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R E M O N T A D AR E MR E M O N TO N T A D AA D Asince 2026.the entertainment magENGLISH FOOTBALL CULTUREENGLISH FOOTBALL CULTUREENGLISH FOOTBALL CULTUREENGLISH FOOTBALL CULTUREISSUE 6 16-19 OCTOBER 2026 ISSUE 6 16-19 OCTOBER 2026 ISSUE 6ISSUE 6ISSUE 6
BUILT ON BILLIONSBUILT ON BILLIONSBroadcasting and global audiences transform football into a billion- pound entertainment industry.06.WHEN MONEY TALKSWHEN MONEY TALKSOwnership strategies and spending shape recruitment, squad stability, and sporting success.08.FEATURESA DELICATE BALANCEA DELICATE BALANCE16.17.THE LAST WORDTHAT'S A WRAPPRICED OUTPRICED OUTRising costs threaten supporters’ access, affordability, and traditional matchday experiences.10.WHO GETS A SAY?WHO GETS A SAY?Ownership structures determine accountability, decision-making power, and supporters’ influence over clubs.12.ABOUT USABOUT US17.CONTENTSCONTENTSTHE FOOTBALL INDUSTRYTHE FOOTBALL INDUSTRY04.UPFRONTUPFRONT
rom a sport that connects communities and represents collective identity, English football has evolved into a major global industry thatTHE FOOTBALL INDUSTRYFgenerates massive profits. The domestic sporting competition has become a commercial asset forENGLISH FOOTBALL CULTURE 4 REMONTADA ISSUE 06 UPFRONT
English football, generating substantial commercial value from broadcast and sponsorship deals and the consumer market. This transformation raises an open question for English football: Can the game keep developing as a business without distancing itself from the communities, identities, and loyalties that gave it meaning in the first place?5 UPFRONT ENGLISH FOOTBALL CULTURE REMONTADA ISSUE 06
Football is no longer a sport played on Saturday afternoons. It has become a global entertainmentbusiness, combining rich sporting heritage, fierce competition, and a worldwide following into a highly marketable product. At the centre of this transformation stands the Premier League, whose commercial success has made English football a familiar spectacle far beyond the country’s borders.Broadcasting deals are central to this success. Television companies pay enormous sums for the right to show Premier League matches, generating revenues that extend beyond ticket sales and merchandise. These deals provide clubs with substantial financialsupport, allowing them to invest in players, facilities, and youth development. Importantly, broadcasting revenue is shared across the league, meaning smaller clubs also benefit rather than leaving the financial rewards entirely to title contenders. This helps maintain the competition’s appeal while strengthening the league as a whole.BUILT ON BILLIONSENGLISH FOOTBALL CULTUREENGLISH FOOTBALL CULTURE 6 REMONTADA ISSUE 06 FEATUREFEATURE
FEATURE ENGLISH FOOTBALL CULTUREBeyond television, the Premier League’s global following makes it attractive to sponsors and investors. International audiences give brands access to millions of potential customers, while clubs build their own commercial identities through merchandise, partnerships and overseas fan communities. Football is no longer just about what happens on the pitch; it has become an entertainment industry that connects sport with media, marketing and global consumer culture.However, this growth also comes with a trade-off. Matches are increasingly scheduled to suit broadcasters and viewers across different time zones, sometimes making it harder for local fans to follow. And that’s when the problem begins. Football’s popularity brings profits, talent, and opportunities, but it can also put off local fans’ needs for commercial interests. For many supporters, going to a match is beyond seeking the thrill. It’s about the sense of belonging and connection, supporting their community and sharing traditions passed down through generations.The Premier League does not have to choose between making money and respecting its roots. But as the business keeps growing, it needs to remember one thing: the billions may keep football running, but the fans are what make it matter.
