Price of Football

Kieran Maguire teaches the Football Industries MBA at the University of Liverpool Management School. He specialises in financial reporting, financial modelling and football finance, and regularly appears on television and radio commentating on matters relating to club finance.

Football needs Kieran. His brand of financial scrutiny is well thought out, simple to understand, but most of all consistent. He has no fear or favour and is always on the money. We have to change the financial and regulatory situation in football if we are to avoid more disasters like that at Bury, Bolton, Blackpool, Coventry and not least Accrington Stanley, a town that has first-hand experience of the desolation that can befall towns that lose their key social activity.

• Foreword by Kevin Day1. IntroductionPart I Football club financial reports2. The balance sheet3. The profit or loss account4. The cash flow statementPart II The price of football5. Buying players6. Ticket prices7. Broadcasting and sponsorship income8. Financial fair playPart III Football club financial analysis9. How to analyse club accounts 1: trend analysis10. How to analyse club accounts 2: ratio analysis11. Valuing a football club12. Ownership models: love, profit, vanity and insanity13. Red flags: things that make you go “hmmm” – creative accounting and football finance14. Football finance in a post-Covid-19 world and Project Big PictureGlossary of terms