How is UK football holding up in the slowdown?
There can be few industries in the world which seem to have held their value and buying power like the UK football sector has over the last few months. Despite being on the brink of the worst recession for decades we are seeing teams spending upwards of £30 million on one player and fans paying ever increasing prices at the gate. How can this be?
When you look at football in the UK there are two main areas, those that have and those that do not, the Premiership is a prime example of a league which has it all, billionaire owners, £100,000+ weekly wages and fans that keep coming through the turnstiles no matter what. Then we have the leagues below the headline grabbing teams, the likes of Oldham Athletic, Carlisle United and other teams which do not have the same catchment area and cannot afford to pay the big wages.
For the lower league teams life is tough and those which have not been run on a strict business model could be in trouble over the next few months. It is no secret that many clubs have received crisis loans from the league to see them through the slump. However, if you cast you mind back to the Icelandic slump, this has forced the Icelandic owners of West Ham to consider selling the club - so maybe the Premiership is not immune from the downturn after all?
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