Paper given at the 10th annual European Union Studies Association conference in Montreal, Canada, 17-19 May 2007.This paper discusses an sociological explaination as to the extent to which Europeanisation process, among others, have contributed to an increasingly unequal concentration of financial resources among a small number of English football clubs. The impact of the Bosman case is discussed

Platts, Chris

Smith, Andy

English

ChesterRep

24 October) The game that ate itself. The Observer,

31 October) People power key to a fairer contest. The Observer.

7 November) Champions League ‘is killing football’. The Observer,

Banking on success: Examining the links between performance and the increasing concentration of wealth in English elite football. In

Beyond Bosman: The European Union’s influence upon professional athletes’ freedom of movement,

Bosman ‘shook football’. Available at: www.uefa.com.

Competitive balance in football: An update. London: Football Governance Research Centre.

Competitive balance in football: Trends and effects. London: Football Governance Research Centre.

Deloitte and Touche Annual Review of Football Finance

English football,

Football in the new media age.

From boot money to Bosman: Football, society and the law.

Global sport.

Independent European Sport Review.

Involvement and detachment.

It’s time to take on the dangerous elite. The Observer,

Moving with the ball: The migration of professional footballers.

Network football. In

New directors, customers, and fans: The transformation of English football in the 1990s,

Shifting balances of power in the new football economy. In

Sport matters: Sociological studies of sport, violence and civilization.

Sports law and policy in the European Union: A new approach. Manchester:

The beautiful game? Searching for the soul of football.

The Development of Financial Inequalities in English Professional Football: A Figurational Analysis. Unpublished MSc. Thesis.

The end of the terraces: The transformation of English football in the 1990s. Leicester:

The financial crisis in European football: An introduction,

The globalisation of ‘bad’ management practice: The three points for a win reform in soccer,

The Norbert Elias reader.

The work of professional football. A labour of love?

Europeanisation, Bosman and the financial 'crisis' in English professional football: some sociological comments

[From the introduction]. During the last two decades there has been growing concern over what has been described as the financial ‘crisis’ in English football. This is not just a media-inspired view, but one that has emanated increasingly from within the football authorities in England, government ministers and others within the professional game following the formation of the Premier League in 1992. It is also a view that has come to be expressed – particularly in light of the financial management of clubs before and after the introduction of the Bosman ruling in 1995 – about the financial position of football clubs elsewhere in Europe, such as Italy, Spain and Germany. Lago, Simmons and Szymanski (2006: 5), for example, have suggested that ‘the imbalance between income and expenditures, and … evidence of rising debt’ serve to ‘demonstrate the possibility of a crisis’ in European professional football. Similarly, the former Chief Executive of UEFA, Lars-Christer Olsson suggests ‘you have clubs now where the turnover is €200m-€300m (£140m-£205m) and they still make a loss. This is very unhealthy, and stupid’. In addition, he argues ‘The growing wealth gap between clubs, and the resulting predictability of the league title race in so many European countries, is a key issue. If left unchecked it will kill off a lot of the interest in football, which depends on unpredictability of outcome to keep fans’ (Olsson, 2006: 16). Set in this context, the objective of this paper is to offer the beginnings of a sociological explanation which highlights the extent to which Europeanisation processes, among others, have helped to make a central, though largely unplanned and unforeseen, contribution to the increasingly unequal concentration of financial resources among only a handful of clubs in English professional football. More specifically, by drawing upon aspects of figurational sociology and focusing, in particular, upon the differential interdependencies or relational networks in which football clubs are located, we shall argue that these processes can be explained in terms of the outcomes of the complex combination of intended and unintended consequences of dynamic networks of human relations which are lengthening and becoming more complex on both a European and global scale before analysing the correlative emergence of the Europeanisation process and some of the consequences this has had for professional football in England

Platts, Chris,

Smith, Andy.

Archive of European Integration

Europeanisation, Bosman and the Financial ‘Crisis’ in English Professional Football: Some Sociological Comments

Abridged version of a conference paper given at the 10th annual European Union Studies Association conference in Montreal, Canada, 17-19 May 2007.This paper discusses an sociological explaination as to the extent to which Europeanisation process, among others, have contributed to an increasingly unequal concentration of financial resources among a small number of English football clubs. The impact of the Bosman case is discussed

Europeanisation, Bosman and the financial 'crisis' in English professional football: Some sociological comments

https://chesterrep.openrepository.com/bitstream/10034/11877/8/platts%26smith.pdf

Europeanisation, Bosman and the financial 'crisis' in English professional football: some sociological comments

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

ChesterRep

Archive of European Integration

ChesterRep

Archive of European Integration