The 'Typical' Club?: A Configuration Analysis of Scottish Football Clubs

Abstract

First paragraph: Scottish professional football clubs have been facing and continue to face challenging financial circumstances due to a combination of factors including: changes in the economic structure of European football; increased concentration of media income amongst bigger leagues in larger countries; the Scottish economic context; and poor corporate governance in some clubs. These circumstances have had substantive negative consequences with many clubs running up unsustainable levels of debt, reduced squad sizes, falling attendance levels, cuts in players’ wages and in extreme cases administration or liquidation. Different clubs have adopted different solutions to these problems, some more radical than others. A number of clubs have sought new individual owners with deeper financial pockets to bail them out; some have restructured debt with their banks, which in practice has resulted in large debt write offs; while others have adopted new organisational forms such as Community Interest Companies to bring in new forms of finance and resources. Turning to the supporters was often seen as the last option for directors seeking to rescue a club. But the enthusiastic response of supporters in a number of clubs has led many involved in Scottish football now to view supporter involvement as a positive choice rather than considering supporters as ‘lenders of last resort’. The response of supporters, even in cases of previous wrongdoing by directors, provides strong evidence of the value and importance of football clubs as community assets. Scottish professional football clubs have been facing and continue to face challenging financial circumstances due to a combination of factors including: changes in the economic structure of European football; increased concentration of media income amongst bigger leagues in larger countries; the Scottish economic context; and poor corporate governance in some clubs. These circumstances have had substantive negative consequences with many clubs running up unsustainable levels of debt, reduced squad sizes, falling attendance levels, cuts in players’ wages and in extreme cases administration or liquidation. Different clubs have adopted different solutions to these problems, some more radical than others. A number of clubs have sought new individual owners with deeper financial pockets to bail them out; some have restructured debt with their banks, which in practice has resulted in large debt write offs; while others have adopted new organisational forms such as Community Interest Companies to bring in new forms of finance and resources. Turning to the supporters was often seen as the last option for directors seeking to rescue a club. But the enthusiastic response of supporters in a number of clubs has led many involved in Scottish football now to view supporter involvement as a positive choice rather than considering supporters as ‘lenders of last resort’. The response of supporters, even in cases of previous wrongdoing by directors, provides strong evidence of the value and importance of football clubs as community assets.