Top Menu

Are Mid-season Acquisitions Good Business for Sports Teams?

It’s been quite a hectic few days in the latest transfer window of the English Premier League (EPL). As I write this post, it is still transfer deadline day in England and rumors of players switching clubs in the remaining last few hours are dominating the sports headlines.

The transfer commanding the most headlines has been the move of Spaniard and World Cup winning striker Fernando Torres from Liverpool FC to the London club Chelsea for£50m. This represents a British record transfer fee and occurs even after champions Chelsea reported a £70.9m loss for the year to June 2010. Andy Carroll has also signed for Liverpool from Newcastle United for £35m, making him the most expensive English player in the history of the game.

The Merseyside club now owned by John Henry of the New England Sports Ventures and Boston Red Sox, has been extremely active in the transfer window and has also confirmed the signature of Uruguayan star Luis Suarez from Dutch club Ajax for £22.7m.

These moves and the cash sums involved raise the question: are these mid-season transfers good business for the clubs – or merely a knee-jerk reaction and a panic stricken measure by owners, coaches and managers to resurrect their seasons and careers?

Sports economist Stefan Szymanski and sports writer Simon Kuper write, in their book Why England lose and Other Curious Football Phenomena, that there is a lack of economic rationality and emotional intelligence in soccer. The book is soccer’s equivalent to Michael Lewis’ MoneyBall, which looks at the inefficiencies in the market for baseball players. Szymanski and Kuper argue that the transfer market is full of obvious irrationalities and claim that clubs pay too much for teenagers and too much for recent stars of international tournaments (the transfer of Suarez may prove them right here – time will tell). They also state that certain nationalities become fashionable without any rational basis.

With a recent EPL game played on January 23rd between Blackburn Rovers and West Bromich Albion featuring 22 different nationalities in the 27 players used, it is anyone’s guess as to which nationality is currently in vogue.

Above all, soccer clubs, unlike multinational companies in other industries, do not due their due diligence before opening their checkbooks to strengthen their work force. They do not adequately assess a player’s likely development or their fit for a certain culture. This oversight, in many cases, leads to the transfer being an inevitable failure for both player and club.

So, if many transfers are not rational are they still good for business? In another book, Pay As You Play: The True Price of Success in the Premier League Era, Paul Tomkins, Graeme Riley and Gary Fulcher analyze soccer transfers in detail and look at whether success can be bought in the EPL. They conclude that, in most cases, it can.

Converting all transfer fees since 1992 into modern prices (which they call Current Transfer Purchase Price – CTPP), the authors are able to evaluate manager and team performance by calculating “cost per point”, or “£XI”. The £XI term represents the average cost of the XI (11 player team) over the course of the season with prices at CTPP. From there, how many pounds had to be spent to win a Premier League point can be determined.

While I won’t go into any more detail on the analytics, the results are interesting.  In the 18 seasons to date, the team with the highest  £XI has won the league ten times and of the other eight, four went to the second-most expensive team.  Success, it seems, can be bought.

The book also reveals the top 10 worst value for money players. The names speak for themselves – well they don’t, in fact, as you probably won’t remember them! Heading the list is Per Kroldrup, the Danish defender who signed for Everton FC in 2005 for a transfer fee of £5m.  Before making his first start, Kroldrup suffered a groin injury, and ended up making just one solitary performance for the Toffees.  According to the analytics in the book, his CTPP per game was a staggering £9,123,766.

At that price, Torres looks a definite bargain.

###

Image by ryusha

Image by rodfather

, , , , , , , , , , ,

2,416 Responses to Are Mid-season Acquisitions Good Business for Sports Teams?

  1. GTA 5 money July 24, 2014 at 10:04 am #

    The good side is that you can easily find a good manufacturer
    from the internet. To start Just Business, walk into a red marker in front of Smoke’s house.
    Download Now : Requirement:* OS: Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7 * CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo
    2.

  2. window blind July 24, 2014 at 10:45 am #

    Hi there friends, how is everything, and what you wish
    for to say on the topic of this article, in my view its truly amazing
    for me.