WHEN MONEY TALKS WHEN MONEY TALKSMoney has long proved its pivotal role in many aspects of life, especially in sports, yet in modern English football,financial power can shape almost every decision a club makes, ranging from who it signs to how it builds the squad and future plans. Investment can provide the resources to recruit elite players, improve infrastructure and compete for trophies, but money itself does not guarantee success. What truly matters is how the capital is deployed, what sporting priorities it serves, and whether a club can turn spending into a coherent and sustainable team.INVESTMENT INTO GLORY INVESTMENT INTO GLORYGLORYGLORYTHE ABRAMOVICH ERAWhen investment became silverwareChelsea offers an impeccable case to strengthen the argument. Under Roman Abramovich, heavy financial backing advocated an investment-led pursuit of sporting success, transforming Chelsea into a major force in English and European football. Nonetheless, after the shift of ownership, Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital adopted a markedly different approach to recruitment and squad building, involving enormous spending. Yet spending at such a scale did not automatically produce stability. Frequent managerial changes and difficulties in maintaining squad balance raised a bigger question: does more money necessarily mean better football?FEATURE 8 REMONTADA ISSUE 06
Chelsea explicitly illustrates the mutual association between money and the way it is invested. Different investment strategies create different pressures on recruitment, financial management, managerial continuity and long-term planning. A club may spend heavily yet struggle to translate that investment into consistent results. Conversely, its commercial strength can remain powerful even when its sporting performance falters, forming a gap between the club as a global brand and a club as a football institution. Money, hereby, begins to change the meaning of the game. Who is investing may matter, but how they utilise that power matters more. Beneath each transfer, ambitious projects or navigating cooperation determine a set of priorities, reshaping what happens on the pitch and how the club is run. In football, money can buy possibilities, but it cannot buy a team that works.SPENDING WITHOUT CERTAINTY SPENDING WITHOUT CERTAINTYCERTAINTYCERTAINTYTHE BOEHLY-CLEARLAKE ERATHE BOEHLY-CLEARLAKE ERAFEATURE CHELSEA MANAGERS SINCE 2022 OWNERSHIP UNDER BLUECO CHELSEA MANAGERS SINCE 2022 OWNERSHIP UNDER BLUECO
Attending football matches, for generations, is a ritual where supporters sustain family traditions, expresslocal identity and strengthen their connection to a club. Nevertheless, the more this game becomes commercialised, the more clubs seek revenue from tickets, stadium experiences and merchandise, making traditional forms of supporter participation more costly. Developing stadium infrastructure and commercial expansion, which ensure long-term financial stability in the future, may also put greater pressure to exploit greater returns from matchgoing supporters.Through its move from Highbury to the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal serves as a substantial example of an English club adapting to commercialisation. Opened in 2006, the new home ground provided greater capacity and modern facilities, leading to opportunities for earning increased revenue from matchdays and even long-term financial growth.A BIGGER STADIUMA BIGGER BUSINESSENGLISH FOOTBALL CULTUREFEATURE 10 REMONTADA ISSUE 06
The tension between club’s revenue and fans spreads across English football. Ticket prices, hospitality packages, merchandise and premium stadium experiences have played a significant role in generating revenue, while the willingness of supporters is increasingly considered an eternal capacity to pay. Since it becomes more expensive to follow the team, younger fans and those with limited incomes may feel excluded from the tradition they contribute to. This contradiction illustrates a bitter reality: Loyalty can actually be seen as a commodity to monetise, and belonging risks becoming a privilege reserved for those who can afford it.However, that strategy required a remarkable investment and left Arsenal in substantial long-term debt. The club’s commitment to financial self-sufficiency subsequently limited its potential to compete with wealthier rivals on transfer market, particularly Manchester City and Chelsea. The tension grew visible in 2011, when they sold Cesc Fàbregas (to Barca), Samir Nasri and Gaël Clichy (to Man City), while the club announced a 6.5% increase in standard ticket prices for the following season. For Gooners, watching key players leave while ticket prices rose fuelled frustration over the club’s declining competitiveness. Their loyalty remained a dependable source of revenue, but their expectations of sporting success went unmet.DOES BELONGING HAVE A PRICE?
MAN UNITED UNDER THE GLAZER FAMILYOver time, commercialisation has turned English football clubs from community assets into investment assets, increasingly drivenby the interests of owners and investors. After taking over a club, the owners and investors hold considerable influence over the financial strategy, senior appointments, and both sporting and commercial direction. This authority risks accelerating deep conflict when owners prioritise financial interests over the long-term benefit of the club and its community. Compared with ownership models of other football contexts that give supporters a more direct role in club governance, the dominant private ownership structures in English football can leave supporters, whose loyalty and collective identity helped build a club’s value, with increasingly limited influence over its future.Manchester United could be considered the most extreme case study of the conflict between the owners’ direction and its community. Taking over the club in 2005, the Glazer family used a leveraged buyout method, placing the debt associated with the buyout into the club's financial structure and leaving Man United liable for significant loan repayments throughout their ownership. The contradiction isENGLISH FOOTBALL CULTUREFEATURE 12 REMONTADA ISSUE 06
