Introduction

This is a blog about the finance of football.  It isn't the first blog on the subject - take a look at the excellent Swiss Ramble and AndersRed for some superb examples. But I want to take a slightly different approach.

First, I want to focus less on profits and more on cash flow. That’s because profitability in football is hugely skewed by the depreciation of transfer fees, and its cousin – transfer market profits and losses. For me, it’s more meaningful to look at the amount of cash coming in and going out.

Second, I want to try and do a bit of forecasting. Unlike listed companies, which have to report financial results pretty soon after their fiscal year ends, football clubs usually take months to file their accounts at Companies House. And since their financial years tend to end on 30 June, that means that the accounts don’t typically appear in public until the following spring. I think that some intelligent speculation is in order to fill that gap – and, in particular, to assess the prospects at transfer window time.

To begin with, this blog is going to have a west London focus, because I watch most of my football at Craven Cottage.  But the idea is to extend its coverage to all the Premier League clubs, and perhaps the Championship and the Scottish Premier League too.