  3. ของเล่นญี่ปุ่น July 24, 2014 at 11:23 am #

    Undeniably believe that which you stated. Your favorite justification appeared
    to be on the net the simplest thing to be aware of. I say to you,
    I definitely get annoyed while people consider worries that they plainly do not know about.
    You managed to hit the nail upon the top as well as defined out the
    whole thing without having side-effects , people can take a
    signal. Will likely be back to get more. Thanks

  4. Great blog here! Also your web site loads up fast!
    What host are you using? Can I get your affiliate link to your host?
    I wish my website loaded up as quickly as yours
    lol

  5. angry birds star wars 2 cheats codes ipad July 24, 2014 at 7:09 pm #

    I was suggested this website by my cousin. I am not sure whether this post is written by him as nobody else know such detailed about
    my trouble. You’re wonderful! Thanks!

  6. exclusive bridal accessories July 24, 2014 at 7:51 pm #

    Greetings! I know this is kinda off topic but I’d figured I’d ask.
    Would you be interested in exchanging links or maybe guest autghoring
    a blog artocle or vice-versa? My site covers a lot of the same subjects as yours and I believe we could greatly benefitt from eah other.
    If you happen to be interested feel frwe to send mme aan e-mail.
    I look forwardd to hearing from you! Grewat blog by the way!

  7. jordans free shipping July 25, 2014 at 6:22 pm #

    Pretty! This was a really wonderful post. Many thanks for supplying this
    info.

  8. gaia.istoikona.net July 25, 2014 at 7:04 pm #

    This piece of writing gives clear idea in support of the new
    people of blogging, that in fact how to do running
    a blog.

  9. สกรีนเสื้อ July 25, 2014 at 8:12 pm #

    I am really loving the theme/design of your website. Do you ever
    run into any browser compatibility issues? A small number of my blog visitors have complained about my blog not operating correctly in Explorer but looks great in Opera.
    Do you have any tips to help fix this issue?

  10. painkiller addictions July 26, 2014 at 5:44 pm #

    Attractive portion of content. I simply stumbled upon your web site and in accession capital
    to say that I get actually loved account your blog
    posts. Any way I’ll be subscribing on your augment or even I success you get right of entry to persistently fast.

  11. Nike free runners men July 26, 2014 at 6:07 pm #

    Hello! I could have sworn I’ve been to your blog before but after going through a few of the
    posts I realized it’s new to me. Anyhow, I’m definitely pleased I stumbled
    upon it and I’ll be book-marking it and checking back frequently!

  12. Glenn McGee July 26, 2014 at 10:28 pm #

    So, my advice if you decided to take this book on: Slow down, think it through, make it meaningful.

    Meanwhile, celebrity scientist Thomas Kurton (think a more suave, dashing version of Richard Dawkins) is studying how particular genes and
    their interactions can result in traits like happiness or generosity — far beyond the conventional
    notion of genes affecting only height, or weight, or risk for certain disease.
    The only things the two councils have in common is exploring stem cells and protecting human subjects in research.

  13. x men przeszłość któRa nadejdzie July 26, 2014 at 11:02 pm #

    Henry Wallace suggested that a new dollar coin should be
    created to show the Great Seal of the Egyptian Pyramid and the
    eye of God. JB: I actually was away when the movie premiered at New York’s Ziegfeld Theater.

    They felt lighter and easier to hit than normal, and that was after
    practicing with the Medicus Driver for only a few
    minutes.

  14. KB Properties July 26, 2014 at 11:30 pm #

    Adding in decorations such as paintings, statues, and of course foliage
    will help to make it more appealing for Sims to want to visit the lot.
    If you have many clients come to your company, you should make sure whether there
    is enough parking. Also, real estate agents should be willing to work weekends.

  15. Anitra July 27, 2014 at 1:52 am #

    Hi my family member! I wish to say that this post is awesome, nice written and come with almost all vital
    infos. I’d like to see extra posts like this .

  16. Everette July 27, 2014 at 2:24 am #

    We’re a group of volunteers and starting a new scheme in our community.
    Your website provided us with valuable info to work on.
    You’ve done a formidable job and our whole community will be grateful to you.

  17. http://www.chansonlounge.com July 27, 2014 at 6:50 am #

    My brother suggested I may like this website.
    He used to be entirely right. This post truly made my day. You can not imagine simply how a lot time
    I had spent for this info! Thank you!

  18. Www.pecoviedo.com July 27, 2014 at 7:35 am #

    Thankfulness to my father who informed me on the topic of this web site, this website is genuinely amazing.

