Manchester City has been named the club with the most revenue of any team in the world as finance experts Deloitte have their updated football rich list for 2023.
The Deloitte Football Money League has been running since 1996/97, when Man City‘s worth was just £12.7 million. However, the six-time Premier League winners raked in a whopping £619.1m in the 2021/22 season alone — more than 50 times that amount.
Published on Thursday, the comprehensive football finance report states that City pipped European giants Real Madrid to the top spot, with Los Blancos sitting in second with £604.5m in revenue last season.
Notably, Liverpool also leapfrogged fierce rivals Manchester United to third place, taking in £594.3m to United’s £583.2m. Elsewhere, Qatari-owned PSG are now bringing in more than the likes of Bayern Munich and Barcelona as well, who previously sat in the top five.
11 of the 20 richest football clubs are based in England. The Premier League's so rich that it can get four relegation-threatened clubs into the top 20. (Deloitte Football Money League 2023) pic.twitter.com/V0vDTxoIPL
As you can see, English clubs still dominate world football’s highest earners, with 11 of the country’s top-flight teams named in the top 20.
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One of the most recent additions to the world football rich list is, obviously, Newcastle United following their recent acquisition by Saudi Arabian owners, ranking 20th with £179.8m in overall revenue compared to £140m from the previous year.
Understandably, the list is heavily European-leaning in general, with other names on the list including iconic continental clubs like Juventus, Inter Milan, AC Milan and Athletico Madrid.
As expected, TV broadcasting rights were responsible for the highest proportion of annual revenue, with the top 20 clubs earning an average of £203m over the course of the financial year.
Commercial sales weren’t far behind on £191m and matchday income such as tickets and concessions made up roughly £68 million of overall revenue.
Overall, the Deloitte Football Money League leaders brought in a combined £7.8 billion over the period, an increase of 13% from the 20/21 season as matchday sales recovered following the pandemic.
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If you ever needed a reminder of how ridiculous the money in football truly is, this will do it.
Details released of Andy Burnham’s meetings with Manchester City owners while Mayor
Emily Sergeant
Details of Andy Burnham’s meetings with Manchester City owners during his tenure as Mayor of Greater Manchester have been released.
In case you need bringing up to speed on the situation a little first, Manchester City was found guilty back in September all of its charges related to the Premier League’s financial rules over a nine-season period, and on top of that, was also found guilty of the majority of charges in relation to its failure to co-operate with the League’s investigation.
According to the Premier League, the independent Commission found that Manchester City had arranged so-called ‘sham’ commercial deals with a number of its sponsors.
These were part of a disguised funding scheme – with those sponsors only required to pay a portion of the relevant sponsorship fees.
The remainder was then funded by Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd (ADUG), which owned the club.
The Commission also concluded, as quoted by the Premier League, that the club had ‘made concerted efforts to stop and frustrate the Premier League investigation’.
Within the past week or so, it has since come to light that now-Prime Minister Andy Burnham had dealings with Manchester City during his tenure as Greater Manchester Mayor, and Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) has now issued a public statement, giving details on the matter and what these ‘dealings’ entailed.
A spokesperson for GMCA confirmed that Burnham had a ‘formal meeting’ with Man City Chairman, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, back in October 2021.
The statement reads in full: “In October 2021, Andy Burnham, in his role as Mayor of Greater Manchester, had a formal meeting with Khaldoon Al Mubarak at the UK Government’s Global Investment Summit arranged by the Department for International Trade.
“In his capacity as Mayor, he was a guest of Manchester City FC at home matches on a small number of occasions, including attending Vincent Kompany’s testimonial match in September 2019, where he met the Chairman informally in the stands. These have been declared in the usual way.
“Also during his time as Mayor, representatives of Greater Manchester sporting clubs would routinely join business delegations as part of Mayoral international visits.
“This included representatives from Manchester United travelling to Austin and Dublin, Lancashire Cricket Club joining a delegation to India, and Manchester City FC staff supporting visits to China and Japan.”
Featured Image – Lauren Hurley / Number 10 Downing Street (Press Image via Flickr)
Sport
Multiple arrests made for ‘tragedy chanting’ and police officer assault as Man City defeated Liverpool
Emily Sergeant
Multiple people were arrested over the weekend as Manchester City defeated Liverpool in a Premier League clash.
Merseyside Police have confirmed that a total of 10 people were arrested during the policing operation at Liverpool’s home ground of Anfield as they hosted Manchester City on Sunday 11 October.
One man was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police constable, five were on suspicion of tragedy chanting, one on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly, two for affray, and one on suspicion of throwing items onto the pitch.
Police are now appealing to the public, and are particularly looking to speak to witnesses of the assault of the officer.
At around 6:35pm, as fans left the stadium, a police officer sustained a ‘serious facial injury’ during the arrest of a man on Anfield Road, and was subsequently taken to hospital for treatment but is now recovering at home.
Investigating officers are now conducting enquiries, speaking to witnesses, and analysing CCTV and camera phone footage.
Chief Inspector Leanne Hobin said it’s ‘extremely disappointing’ that an officer has sustained a serious injury while carrying out their duty.
“I hope the arrests send a clear message and act as a deterrent to others,” Chief Inspector Hobin continued. “Anyone who engages in this abhorrent behaviour risks ending up in custody and getting a criminal record.
“Despite the actions of a few, the overwhelming majority of the 60,000 fans in attendance behaved well and I want to thank them for their co-operation.”
Manchester City ended up defeated Liverpool 3-0 during the Premier League clash at Anfield.
Danny Jones -
19th January 2023 
