Portsmouth players still waiting for December wages

Troubled Premier League club Portsmouth have again failed to pay players their December wages, but hope to do so on Wednesday.

Portsmouth have lurched from one financial crisis to another in a troubled season, in which they lie bottom of the league.

Club officials had promised to clear the debt on Tuesday, but a further delay has arisen. The club have now secured a short-term bank loan to pay the players - but they are still completing the necessary paperwork to release the funds

It is the third time the players' wages have been delayed, although the club did pay non-playing staff their December wages on Monday.

On Monday, it was revealed that the Premier League is set to use Portsmouth's share of the latest television monies to pay off the club's debts to other top-flight sides. Chelsea, Tottenham and Watford are all owed money by Pompey and the Premier League will split £7m between them.

The action is allowed within league rules to protect clubs who are owed money from transfers.

And in another blow, the club have been told they will not be able to extend Jamie O'Hara's loan deal from Spurs. The midfielder is due to return to White Hart Lane on 15 January, and with an embargo in place, Pompey cannot re-register him with the Premier League.

Unless another sugar daddy owner appears on the horizon it appears that Portsmouth's stay in the Premier League will end in May, and that this season could have a severe long-term impact on the football club's finances.

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Manchester City owner now wants to buy Real Madrid

Manchester City's owner Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan has been sensationally linked with a billion pound swoop to buy Real Madrid.

According to reports in Spanish newspaper AS (which admitedly does routinely print a load of bullsh!t and acts as a Real Madrid publicity machine), Sheikh Mansour has been prompted to set up a meeting with Real President Florentino Perez early in 2010, and he is reportedly prepared to pay 1 billion euros for the La Liga giants.

The Madrid newspaper, however, say that such a deal would be near impossible because the club would need the permission from their shareholding fans to change its legal statutes, which would then pave the way for any deal to go through.

Real Madrid currently have two of the world's most high profile players in Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo on their books, but had to go into significant debt in order to pay ther transfer fees.

But reports that suggest Sheikh Mansour is willing to take on all the debts and could entice the Real Madrid fans to back the surprise bid.

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Portsmouth deny planning to go into administration

Portsmouth have issued a strongly worded statement denying rumours they are planning to go into financial administration.

Speculation over the club's finances increased after it was revealed last week that the players had been paid late for a second time this season.

A transfer embargo is currently in force because of debts to other clubs and yet Portsmouth desperately need to strengthen the squad in the January transfer window because half a dozen players will be absent at the African Cup of Nations.

More at the BBC Sports website

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SETANTA TV BROADCASTER LIKELY TO COLLAPSE

Setanta faces administration "within days" unless backers provide more funds to pay £30m it owes to the English Premier League, reports have suggested.

The broadcaster has already failed to pay the Scottish Premier League £3m it owes in television rights money. Setanta, which also shows cricket, golf and rugby union, has about 1.2 million subscribers but is losing up to £100m a year, analysts say.

Would-be customers who attempted to subscribe to Setanta through its website were on Tuesday told that it was not possible because of "routine maintenance". Meanwhile anybody trying to subscribe by phone receives a recorded message saying that "The service is temporarily out of order".

A spokesman for Setanta declined to comment on the firm's situation.

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Real Madrid still making the most money in revenue league

Real Madrid remain top of the Deloitte Football Money League in terms of revenue generated for the fourth successive season.

But English clubs dominate the list with seven Barclays Premier League sides are among the top 20.

The Manchester United money men saw last seasons double success increase their revenues to £257m, an increase of £45m on the previous season.

It saw United receive a bumper pay-out in terms of broadcasting revenue while their income from commercial contracts also saw a healthy increase. In addition, sell-out crowds at their 76,200 seater stadium saw matchday revenues grow by a staggering 10 per cent to £101.5m last season, meaning that 39 per cent of their total revenue comes from home games.

Chelsea's overall revenue grew by 12 per cent, largely thanks to a 30 per cent increase in money from broadcasters.

