Red Devils bank on Swissquote sponsorship
January 27 – Manchester United have signed their first online financial services partner, aimed at exploiting their estimated 659 million fanbase worldwide.
Premier League
Gunners fire themselves into Indonesian record books
January 27 – Two teams, 770 players, 9 hours, 97 goals and a world record. Arsenal FC broke new boundaries in Indonesia last weekend with the country’s longest non-stop football match ever.
Swansea City eye £20m buy of Liberty Stadium
January 22 – The prospect of Swansea City buying the Liberty Stadium, which they have shared with the Ospreys rugby team since 2005, from the current owners, Swansea City Council, have increased with the club saying they would welcome discussions on a sale.
Man Utd rolls the dice with first social casino games partner KamaGames
January 21 – Manchester United has announced Irish casino game maker KamaGames as the club’s first official Social Casino Games partner. KamaGames is a specialist in developing games for mobile and is targeting United’s global fan based, claimed by the club to number 659 million followers.
Huth trips over tweets and lands up with a misconduct charge
January 15 – The pitfalls of professional footballers using social media for the wrong purposes have again been underlined after an English Premier League defender was charged with “aggravated misconduct”.
Manchester clubs bet on Asia with lottery deal and LIVE event
January 14 – Asia is proving fertile ground for the Manchester clubs from the English Premier League. City have broken into China with local lottery provider DJI Holdings, while United have announced the second day of the club’s UNITED: LIVE fan party will take place in Jakarta, Indonesia January 31.
Gerrard winds down Liverpool career as he lines-up US move
January 5 – Former England captain Steven Gerrard says his decision to leave Liverpool and become the latest footballing icon to further his career in the United States was the toughest decision of his life.
Hammers nail down profit as move to Olympic stadium approaches
By David Owen
January 4 – West Ham United, the east London club gearing up to move to the Olympic stadium in 2016, has become the latest Premier League outfit to report substantially improved financial results on the back of increased broadcasting revenue.
New York fury as Lampard misses MLS season start to stay in Manchester
By Andrew Warshaw
January 2 – The increasing practise of experienced European, especially Premier League, stars moving across the pond to Major League Soccer for a final career hurrah has come under fresh scrutiny as a result of Frank Lampard’s controversial decision to temporarily snub New York City.
Sky shares plummet as Premier League rights auction sparks investor fear
By Mark Baber
December 16 – The multi-billion pound auction for Premier League television rights, which kicked off on Friday, has led to a 4.4% fall in the share price of Sky plc on Monday on fears the company could be outbid by BT on a number of packages, and predictions the total bill could be as high as £5 billion, An Ofcom investigation, initiated by Virgin, has added to the lack of stability in the market.
Premier League opens up Friday night football to TV, but no 39th game
December 15 – The idea of playing a Premier League match overseas, heavily mooted a few years ago, will not take place in the foreseeable future.
Man City’s new £200m training facility takes academy to “a different level”
By Mark Baber
December 9 – Manchester City’s new £200 million youth development and first team training centre – the City Football Academy (CFA) – was on officially opened Monday by former manager and captain, Tony Book, with club chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak and the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne in attendance.
Huge cut in football staff helps blue side of Manchester reduce red ink
By David Owen
December 4 – A halving in the number of football staff employed by the club has helped Manchester City to report much-reduced annual losses and added to the growing impression that 2013-14 will bring a marked improvement in Premier League club finances.
Burnley report value-for-money loss as they regain Premier League status
By Paul Nicholson
December 4 – Success on the pitch can sometimes be a fickle financial master in football, but Burnley’s loss of £7.6 million for the year to June 2014 is looking like value-for-money. The Premier League new boys actually announced a £300,000 profit for their promotion season. But when you add in staff bonuses of £7.9 million due on elevation to England’s top flight, the profit becomes a £7.6 million loss.
Chelsea closes in on £25m Turkish Airlines deal
December 1 – Chelsea is reportedly “edging closer” to a deal with Turkish Airlines. According to unnamed sources the new Chelsea deal will be worth £25 million a year to the South London club, £7 million more than Samsung (whose contract expires at the end of the year) currently pay.