  19. Nitro Shred July 27, 2014 at 9:32 am #

    Fantastic goods from you, man. I have understand your stuff previous to and you’re
    just too wonderful. I actually like what you’ve acquired here, certainly like what
    you’re stating and the way in which you say it. You make it enjoyable and you
    still take care of to keep it wise. I cant wait to read much more from you.
    This is actually a tremendous website.

  20. Sniper Elite 3 Crack Download July 27, 2014 at 9:43 am #

    Everything is very open with a very clear description of the issues.

    It was truly informative. Your website is very useful. Thanks for sharing!

  21. Jeanette July 27, 2014 at 10:59 am #

    Awesome blog! Is your theme custom made or did you download it
    from somewhere? A theme like yours with a few simple adjustements would really make
    my blog shine. Please let me know where you got your design. Many thanks

  22. funny cat videos sail July 27, 2014 at 1:31 pm #

    This is my first time pay a visit at here and i am really impressed to
    read everthing at one place.

  23. Book Printing July 27, 2014 at 3:05 pm #

    Have yoou ever considered writing an eboopk or guest authorikng on other blogs?
    I have a blog entered on the same subjects you discuss
    and would really like to have you shaare some stories/information. I
    know my visitors would value your work. If you’re even remoptely interested,
    feel free too shoot me an email.

  24. Forgot Windows Password July 28, 2014 at 12:53 am #

    hello there and thank you for your info – I’ve definitely picked up anything new from right here.

    I did however expertise several technical points using this web site, since I experienced to reload the web site many times previous to I could
    get it to load properly. I had been wondering if your web host is OK?
    Not that I’m complaining, but slow loading instances times will
    often affect your placement in google and can damage your high quality score if advertising and marketing with Adwords.
    Well I’m adding this RSS to my e-mail and could look
    out for much more of your respective fascinating content.
    Ensure that you update this again soon.

  25. Book Surf City North Carolina Now July 28, 2014 at 5:11 am #

    Why viewers still use to read news papers when in this technological world all is presented on web?

  26. www.Facebook.com July 28, 2014 at 6:31 am #

    I absolutely love your blog and find most of your post’s to be precisely what I’m looking
    for. Does one offer guest writers to write content for you personally?

    I wouldn’t mind publishing a post or elaborating on some of the subjects you write about here.
    Again, awesome weblog!

  27. petites annonces sur internet July 28, 2014 at 11:07 pm #

    Excellent post. I was checkikng constantly this blog and I’m impressed!

    Extremely helpful info particularly the ultimate section 🙂 I
    deal with such information a lot. I used too be seeking this certain injformation for a very lengthy time.
    Thank you and good luck.

  28. Jarosław Żytkiewicz July 29, 2014 at 1:09 am #

    Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as
    though you relied on the video to make your point.
    You obviously know what youre talking about, why throw away your intelligence on just posting videos to your weblog when you could be giving us something informative
    to read?

  29. Bonita July 29, 2014 at 7:12 am #

    Hi mates, good paragraph and fastidious urging commented here,
    I am really enjoying by these.

  30. pasticche per dimagrire gambe July 29, 2014 at 7:59 am #

    Wow that was unusual. I just wrote an incredibly long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t show
    up. Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again. Anyways,
    just wanted to say fantastic blog!

  31. Hannahjzwebb.Bravesites.Com July 29, 2014 at 8:50 pm #

    Howdy are using WordPress for your blog platform?
    I’m new to the blog world but I’m trying to get started and set up my own.
    Do you require any coding knowledge to make your own blog?
    Any help would be greatly appreciated!

  32. Digital Publishing July 30, 2014 at 2:28 am #

    Howdy!This article could not bbe written much better!
    Reading through ths post reminds me of my previous roommate!
    He always kept talking about this. I am going to forward this
    information to him. Fairl certain he’s going to have
    a great read. Thank you ffor sharing!

  33. Geraldo July 30, 2014 at 8:31 am #

    My spouse and I stumbled over here from a different website and thought
    I might check things out. I like what I see so i am just
    following you. Look forward to checking out your web page yet again.

  34. Youtube Downloader July 30, 2014 at 10:47 am #

    For most up-to-date information you have to go to see web and on world-wide-web
    I found this web page as a most excellent web site for latest
    updates.

