Footbiz newsletter #9: what to expect from today's Premier League meeting

Premier League club owners and senior executives will gather for their first meeting of the season in London's Covent Garden today, with the subject of Manchester City once again the elephant in the Rosewood hotel's luxurious rooms.

Such is the formality and faux civility that characterises these monthly gatherings that the so-called trial of the century, upon which much of the medium-term future of the Premier League rests, will not be mentioned in the meeting, or even in the more informal side gatherings. In Premier League circles, 115 is the number it is impolite to mention.

The Premier League are however expected to inform clubs of the outcome of their other legal case against City, who took them to an arbitration hearing in June over the competition's Associated Party Transactions (APT) rules, which they argue are anti-competitive. Unlike in the Financial Fair Play trial City have considerable support for their position on the APT regulations, with Aston Villa, Newcastle, Chelsea and Wolves among the clubs in their corner. 

Villa in particular are monitoring the case with interest, as co-owner Nassef Sawiris told the Financial Times in June that the club were considering bringing their own legal challenge against the Premier League's profit and sustainability rules for similar reasons. Following the APT hearing in June, sources at City were privately expressing confidence that it had gone well, although such self-belief is the club's default setting.

The clubs will also discuss their ongoing plans for a complete overhaul of their financial rules next season, which may make Villa's complaints moot if the Premier League get their way. 

A trial that mirrors UEFA's regulations, which restrict clubs' player spending to 80 per cent of their income this season before falling to 70 per cent next year, has already begun but the clubs have yet to agree the detail of another proposed change, the so-called anchoring. 

The new rule would means that all clubs would only be able to spend a maximum of the multiple of what the bottom club earns in TV revenue, which last season was £103m. Various anchoring multiples have been proposed ranging from 4.5x to 6x the bottom club's income, in discussions which will have a crucial impact on the spending power of the biggest clubs moving forward. It it ends up being at the higher end, we will know those clubs have had their way.

For all the civility of these meetings the Premier League's chief football officer, Tony Scholes, could be in for a hard time with several clubs unhappy at various refereeing decisions this season, as The Times reported earlier this week.

Scholes is expected to field complaints from Bournemouth, Nottingham Forest and Leicester about inconsistencies in officials' decision making in the absence of referees' chief Howard Webb, who only attends shareholders' meetings on an occasional basis.

 So by the close of play today, we’re expecting some news - on the APT ruling at the very least - but until then, we’ve got a newsletter for you.

Table of Contents

• What now for Everton?

• Rome to replace Milan for CL final?

• New UEFA redistribution?

• A sinking feeling

• M&A Murmurs

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What now for Everton?

Everton’s takeover saga is (almost certainly) finally over, with The Friedkin Group awaiting regulatory approval for their acquisition of the Toffees from Farhad Moshiri.

The question now is: what next?

Of course, the club’s primary concern is staying in the Premier League. Relegation would be a hammer blow to a club who could barely afford it, and would set back the recovery that fans hope Friedkin can lead.

Rob Draper took a look at TFG’s work in Italy, where they own Roma, to try and figure out what sort of ownership Everton will have.

And this week, of all weeks, has been a rough one in the Italian capital.

Rome to replace Milan for CL final?

The 2027 Champions League final will not, as originally planned, be held at Milan’s San Siro stadium after local government could not promise UEFA that the iconic stadium wouldn’t be in the midst of a renovation.

Both Milan clubs recently pivoted from the idea of revamping the stadium they share in order to demolish it and build a new one, with the city’s mayor saying earlier this month:

“After an in-depth analysis the clubs concluded that the stadium cannot be revamped in an affordable way … they don’t think it is feasible,” he said.

“They have put forward the idea of going back to a new stadium in the San Siro area.”

With so much up in the air, the municipality could not make the guarantees that UEFA’s annual season-ending jamboree requires and so the bid process has been reopened. Crucially, it was the Italian federation (FIGC) who withdrew their application.

UEFA’s lack of transparency means we don’t know who else bid for the 2027 final when it was originally assigned to Milan earlier this year, but FootBiz understands they will run a new process rather than simply hand the final to Wembley or Lisbon as they have done in the past.

Suspicions are that the FIGC voluntarily pulling out positions them well to bid again for a different city, with Rome’s Olimpico Stadium the most likely venue to be put forward.

The Olimpico hosted the Champions League final in 2009 and the opening game of the pan-continental Euro 2020.

New UEFA redistribution?

It’s fair to say chairmen and owners we have spoken to are very interested in seeing the details on a new solidarity mechanism approved by the UEFA executive committee this week.