While Arsenal may be sweating in Champions League qualification this season, the move to the Emirates Stadium continues to be a success story.

While there are suggestions that the cost of building the 60,000-seat arena has tied manager Arsene Wenger’s hands in the transfer market, matchday revenue of £94.6m last season, which represents 45 per cent of Arsenal’s total revenue, is difficult to argue against.

Liverpool's need to press ahead with the construction of a new stadium is highlighted by their relatively low matchday revenue figure of £39.2m despite an average crowd at Anfield of 43,500.

Even Tottenham's smaller White Hart Lane home generates more matchday revenue than Anfield, while they, too, have a plans for a new stadium in place. Spurs continue to do well from broadcasting and commercial revenue streams, but the Deloitte survey points out that they must return to the days of challenging for a Champions League place to stand a chance of regaining a top 10 spot.

Manchester City return to the top 20 thanks mainly to the revenue generated by the new broadcast deal and a reviewed ticket price structure, which saw the average gate at Eastlands rise by five per cent, keeping matchday revenue constant at £18.5m.

Deloitte Football Money League - 2007/08 revenue
1 (1) Real Madrid £289.6million
2 (2) Manchester United £257.1m
3 (3) FC Barcelona £244.4m
4 (7) Bayern Munich £233.8m
5 (4) Chelsea £212.9m
6 (5) Arsenal £209.3m
7 (8) Liverpool £167.0m
8 (6) AC Milan £165.8m
9 (11) AS Roma £138.9m
10 (9) Internazionale £136.9m
11 (12) Juventus £132.6m
12 (13) Lyon £123.3m
13 (16) Schalke 04 £117.5m
14 (10) Tottenham £114.8m
15 (15) Hamburg £101.3m
16 (19) Marseille £100.4m
17 (14) Newcastle £99.4m
18 (-) Stuttgart £88.3m
19 (-) Fenerbahce £88.1m
20 (-) Manchester City £82.3m

(previous year in brackets)

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Why bother with the US election? Bookie declares Obama the winner!

The American taxpayers can save money and don't even have to bother holding their presidential election after Irish bookmaker Paddy Power has declared Barack Obama the winner.

After the final presidential debate in New York, bookmaker Paddy Power has decided to pay out on Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States of America.

An initial CNN poll showed 58% thought Mr Obama won the third and final debate of the election, which saw the two candidates sit side-by-side at Hofstra University in Hempstead. Most US political pundits also thought he won the first two.

The move from Paddy Power comes almost three weeks ahead of Election Day on November 4 and sees the bookie paying out in excess of £800,000 to Obama backers after he was backed all the way into 1/9 (1.11).

To date Paddy Power has taken over 10,000 bets on the 2008 US Presidential Election, the majority of which were placed in support on the Illinois Senator over the past 12 months.

Betting support was so strong for Obama that they paid out over £40,000 on his successful nomination as the Democratic Party candidate back in January of this year, seven months before the convention.

Paddy Power said: "We declare this race well and truly over and congratulate all those who backed Obama, your winnings await you.

"Although the Senator seemed a little out of sorts in last night's final debate we believe he has done more than enough to get him across the line on November 4. The overall betting trend has shown one way traffic for Obama since the start of the summer."

If you'd had the foresight to bet on Barrack Obama earlier then you could have cleaned up. Obama started the year 11/2 to make it to the White House and was a massive 50/1 with Paddy Power to be next President back in May of 2005.

It just proves that there is big money in politics.

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Portuguese bank asks investors to bet on interest rate

A Portuguese bank has this week asked savers to bet on the interest rate they'll get for their investment.

In one of the more novel ways of riding out the current banking crisis, a Portuguese bank is trying to entice customers to deposit funds with it, with the level of interest they can earn being determined by the outcome of a bet.

Savers are being encouraged to deposit up to Eur 50,000 each into Banco Best's 60-day deposit account, and to place a bet on the outcome of the US presidential election.

