AS someone close to me once said: “I used to be an accountant, but I’m OK now.”
There is a stigma surrounding the industry – one of boredom.
However, as money continues to play an increasingly important role in the sport of football, avid watchers of the game have become more intrigued in their club’s books and balance sheets.
What began with Roman Abramovich’s purchase of Premiership outfit Chelsea in 2003, continued with Sheikh Mansour, who bought Manchester City in 2008 and most recently Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, who took the reins of Newcastle in 2021.
Football has grown into big business and the author of the book The Price of Football, and co-host of a podcast of the same name, has tapped into the recent public interest surrounding the topic.
Kieran Maguire is a self-confessed “failed accountant” who has taught the subject since 1989.
In a bid to make his class slightly more exciting for a group of teenagers, Maguire frequently used football as an example to teach the topic.
He said: “I’ve always used football clubs as a ‘Trojan horse’ for communicating and explaining the finances of business. Because ultimately a football club is a business.
“It became a wonderful way for me to encourage my students to dig deeper into the world of finance and become forensic in their analysis.
“My teaching has been exclusively in the cities of Manchester and Liverpool, two massive footballing cities, which increased my interest in the intricate workings of football finance.”
The academic supplemented his income advising people at an investment bank, who had recently graduated and were moving into the next step of their professional careers.
They say that timing is everything and, for Maguire, those words rang true during his time at the bank.
It just so happened that the bank were advising the Glazer family in relation to their acquisition of Manchester United.
The takeover was big news in the sporting world, given Manchester United’s global presence.
When the BBC phoned his university to ask if anyone could explain the situation, Maguire proved the perfect candidate, as a “medium fish, in a small pond”.
He added: “The university said to the BBC, ‘We have this idiot, and all he does is talk about football, when he’s supposed to be teaching finance.
“He’s your guy.’
“I was wheeled onto the sofa at the BBC and managed to not make a fool out of myself.
“From there, I became somewhat of a figure that was called upon for finance news in football.
“I’m now doing somewhere in the region of 800 interviews a year. It is incredible how finance has expanded as a topic and I just happened to be very well placed to discuss the happenings within football clubs.
“Being a medium fish in a small pond has its advantages.
“I became obsessive over the subject, with spreadsheets built on every club that’s been in the Premiership since 1992.
“Part of teaching finance well is being able to make complicated financial arrangements understandable.
“Football became an effective way of portraying that.”
Since then, Maguire has moved into the podcast and book industries.
Given his close connection with the BBC, he was approached with the idea of whether a football finance podcast could work.
About 400 episodes and 100 million downloads would suggest that the concept stuck.
Maguire and comedian Kevin Day co-host the show, with the latter able to bring a light-hearted side to an otherwise bland topic.
One of the many clubs that have made an appearance on The Price of Football podcast is Jersey Bulls.
“We have analysed so many clubs, from Manchester United, to Lincoln City, to Jersey Bulls,” Maguire added.
“Every fan is equally important and has an innate relationship within football.
“The Bulls are a very unique case within the football pyramid.
“They are forced to punch above their weight, as the rules are stacked against them to a certain extent.
“Geographically, being an offshore team carries a significant number of challenges.The club are required to pay for the travel of opposition teams and shoulder a cost that few teams have to suffer.
“I have a huge admiration for the club and even own a Jersey Bulls shirt.
“Located in an offshore financial services hub, it does open the door to generate more revenue from the commercial and hospitality side than perhaps a club of similar size could not do on the mainland.
“From the area of football finance I am in, it’s a fascinating model to observe.”
The importance of sustaining the Bulls has become even more poignant given the recent demise of Jersey Reds and the loss of the Island’s only professional sports club.
They became the fourth side in just 12 months to fold, following the same fate as London Irish, Wasps and Worcester Warriors.
Maguire believes the dominance of football is partially the issue, coupled with the fact that rugby is relatively new to professionalism.
He continued: “There is an argument that football has perhaps become too dominant.
“I remember growing up that football was a winter sport and cricket was the summer sport.
“But now it’s 12 months football in terms of the attention it’s paid on TV and from the main news publications also.
“Part of the reason is due to the fact only 92 clubs can be in existence at any give time in the football league.
“Clubs get a disproportionate amount of attention based on the actual size of their trading entities.
“What we haven’t seen of late within rugby is the last-minute ‘white knights’ coming in to save the day.
“Rugby is a fantastic sport, but it is still a minority sport.
“The pool of people with the resources to save clubs from going under is much smaller and thus we have seen more perish of late.
“It is also relativity new to professionalism in comparison to football, and that professionalism doesn’t extend to all aspects of the game at board level.
“There does appear to be a degree of naivety in English rugby among those who run the sport from the top.
“From the standpoint of those at the helm of the Bulls, they do need to get creative in the ways they bring money into the club.
“There are clear challenges and barriers, but there is no reason why they cannot flourish under the right leadership and direction.”
Local football fans, with a keen interest on the inner workings of English club football, now have a unique opportunity to listen and interact with Maguire and Day right here in Jersey.
nThe Price of Football Live is coming to the Island on 7 November at the Royal Yacht Hotel, presented by local firm Rock Accounting.
Limited tickets are still available on Eventbrite, as the duo will address all things finance in the world of football, as well as their latest book “Unfit and Improper Persons: An Idiot’s Guide to Owning a Football Club.”
