Football transfer tracker

Summer 2011 Welcome to the latest edition of Grant Thornton’s football transfer tracker.

This report considers expenditure and 2011 which saw record levels of fees income from the purchase and sale paid for players in the Winter window. of player registrations during the This edition of the football transfer Summer 2011 transfer window, tracker looks more closely at some analysing data from transfers involving interesting trends that have developed all clubs in the top three tiers of English in the English leagues’ transfer activity football,* as gathered by our Sports over the past year. Advisory Group. We also consider the rise in social The Summer 2011 transfer window media and it’s potential significance saw a marked increase in expenditure to governing bodies, football clubs, on players from the same period in players and advertisers. 2010. This follows on from January

* Barclays , nPower Championship and nPower League 1 Football transfer tracker Football transfer tracker

Overview of Summer 2011 transfer activity

Figure 1 compares income and How and where has the Figure 1: Gross income and expenditure Figure 3a: Income and expenditure by club Figure 3b: Nationality of Premiership acquisitions expenditure from player transfers during Premier League spent its cash? Summer 2011 transfer window Summer 2010 transfer window the 2010 and 2011 Summer transfer Of particular interest in this most Summer 2011 transfer window Paid Received Net Paid Received Net windows. Figure 2 shows how transfer recent transfer window has been the Paid Rec Net £m £m £m £m £m £m £m £m £m fees paid and received by Premier increased level of fees received from Premiership (474.8) 297.8 (177.0) (356.2) 158.3 (197.9) League clubs have varied in recent player sales. Despite the growth of Arsenal (51.7) 67.2 15.5 Championship (41.3) 88.8 47.5 (28.2) 46.0 17.8 Summer transfer windows. expenditure in comparison to 2010, Aston Villa (16.3) 38.3 22.0 League 1 (2.3) 10.5 8.2 (1.5) 7.6 6.1 Whilst £518m of gross expenditure English league clubs actually spent less Blackburn (14.0) 22.8 8.8 Rovers (518.4) 397.1 (121.3) (385.9) 211.9 (174.0) represents an increase of approximately in net terms (payments for players less 34% over 2010, we would note that fees received from player sales). Bolton (7.0) 7.2 0.2 Wanderers it does not quite match the record This is a consequence of funds Figure 2: Gross transfer fees paid and recieved by English football’s Chelsea (66.6) 20.6 (46.0) top three leagues in Summer transfer windows Summer of 2008 which saw gross fees circulating between English teams, Everton 0.0 17.5 17.5 paid for players totalling a massive rather than going abroad. In 2010 £600m Fulham (16.3) 1.2 (15.1) 544 Premier League clubs spent £99m on 518 £544m. 508 Liverpool (58.0) 18.3 (39.7) £500m 495 491 The driving force behind players from English based clubs. In this increased expenditure has, 2011 this almost tripled to £276m. This Manchester City (80.0) 18.2 (61.8) 386 397 £400m Manchester (50.5) 9.3 (41.2) 2011 343 340 unsurprisingly, been the Premier League retention of wealth is hopefully 307 United £300m although the Championship also saw a positive sign for the financial health l English/Welsh £159.5m 34% significantly increased activity, both in of the English game as a whole. Newcastle (12.5) 10.2 (2.3) 196 212 l Foreign £315.3m 66% £200m terms of purchases and sales. Despite Transfers between English league Norwich (5.7) 0.0 (5.7) Total £474.8m this, it appears that the lower leagues clubs may well have been financed, Queens Park (11.0) 0.9 (10.1) £100m Rangers have not enjoyed a significant ‘trickle at least in part, by a conscious focus Stoke City (20.0) 0.6 (19.4) 0 down’ of funds, a concern identified in on purchasing ‘home-grown’ players. 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 the January 2011 edition of our football Figure 3b highlights a significant Sunderland (23.2) 22.3 (0.9) Gross fees paid Gross fees received Net transfer tracker. increase in investment in English Swansea City (10.0) 0.1 (9.9) (and Welsh) players. Tottenham (5.0) 28.1 23.1 Hotspur West Bromwich (6.5) 3.2 (3.3) Albion Wigan Athletic (8.5) 9.8 1.3 Wolverhampton (12.0) 2.0 (10.0) (474.8) 297.8 (177.0)

2010

l English/Welsh £56.1m 16%

l Foreign £300.1m 84%

Total £356.2m Football transfer tracker Football transfer tracker

English football’s ‘trade deficit’ has decreased by approximately £46m from 2010.

