Safety matches
TOO much money is spent on footballers, said my versatile predecessor Nicholas Davenport, and not enough on football grounds — and the financial structure of the game guarantees it. He worked this out when co-opted onto Sir Norman Chester's inquiry into football, and wrote it into the report. His point is that the clubs have a choice between paying tax and paying transfer fees. If they spend money on the ground, that is a capital expense, and must come out of income on which they have paid corporation tax at 35 per cent. If they spend money on a footballer, that is a trading expense and fully allowed against tax. The clubs are reckoned to have spent £70m on ground improvements over the last 14 years, and the same amount in the transfer market so far this year. Nicholas thought that it would be a better game if the balance of advantage were the other way about. It would be a safer game, too.
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