The press release only states that “the core principles are as follows:

• The funds are reserved for top division clubs not competing in the league phases of the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Conference League.

• Such funds are meant to support competitive balance across Europe's top division leagues, where some clubs benefit from additional revenue streams due to European competition participation.

• A portion of the funds may be cascaded to second division clubs, with the agreement of top division clubs.

• The funds shall improve or strengthen clubs' structures and governance standards, thereby enhancing the healthy development of European club football.

• To be eligible they shall therefore have to fulfil certain UEFA club licensing criteria, with youth training criteria still a defining element.”

A €10m cap on handouts to the top five leagues (England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France) has also been confirmed, which significantly ups the amount distributed among the other 50 European associations.

The precise details of how the money will be shared - particularly if it is cascading down the pyramid - should be known within the next few weeks.

A sinking feeling

There are those moments in football, perhaps an own goal or a missed sitter, when a player simply wants the ground to open up beneath them and swallow them whole.

Never before has that been a legitimate fear, but after a month’s worth of rain in London in just 24 hours it is now a live threat for Wimbledon.

The Dons, who play at the Cherry Red Records stadium on their spiritual home of Plough Lane, were stunned to wake up this week to a sinkhole consuming a corner of their pitch.

"The entire stadium, the concourse and ground floor, was under water. It was horrendous. The pitch has significant damage,” said managing director James Woodroof.

"We filled four tankers, which house 27,000 litres each, so over 100,000 litres."

With Premier League opponents Newcastle due in town for the Carabao Cup, it quickly became obvious that the game could not go ahead and the fixture will now take place next week up in the north-east.

Meanwhile, the fan-owned Dons are facing a battle to fix the issue but this weekend’s fixture against Accrington Stanley will also have to be moved to a different ground and their following league fixture against Crewe Alexandra has been postponed due to a clash with the rearranged Newcastle game.

Fundraisers will be held on Thursday and Friday this week to help fix some of the damage to the pitch but also to indoor areas of the stadium, which flooded. One fan started a GoFundMe page - which you can donate to here if you wish - that has already raised £60,000 (and still going) including a £15,000 donation from Newcastle.

Wimbledon are assessing their options amid the damage but are expected to seek temporary ground share arrangements. The club played at Crystal Palace’s Selhurst Park from 1991 to 2003.

M&A Murmurs

Of all the 777 clubs being sold by Moelis on behalf of 777’s biggest creditor, A-Cap, Red Star FC has proven to be one of the most attractive to potential investors.

Paris is one of the great cities on earth, but more importantly it probably produces more elite footballers than any other region (with honourable mentions to Sao Paulo, Brazil, and South London).

Red Star are also blessed with history. A founding member of Ligue 1, they’re France’s fourth-oldest club but haven’t been in the top flight since 1975. Since then, nouveau riche Paris Saint-Germain (established in 1970) have somewhat overtaken them, left them as a speck in the rear-view mirror and then continued accelerating away, but Red Star still has a bucketload of potential.

Atalanta co-owner, Boston Celtics minority owner and private equity veteran Steve Pagliuca is one of the parties to have advanced their interest beyond simply words, according to Bloomberg.

Pagliuca is seeking a deal through his family office.

RC Lens were one of the Ligue 1 clubs due to transact until the LFP’s disastrous TV deal saw Isos Partners pull out of a deal for an initial 25% of the club this summer.

"Isos are not coming." said owner Joseph Oughourlian in June. "But my role is to find funds for the club. I am in a constant search for funds. I've already spoken to potential investors."

His proactive approach to securing new investment has been making an investment of his own - buying the Felix Bollaert stadium.

Like most clubs in France, Lens don’t own the ground they play at. Instead it is owned by the local government and leased to the club on (usually) quite friendly terms.

Lens recently announced they have a deal to buy the ground for €25m and plan to upgrade it before its centenary in 2033.

“Banks and financiers in general like what we call the tangible, the stone,” said Oughourlian.

“And [buying the stadium] would place us in an interesting position, because we would be one of the very rare clubs in France, perhaps even the only one, once Olympique Lyonnais have sold their stadium, to own their own ground.” 

Having made the Champions League last year and missed out on the Europa League by a couple of points this year, Lens’ on-field performances should help bolster revenues and attract investors. They hope the stadium revenue streams can make them stand out and be more attractive in a market where those aren’t a given.

Their biggest issue remains Ligue 1 itself, which investors have turned away from since the bungled TV rights negotiation by the league saw club’s centralised share of revenue more than halved once private equity investors CVC have taken their piece.