Similarly, Premiership clubs seem to be Figure 4: The Champions League race Figure 5: Imports and exports (transfers from and to clubs outside the English league system) placing increasing value upon young talent with expenditure on players Summer 2011 transfer window Summer 2010 transfer window Summer 2011 transfer window Summer 2010 transfer window under the age of 21 more than doubling Paid Received Net Paid Received Net Imports Exports Net in/(out) Imports Exports Net in/(out) £m £m £m £m £m £m from £60m in Summer 2010 to £130m £m £m £m £m £m £m in the 2011 Summer transfer window. Arsenal (51.7) 67.2 15.5 (16.2) 7.2 (9.0) Premiership 191.7 (67.0) 124.7 257.0 (77.4) 179.6 The big money transfers of Jordan Chelsea (66.6) 20.6 (46.0) (29.9) 14.2 (15.7) Championship 1.8 (0.0) 1.8 5.8 (14.4) (8.6) Henderson, Phil Jones and Alex Liverpool (58.0) 18.3 (39.7) (26.0) 26.7 0.7 League 1 0.2 (0.5) (0.3) 0.8 0.0 0.8 Oxlade-Chamberlain, who currently Manchester City (80.0) 18.2 (61.8) (125.7) 28.3 (97.4) 193.7 (67.5) 126.2 263.6 (91.8) 171.8 boast just one international cap between Manchester United (50.5) 9.3 (41.2) (23.7) 14.0 (9.7) them, are good examples of a positive Tottenham Hotspur (5.0) 28.1 23.1 (14.0) 0.8 (13.2) trend towards young, English talent. (311.8) 161.7 (150.1) (235.5) 91.2 (144.3) It would seem that clubs are beginning Other facts & figures to be influenced by the Premier For the second year running the average price League’s squad composition rules. albeit not to quite the same extent as paid for a midfielder has exceeded that for a However, it isn’t just young English the exceptional levels of Summer 2010. forward. David de Gea’s transfer to Manchester players but also those from abroad However, Arsenal and Tottenham United contributed to the average cost of a that are attracting interest. Romelu have bucked the trend with net gains goalkeeper exceeding that of a defender which Lukaku, David de Gea and Sebastian from player transfers of £16m and had not been the case in either of the previous Coates commanded combined fees of £23m respectively. Summer transfer windows. approximately £45m from Chelsea, It is notable that only one of these Manchester United and Liverpool. six giants of the English game had a net inflow from players in 2010. Not The Champions League race only did Liverpool fail to get into the It is inevitable that, in the wake of the top four they missed out on Europe recent frantic transfer activity, fans altogether. Whether this proves a and pundits will speculate on teams’ precedent for the season ahead, only respective prospects for the new season. time will tell. Figure 6: Average Premier League acquisition cost (excluding £nil fees) We have taken a look at the financial It is perhaps too early to conclude 10,000,000 indicators for the teams with aspirations whether the relatively conservative of qualifying for next season’s transfer activity of Arsenal and 8,000,000 Champions League. Tottenham is in anyway a reaction to Of the six clubs arguably most UEFA’s Financial Fair Play Regulations. 6,000,000 likely to secure a top four spot in the We will continue to monitor this in Premier League this season, Chelsea, future transfer windows. 4,000,000 Liverpool and Manchester United all significantly increased both their gross 2,000,000 and net expenditure on players during the Summer 2011 transfer window, 0 Goalkeeper Defender Midfielder Forward compared with the previous Summer. Manchester City also spent heavily, 2009 2010 2011 Football transfer tracker Football transfer tracker

