is something magical about Notts County. They are the world’s oldest league football club, formed six generations ago in 1862, and although relatively few in world football might be acquainted with the Magpies, their impact on the global game is undeniable.
December 23 – The protracted sale of AC Milan to Chinese group Sino-Europe Sports (SES) took another subtle twist yesterday when SES President Yonghong Li assured media that the sale is going ahead and that if they can’t release the money from China they have an alternative plan.
December 23 – Bundesliga challengers RB Leipzig have announced they have agreed a deal to buy Leipzig’s Zentralstadion – renamed the Red Bull arena – and that they will expand the capacity from its current 42,558 to 57,000 as well as extend hospitality facilities.