As the English football year has come to a finish it is now time to reflect on the state of the English game and where it can be advanced. Quite a few people have had their say on the way the game is run and the way the ‘business of football’ is taking over from the where it must be; on the pitch.

Over the last decade there has been a massive flood of investment into football squads in England. Lots of this investment has been from overseas with good and bad consequences. The well-known ‘top 4’ as they were called (Tottenham have now broken into that spot) are all now under foreign ownership which leads us to suppose that the English game is getting further away from it’s roots and shifting towards a more American system of Franchises. What is meant by this, is that in the American sports system the many sports teams across baseball, basketball, American football and ice hockey have a constant circulation of players, managers and owners. If you look at the line-up for one season it is totally different for the next as there are huge amounts of money concerned when trading players to these Franchises. Though this is not the scary piece, many American Franchises have moved location in order to get more followers and revenue, our own illustration is Wimbledon FC who went from FA Cup winners and regular Division 1 participants to moving their squad to Milton Keynes. Will this become more common?

A lot of Franchises For Sale opportunities are available in America, whoever comes in makes momentous changes and can even move the team to another area of the country if the terms are appropriate. I am not saying that this will happen in England but with the constant big money being spent at the top tier of football, some or most of the smaller squads in the lower leagues may have to look at the decision of moving. Most of these squads are run as a small businesses and cannot compete with the money that is now invested, many are run like a Home Based Franchise, with the smallest outgoings and operating everything in-house.

We found this last year when an owner has not realised their obligations and promises the fans will revolt and try to move the owner on. An example is Newcastle United where the followers were very unhappy with the performances on the pitch and consequently turned on the ownership. The owner did put the club up for sale but could not locate a buyer as the asking price was significantly exaggerated, they have made it back into the premiership and now the teams fortunes may transform. We are now looking at every squad in English football has a price, the same as all the Franchises For Sale choices in America. If the appropriate person with enough money tendered the money for any club then it would be taken.

It now does not make a difference if the owner is foreign its just as long as they have the money. Is this appropriate? The days have gone where you have a so called ‘Home Based Franchise’, where the club is run as a family and everything is dealt with within. The Franchises of America are run in an open marketplace for everyone to see and that is the way we have gone. Is this beneficial for the game in England or have we lost our family orientated game and moved to a more commercial, business game?