Social media – a need to monitor reputation

The rise of online social media Aldershot striker, told his own fans side, unscrupulous individuals also Online social media has experienced ‘I hope you all die’. So although Twitter monitor social media conversations for increased popularity since the inception might present a fantastic opportunity any ‘nuggets’ of information that might of Facebook and MySpace in 2004; with for fans to interact directly with their have been inadvertently given away that Facebook now advertising 750 million idols, a darker side is also apparent. they might exploit for their own gain. active users. Social media sites initially However there are players using Clearly one obvious precaution evolved as places where ‘friends’ could social media positively. Rio Ferdinand regarding social media is not to Tweet keep in touch and share photographs, has over 1,500,000 followers on his or at least post anything you might later with the process of becoming a ‘friend’ Twitter profile and is therefore one of regret. An additional way to mitigate being managed by a formal process the most prominent footballing figures any potential problems that may arise requiring acceptance of a ‘friend on the site. He has tweeted nearly from content shared on social media is request’. In this way, a level of privacy 7,500 times (and may be ahead of this to have all conversations automatically was maintained, as personal information by the time we go to press). These 140 captured and then use this content to was restricted to only those you wished character insights to his life have given identify potential problems. Given that to receive it; all this was to change with fans, journalists and regular people the content is being captured we can the arrival of Twitter in 2006. around the globe the opportunity to also use it to identify positive brand With Twitter, not only was a understand something of the existence based opportunities. message limited to 140 characters, just of a high profile sports figure, straight Grant Thornton’s Internet like texting on which it was modelled, Players and clubs as brands major brands in their own right. from the horse’s mouth. Similarly, Joey Intelligence team monitor social but also there was no necessity to send Since its arrival in 2006, Twitter took So if we take the above facts into Barton has to some extent repaired media conversations for references to a ‘friend request’ before being able to three years to reach its one billionth consideration as well as reflect on some his reputation to be hailed as a ‘petit sports personalities, celebrities and read other people’s communications. tweet; it now reaches one billion tweets of the unfortunate social media/Twitter Cantona’ in certain circles, in light of major brands. Once content has been Just opt to ‘follow’ the person in only five days. This is a major sign related incidents that have occurred in his philosophical tweets! captured it can be mined with the aim of interest and start reading their of its success and suggests Twitter is the last year, what can we learn? Certainly with any communication of identifying conversations that might communications or alternatively log here to stay, at least for the foreseeable Well there are certainly plenty of channel capable of reaching so many put the brand, personality or club in to Twitter on the internet and do future. examples, both positive and negative, people there are risks and rewards as in a position of risk, or alternatively the same without, in this case, even the Daily active Twitter users (the around the use of social media by can be seen by the examples above. analysed to aid positive initiatives. need for a Twitter account. consumers who actually reach out football personalities. Aside from the obvious advantage of What is in no doubt is that lack of This new style of messaging, to or follow brands via Twitter ) are reacted aggressively being able to communicate to friends knowledge of what is being discussed which lends itself perfectly to mobile three times more likely to amplify to provocation by a follower on and followers with such ease, are the within the millions of social media devices such as smart phones, means the influence of that brand than, say, Twitter saying ‘I’ll put u asleep within additional opportunities surrounding conversations can very quickly lead that Twitter brought with it a whole a Facebook user would. Clearly this 10 seconds.’ Similarly, Glen Johnson promotion of branding and associated to reputations being damaged and new dimension; spontaneity. One’s could be in a positive or negative astonished his followers by attacking merchandising, directly associated with financial losses. thoughts, however unstructured or direction. in his tweets, Paul Merson, a recovered the clubs and players. On the down possibly ill conceived, can now be Given the profile and importance of alcoholic and gambler. After criticism messaged (tweeted) immediately from football in the lives of the players, clubs from Merson, on News, the device most people keep closest to and supporters, it comes as no surprise Johnson branded him an ‘alcoholic their person, their mobile phone. that many players and their clubs are drug abuser.’ Marvin Morgan, former Football transfer tracker

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