Highlights
- Warned against reckless spending post-promotion to prevent financial issues in case of relegation.
- Huge potential financial boost in Premier League through increased revenue and tourism.
- Attracting top players possible, but risk of losing talent due to bigger clubs always watching.
Football finance expert Kieran Maguire has sent a warning to Ipswich Town ahead of their potential promotion to the Premier League.
Kieran Maguire sends Premier League warning to Ipswich
Maguire has urged Town not to go all out with their spending, if they get promoted to the Premier League, in case of potential relegation back to the second tier.
Speaking on BBC Radio Suffolk, the University of Liverpool’s sports finance specialist said, via EADT: “We’ve seen a few clubs historically go up, spend a fortune, it’s not worked out and then they’ve crashed and burned back to the Championship.
“All of a sudden, you’ve got players who are on contracts worth £40,000 or £50,000 a week. Yes, they’ve probably taken a minor cut in terms of relegation clauses, but you’re having to pay Premier League wages back in the Championship.
“That can take a huge hit to the club’s finances.
“Getting the decisions right is absolutely essential. You’ve got to have a long-term strategy, and of course, the nature of football is that 10 days is a long, long time because you’ve got three potential fixtures then.
“If they’re three victories or three defeats, they can have a huge impact in terms of promotion and relegation and so on.
“Having a board who are in line in thinking with the manager as to the strategy of the club to, first of all, establish yourself in the Premier League and then push on from there, is absolutely critical.”
One boost that Ipswich would have financially, upon a seemingly likely promotion, would be the massive increase in revenue from broadcasting rights that they would receive.
Being in the Premier League would not only bring a massive boost to Ipswich Town, the football club, but also Ipswich, the town.
“If we take a look at Ipswich’s accounts last year, they generated £21 million of income,” Maguire added. “That’s likely to come up to about £30 million this year with the enhanced TV deal you get in the Championship.
“If you then compare them to the bottom side in the Premier League, which was Southampton last season, Southampton generated just under £140 million. We’re talking a four, four and a half times boost to income.
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“You’ve then got all of the ancillary benefits in terms of tourism, you’ve got vox pops coming from TV stations all around the world.
“Brighton did an economic impact report last season which showed that being in the Premier League brought £600 million of benefits to the broader economy of the town or city.
“The Premier League is exported to 197 different countries around the world. The TV deals are amazing, the level of commitment from overseas fans who are just as desperate to watch Premier League matches as we are domestically is huge.
“Therefore, if you are hosting the world champions Manchester City or a club of the calibre of Liverpool or Chelsea or Arsenal, that does bring additional attention.
“Local chambers of commerce, hospitality, industry locally, because you’ll be having international fans coming to Ipswich who wouldn’t necessarily have come before. All of that can give a significant boost to the local economy.”
The football finance expert also believes that Town will have the pulling power to attract players that may otherwise have been going to some of the top teams in the leagues outside of the big five ones in England, France, Italy, Germany and Spain.
But he added that being in the top flight of English football will come with issues for the club too.
“Ipswich will have a bigger budget than every team in Belgium, probably every team in the Netherlands bar the likes of Ajax and so on,” expressed Maguire.
“I think they’ll be able to be very competitive because of the success of the Premier League.
“A club that has been promoted is able to pay a level of wage and is able to go and commit to the transfer market, which effectively outpaces every other club in Europe with the exception of what you might refer to as the ‘senior teams’, the clubs who are regularly appearing in the Champions League and the Europa League and so on.
“It does mean that you can attract good players. Of course, if they then prove themselves in the Premier League, you then have accept that there will always be eyes enviously watching – whether that’s Kieran McKenna, whether that’s someone that you sign or whether that’s someone who comes through your youth ranks.”
A lot of things have to go right for you to win promotion, no matter what team you are. But it does feel like Ipswich can become like Brighton and Brentford, who have made themselves into top flight regulars through a sustainable model and good coaching.
A lot of that success in the top flight, providing they don’t lose to Huddersfield Town on Saturday, or Leeds United don’t beat Southampton, could come down to their manager, who is attracting a lot of attention, and the nature of the beast of the Premier League is that the big teams pick off the best bits from those below them.
Ipswich still have a job to do this weekend. They can’t go into the match feeling all good about themselves and then get caught out by a Terriers squad that will be looking to ruin the party on their way down. One point is all they need, but they have to go about it in the way that they usually have done: on the front foot.
If they do get themselves over the line, and are able to build on their current core, plus maybe get some of their impressive loanees back permanently, then they could become a staple of the Premier League in double quick time.