Friday High Five – what’s in the news this week
Some of the most popular stories on TheBusinessDesk.com over the last week have been Neil Hodgson’s excellent pieces building up to the start of the football season.
Just as our tour around the grounds of the lower leagues showed last week, the importance of the football business to the beating heart of the region’s economy is enormous.
Everton Stadium under construction (courtesy Everton FC)
In particular Neil looked at the roller coaster of Everton FC and the bizarre goings on with potential investor 777.
No other industry seems to attract such a wild and wacky cast of characters as football.
Klarissa Nura (Praetura Ventures), Charlotte Kopciowski, Camilla Greenwood (Praetura Ventures), Kris Ball, Sue Barnard (British Business Bank), Louise Chapman
No purchase and sale process is quite like it either. Despite our best efforts and the gritty converge on our new Rainmakers platform, where we try to detect leaks and find traces of activity, we only occasionally pick up chatter on deals in the computer and video games sector, or even investments into padel clubs.
But football is a leaky sieve. Fans forums, social media, specialist journalists, are all over the speculation of interest from “tycoons”, “billionaires”, and “mystery consortiums”.
One of those mysterious offshore billionaires, who has now become a household name, is Sir Jim Ratcliffe at Manchester United, who is playing a canny game.
It makes commercial sense for Trafford Park to be home to a new 100,000 capacity super stadium, and for Old Trafford to be eventually demolished.
But, as was pointed out in Neil’s analysis of United, there is a clear disparity in costs, and there are efforts by the Monaco-based tax-exile to get government support for it.
Redevelopment of Old Trafford is estimated at £1bn, but will be disruptive, while the expected £2bn for a new stadium will, inevitably, rise. When Everton’s initial plans for their new waterfront stadium were approved by the city council in February, 2021, the cost was estimated at £505m. That has since jumped to £760m and is likely to increase further before scheduled completion this December.
However you spend your weekend, if you support one of our local teams or none, I hope you have a wonderful time.
