Researching the Premier League and Championship

I have now begun my research into the top two divisions of English football, the main source I am using for this area is the Deloitte Annual Review of Football Finance 2012 (report highlights). A yearly investigation conducted by the accountants using data collected from football clubs, governing bodies and individuals within the game to give one of the most in depth views of the games financial affairs. In particular this source has enabled me to look clearly at how English Football and the Premier League has changed over the last two decades as well as providing me detailed information on clubs throughout England's top two tiers.

Other sources I have used include news and investigative corporations such as Sporting Intelligence - detailing specific changes on the globalisation of football, The Guardian - where I used their reports to see the debt levels of top clubs to use for my section on the volatility of club's finances, and Football365 to obtain information on attendances, and ground capacities in the league and the changes.

Apart from the news sources and the Deloitte review I have also used two books; There's a golden sky: How twenty years of the Premier League has changed football by Ian Ridley, has given me good background knowledge and has also shown my certain areas I can explore for my project as the book is on a very similar subject. The second book is Pay As You Play: The True Price of Success in the Premier League Era by Graeme Riley - who I also contacted for further data to supplement the incredibly useful statistics in the book which detail exactly how money has lead to a change in the game, and in clubs fortunes.

They have all been very useful and appear trustworthy as they are all well respected sources, and in the cases of the investigative sources further sources are referenced for validity.

Sending Interview

Today I am sending out my interview emails to various experts involved with british football, this will add first hand accounts and view to give a new aspect to my project through new viewpoints.

Dear …

The Premier League has been a key part of English football for the last 20 years, and has bought in billions of pound of revenue in that time. I want to investigate the extent to which that influx of money has changed English football.

A central part of my project will be first hand accounts from experts involved in various aspects of the game.

If you could spare the time it would be a great help to me if you could answer the questions below as it would be a really great help to me and my project.

Do you think the Premier League has been beneficial to the English game as a whole?

From your perspective what have the major impacts of the league been on the English game?

What could have been done differently and where should the Premier League and English football go from here?

Thank you for your time

Nick Moore

The email was sent to  Mike Foster (Premier League), David Miles (Arsenal FC), Johnathan Hill (Kentaro), Chris Birkett (BSkyB), Dan Corry (freelance economist).

Gantt chart for the project

Above is a gantt chart of my planned timeline for my Investigation, this enables me to have a clear frame for my project and ensure I am on track - highlighting if I ever fall behind.

 I aim be in a position to hand in my first draft on the 13th November 2012. 

I've been accepted to do the Extended Project Qualification and this is sorta my diary where I keep a log of everything I do each day - so welcome I guess...

My project title is To What Extent has Money Changed English Football in the Last 25 Years. I want to compare the finances of First Division clubs in 1991 (the year before the inaugural premier league) to the finances of Premier League clubs of this year. I will compare whether the change in financial situation has been beneficial to the clubs and the league as a whole. To do this I think I will use two test clubs (Arsenal FC and Leeds United FC), who were both in the First Division in the 1991/92 season – the final season before the inaugural Premier League to use as representation of the league as a whole.

I will use published financial records from the 1991/92 and 2011/12 seasons for comparison while also looking at how the clubs assets, position and make up of the clubs have changed over the last 25 years.