visually depicted through more than a decade of inconsistent sporting performance after Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013; the club has remained one of football's most valuable brands with the ability to generate substantial commercial revenue. That financial strength has not been used efficiently; years of underinvestment with repeated transfer-market misjudgments, managerial instability, and degrading facilities have left their supporters disappointed. ForGovernance models in other football contexts offer different mechanisms for supporter representation. Spanish clubs such as Real and Barca follow a member-owning model, while German clubs such as Bayern and BvB follow the 50+1 framework, which generally preserves majority voting control for the club members. All these offer mechanisms for supporters to vote andexercise oversight. Though no model is immune from commercial pressures, meaningful supporter representation and accountability will determine how effective owners' decisions are. Finally, the standout question is not who owns the club but whether those who are running the club will have a responsible say in the future and whether the decision-makers will be kept accountable.TOP 10 CLUBS BY REVENUE 2026many Manucians, the Glazers’ ownership is forcing the club to sacrifice for short-term financial gain rather than the club’s long- term sporting and cultural interests. Man United, therefore, portrays the human cost of commercialisation, where a club continue exploiting profit from its heritage while failing to equally protect it.13REMONTADA ISSUE 06
A DELICATE BALANCEWhen financial interests overshadow the sense of community, loyalty and heritage that help keep this game alive, profit risks becoming a measure of value rather than a product of those values. English football can continue to thrive commercially, but not if it becomes a game driven by money at the expense of everything that makes it “more than a game”. When financial interests overshadow the sense of community, loyalty and heritage that help keep this game alive, profit risks becoming a measure of value rather than a product of those values. English football can continue to thrive commercially, but not if it becomes a game driven by money at the expense of everything that makes it “more than a game”.ENGLISH FOOTBALL CULTURE 14 REMONTADA ISSUE 06 THE LAST WORD
This series began with a simple notion of football culture in England - more than a game. English football was never confined to what happened on the pitch, but about the people, places and memories that gave it meaning. To understand it was to ask what it meant to be born a supporter, or how football is experienced through the rituals of belonging, and how the English media act as the storytellers, shaping the narratives through which generations came to understand the game from outside the pitch. No culture exists without contradictions. This sport unites individuals through passion, but it can also divide them through the dark side of passion: hostility, prejudice, and violence. As football evolves into a global entertainment industry, the game for sale forces fans to confront what happens when commercial interests begin to reshape the very culture they are supposed to be built on. Across 6 chapters, one thing remains clear: English football culture is not merely a sport to be watched, consumed or remembered. Those who live it continually make and recreate it. Its future may look different from its past, but its meaning will always depend on the people who carry it forward. This series began with a simple notion of football culture in England - more than a game. English football was never confined to what happened on the pitch, but about the people, places and memories that gave it meaning. To understand it was to ask what it meant to be born a supporter, or how football is experienced through the rituals of belonging, and how the English media act as the storytellers, shaping the narratives through which generations came to understand the game from outside the pitch. No culture exists without contradictions. This sport unites individuals through passion, but it can also divide them through the dark side of passion: hostility, prejudice, and violence. As football evolves into a global entertainment industry, the game for sale forces fans to confront what happens when commercial interests begin to reshape the very culture they are supposed to be built on. Across 6 chapters, one thing remains clear: English football culture is not merely a sport to be watched, consumed or remembered. Those who live it continually make and recreate it. Its future may look different from its past, but its meaning will always depend on the people who carry it forward. LÊ GIA HUY 2457010073 THAT'S A WRAP NGUYỄN VIẾT VINH 2457010239 VŨ ĐÌNH HƯNG 2457010066 Ideas / Concept Content Writer Content Editor Content Writer Content Writer Proofreading AI CONTRIBUTIONS CONTENT: Topic analysis · Episode/Issue arrangement LANGUAGE: Translation · Grammar checking · English editing RESEARCH: Keyword exploration · Source identification · Fact-checking VISUALS: Image restoration (restoring, enhancing & upscaling) ------------ All AI-assisted results were reviewed, edited and selectively incorporated by our team. The group takes responsibility for the final content, sources and design. [1] - Premier League. (2025, May 13). Premier League broadcast deals for 2025–2028. [2] - Hytner, D. (2011, May 3). Arsenal ticket price rise shows it is ‘out of touch’, say supporters. The Guardian. [3] - Stephenson, W. (2025, June 6). How the Glazer family cost Manchester United £1.2bn. BBC Sport. [4] - Steinberg, J. (2023, February 1). Big money, long contracts: will Chelsea’s plan to disrupt transfer market pay off? The Guardian. REFERENCES 15REMONTADA ISSUE 06 [5] - Real Madrid C. F. (2025, November 23). Florentino Pérez, on the proposed statutory reform: “We want all 100,000 members to be active guardians of our patrimony.” [6] - Deloitte. (2026, January 22). Deloitte Football Money League 2026: Driving home advantage. [7] - Bundesliga. (n.d.). Explaining the Bundesliga’s 50+1 rule. LÊ ĐỨC BÌNH 2457010029
R E M O N T A D AR E MR E M O N TO N T A D AA D Asince 2026.the entertainment magSCAN/CLICK FOR FLIPBOOK VERSION