With the 23rd season of the Premier League about to start here are some quick stats on the English football, demand and finance. Between 1992/93 and 2013/14 attendance has risen by 42% in the EPL, 56% in the Championship, 20% in League One and 63% in League Two. The generally faster rise in attendance at the lower divisions is probably due to extravagant ticket price increases in the EPL – those who can’t afford it have been driven to the lower divisions. After accounting for inflation, EPL revenue has increased sevenfold up until 2012/13 (the latest season for which we have data), threefold in the Championship and League One, and doubled in League Two.
Of the 92 clubs in four divisions in 1992/93, 80 are still in the four divisions. All of the 12 now playing at a lower level still exist, eight are in the fifth tier (just one below League Two), one in the sixth, one in the seventh and two in the eighth. Overall this suggests a remarkable pattern of growth and stability.
Beneath these statistics lie many stories of crisis and restructuring. Several clubs have been closed down and reformed, many were saved by fans creating supporter trusts. For many fans this has been stressful, to say the least. But that doesn’t alter the fact that English professional and semi-professional football is very stable and successful.
I only say this because for the last 23 years there has been a non-stop narrative of doom and gloom in the press. I have been writing about the economics of football all this time, and every year I am rung up by journalists asking “is the bubble about to burst?” or something similar, and they are always astonished when I say that this is a stable, prosperous system.
To illustrate this I went through a newspaper database and collected a doom-laden comment for every season from 1991/92 to 2013/14. When reading these comments, just reflect on the data I have cited above.
date | quote | newspaper |
Jan 23, 1992
1991/92 |
The fear is that many clubs, particularly those in the lower divisions, will be forced to leave the League or go out of business as a result.
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Evening Standard |
May 17,1992
1992/93 |
The game is facing a financial catastrophe. The position of Third and Fourth Division clubs is dire. | Mail on Sunday |
Decr 17, 1993
1993/94 |
the game here will steadily decline both in popularity and success unless there is a wholesale and dramatic rethink,. | Daily Mail |
Mar 25, 1995
1994/95 |
a gold rush that is now in full gallop and led by the wealthy few, while the rest break wheels, overturn wagons and change horses in a frantic effort to keep up. | The Guardian |
Augt 1, 1995,
1995/96 |
THE crippling cost of football’s spending spree was revealed yesterday when clubs were warned that they could be on a suicide course. | Daily Mirror
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Nov 16, 1996
1996/97 |
Sugar has already warned the Sir John Halls of football that they are heading for a financial crisis as the big clubs continue to spend massive amounts on players in transfer fees and salaries. | Daily Mirror
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Apr 16, 1998
1997/98
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The profits of doom: SOCCER’S financial madness was laid bare yesterday by a damning report and the revelation that even Vinnie Jones, a 33-year-old warhorse on his last legs, could cost his new club $1million. | DAILY MAIL
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Aug 6, 1998
1998/99 |
The plight of smaller English clubs can’t be over-estimated. | Birmingham Evening Mail |
Apr 1, 2000
1999/2000 |
I don’t want to see football destroyed by an unsustainable bubble. And what football’s got at the moment is an unsustainable bubble | The Independent |
Aug 20, 2000
2000/01 |
…the power of the players and their agents has never been greater. Unless managed in some way it will pose a threat to the present structure of English football. | Sunday Business |
Mar 29, 2002
2001/02 |
“Clubs who have poor gates and not so good sponsorship backing – it is an absolute certainty some of them will go, “ | Western Mail
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July 11, 2002
2002/03 |
It all means the way football is structured is unsustainable. The figures just don’t add up. | The Mirror
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July 4, 2003
2003/04 |
‘Football is in a deep crisis which is worsening. | Birmingham Evening Mail |
Mar 27, 2005
2004/05 |
Attendances at games are going down faster than Sven Goran-Eriksson’s underpants. The great television “boom” that never quite arrived is now comprehensively over. | SUNDAY TELEGRAPH |
Apr 12, 2006
2005/06 |
The current wage structure within football is simply unsustainable and I think the pattern in the next few years will be down rather than up. | The Bristol Post |
May 30, 2007
2006/07 |
… and unless somebody does something about it soon, the game I fell in love with will die. | The Daily Telegraph |
Jan 25, 2008
2007/08 |
If fixtures are moved abroad, if the England team is allowed to rot and if people like Richards try to take away the power of the Football Association then the wheels really could come off. | The Independent |
Jan 30, 2010
2009/10 |
Clubs face, on the one hand, a future of chronic financial instability and, on the other, the risk of sudden collapse should those foreign sugar daddies lose interest. | The Independent |
Feb 16, 2011
2010/11 |
The level of debt is absolutely unsustainable. We are heading for the precipice and we will get there quicker than people think. | Coventry Evening Telegraph |
June 10, 2011
2011/12 |
ENGLISH FOOTBALL faces a crunch time battling to control unsustainable finances | The Irish Times
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Aug 20, 2012
2012/13 |
we have witnessed many fans priced out of the market, levels of debt that would be unsustainable in any other business | Belfast Telegraph |
May 26, 2013
2013/14 |
he concludes football’s business model is unsustainable, and that it will take the liquidation of at least one club before the sport appreciates the fact. | The Independent
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