  35. Cyrus July 30, 2014 at 11:00 am #

    It’s very straightforward to find out any matter on web as compared to books,
    as I found this post at this site.

  36. book publisher July 30, 2014 at 11:53 am #

    Wow, marvelous blog layout! How long have you
    been blogging for? you make blogging look easy. The overall look of your website is magnificent, let alone
    thhe content!

  37. Sbobet July 30, 2014 at 2:04 pm #

    Definitely believe that which you stated. Your favorite justification appeared to be on the web the easiest thing to be aware of.
    I say to you, I definitely get annoyed while people consider worries that they plainly don’t know about.

    You managed to hit the nail upon the top and defined out the whole thing without having side effect , people can take a signal.
    Will likely be back to get more. Thanks

  38. ghd planchas baratos July 30, 2014 at 9:51 pm #

    What’s up, just wanted to mention, I loved this blog post.
    It was practical. Keep on posting!

  39. Sabina July 30, 2014 at 11:04 pm #

    Very good article. I will be experiencing many of these issues as well..

  40. dental products review July 31, 2014 at 10:30 am #

    My spouse and I stumbled over here different web address and thought I might check things out.
    I like what I see so i am just following you. Look forward to looking over your web page
    repeatedly.

  41. Sasha July 31, 2014 at 11:15 pm #

    Fantastic goods from you, man. I have understand your stuff previous to and you are just extremely excellent.
    I really like what you have acquired here, certainly like what you are saying and the way in which you say it.
    You make it entertaining and you still take care of to keep
    it wise. I can’t wait to read far more from you. This is actually
    a terrific website.

  42. king bedroom sets costco July 31, 2014 at 11:34 pm #

    Quality articles is the key to interest the visitors to pay a quick visit the site, that’s what this
    web site is providing.

  43. wall dildo August 1, 2014 at 9:58 am #

    An impressive share! I have just forwarded this onto a colleague
    who has been doing a little homework on this. And he actually bought me dinner due to the fact that I discovered
    it for him… lol. So let me reword this….
    Thank YOU for the meal!! But yeah, thanx for spending time to discuss this issue here on your site.

  44. funny pranks 2014 new August 1, 2014 at 10:18 pm #

    I’m amazed, I have to admit. Rarely do I encounter a blog that’s equally educative and engaging,
    and let me tell you, you’ve hit the nail on the head.

    The issue is something that too few people are speaking
    intelligently about. I’m very happy I found this in my hunt for something relating to this.,
    http://goo.gl/iORwud

  45. unlimited web hosting August 1, 2014 at 11:27 pm #

    Hosting services is just like renting space for the website to possess a
    home for the internet. A fantastic e-mail service can also be very critical.
    Customer service from your web hosting company is very important.

  46. caramembuatbatupermata.Blogspot.com August 2, 2014 at 4:10 am #

    Hey! Would you mind if I share your blog with my facebook group?
    There’s a lot of people that I think would really appreciate your
    content. Please let me know. Thanks

  47. Rebbeca August 2, 2014 at 4:18 am #

    This clock maker installed a moving bird on a clock that announced the hour with a cuckoo call.
    And if measured from the ocean floor, it is also the world’s
    highest mountain. Some electric and gas smoker have automatic heat generator whereas in your others,going
    to be the it’s said that is include them as added to understand
    more about generate second hand smoke In the electric and gas smoker where electrical power arrives are required,the smoker has to be that located everywhere over the one of these a multi function manner that
    going to be the smoker keeps going to be the it’s said that breaks
    smoking and for some distance and at low second hand smoke
    cholesterol levels minus ost are going to want to learn more about add more it’s said that.

  48. steuerberater August 2, 2014 at 10:37 am #

    I’m not sure why but this blog is loading incredibly slow for
    me. Is anyone else having this issue or is it a problem on my end?
    I’ll check back later and see if the problem still exists.

  49. Monika August 2, 2014 at 1:00 pm #

    It’s really a great and helpful piece of information. I am glad that
    you simply shared this useful info with us.
    Please stay us up to date like this. Thanks for sharing.

  50. Hidden August 2, 2014 at 1:30 pm #

    Wow, marvelous blog layout! How long have you been blogging for?
    you make blogging look easy. The overall
    look of your site is fantastic, let alone the content!

Leave a Reply