ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the English professional football club industry and in doing so highlights the complex business environment in which domestic clubs compete. Questions such as ‘How do clubs make money?’ are addressed within a detailed consideration of shifting revenue sources for clubs in the English Premier League (EPL). In any ‘ordinary’ organisation, philosophical and strategic alignment between all senior executives is a key factor in success. If the workers on the shop floor endorse the vision of the organisation, then head office has a greater chance of fulfilling that vision. But football clubs are not conventional organisations. Success and what defines it for a club is contextualised in this chapter in relation to fans’ expectations, the board and most crucially the club ‘owner’