Back the right candidate and the bank will pay out 8% interest on your deposit. If your candidate loses however, so do you, receiving a mere 2% interest instead.

The Obama/McCain deposit account is being offered until November 3rd. The initiative comes at a time when European governments are scrambling to guarantee bank deposits in order to calm investor fears during the deepening global banking crisis, and the Portuguese bank hopes to secure an additional Eur 10 million in deposits through the promotion.

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Liverpool get approval for new stadium - to open in 2011

Liverpool have been given the go-ahead for their new 60,000-seater stadium by the planning committe of the local council.

The new stadium to be built in Stanley Park is scheduled to open in August 2011 and will feature an 18,500-seat single tier stand for the Kop, which holds Liverpool's most vocal supporters. The current Kop seats 13,500.

The design is the third version of the plan. The original plans were discarded when Tom Hicks and his now-estranged business partner George Gillett were unimpressed by the design they inherited when they bought the club last year, and the second, more ambitious, scheme had to be scaled down due to rising costs.

In January the American sports tycoons completed a £350m refinancing package on the loan used to purchase the club and £60m was earmarked for the stadium. But Hicks, whose feud with Gillett has plunged the club into turmoil, said last month that he was still working with investment bank Merrill Lynch on raising the finances.

In recent years Liverpool have been left behind financially as rivals Manchester United expanded Old Trafford to seat 76,000 and Arsenal moved from 38,000-seat Highbury into 60,000-seat Emirates Stadium in July 2006.

Builing work on the new stadium will not begin on the project before September 2008.

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Manchester Utd losing it off the pitch

Manchester United will probably win probable second successive Premier League title and will take part in a Champions League final, but the club's accounts show a significantly bleaker picture of the club's finances.

Under the ownership of the Florida-based Glazer family, all the borrowings have been loaded onto ManYoo PLC and total loans now stand at a massive £666m by far the highest of any English football club, ever.

The total owed to all creditors, including the banks, was up to £764m and includes £56m that United owe to other clubs in transfer fee instalments on players Sir Alex Ferguson has signed.

When the United headline results were announced back in January, it was said that it produced record income of £210m and operating profits of £75m. But the full accounts show, that even though United made a further £11m profit from buying and selling players, the interest and other accounting provisions pushed United into recording an overall loss of £58m for the year!

The total interest payable by the club on its borrowings was £81m, although only £42m was actually paid. The rest is allowed to roll up until the whole amount has to be repaid in 2016, or, alternatively, until the Glazers can refinance it.

A total of £152m is currently owed to hedge funds, at a staggering 14.25% interest a year - £22m of that from 2007-08 alone. Last year the Glazers tried to refinance but were unable to strike a deal with financial institutions, and a spokesman acknowledged that the credit crunch is making it more difficult now.

Before the Glazer family's 2005 takeover, United prided itself on being the only Premier League club regularly to make a significant profit, to have cash in the bank and, unlike all the others, no debts.

The accounts also reveal that by far the highest proportion of income, £92.5m, is still generated on home match days, and although the club has announced more modest ticket price rises for next season than for the previous two, supporters groups continue to protest that they are paying the debts of a takeover they opposed.

"It is outrageous that supporters are paying the huge interest on these borrowings, which are worrying for the club's future," said Sean Bones of the Manchester United Supporters Trust. "Our money is pouring out to pay the Glazers, while they have not put a penny into the club."

A spokesman for the Glazer family pointed to the club's success on the field, and in generating income off it, as evidence of the family's competent management. "The family continue to run United as a business," he said. "Their model is to encourage success on the pitch by backing Sir Alex Ferguson, and to grow revenues off it. The interest payments are more than covered by the cash generated."

This amount of debt is incredible, the numbers being bandied about are like telephone numbers, and when you consider that Arsenal's stadium cost £360m to purchase all the land and construct then the total debt of £764m at United is obviously not backed by physical assets.

This could all end in tears if the TV money stops coming in ...

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