Welcome to issue #040 of Contemporary Football, your inside look at how the game really works behind the scenes.
Monday to Friday, you’ll uncover a new perspective on football business, and sometimes a deeper story that sharpens your thinking and gives you an edge in the beautiful game.
If you need support on your football journey, just write me.
Hey everyone,
Last week I asked a simple question.
If you had to fix one thing in modern football clubs, where would you start?
The answers came in quickly.
Here’s how people voted:
• Smarter transfers → 11%
• Financial discipline → 33%
• Governance & leadership → 31%
• Long-term squad planning → 25%
The first thing that stands out
Only 11% chose “smarter transfers”.
That’s interesting.
Because transfers are the most visible part of football.
They dominate headlines.
They drive emotions.
They fuel social media.
And yet, almost nobody thinks transfers are the root problem.
That tells me something important:
Most people sense that bad transfers are a symptom, not the disease.
Where the real problems sit
If you combine the top two answers:
• Financial discipline (33%)
• Governance & leadership (31%)
You get 64%.
Nearly two-thirds of respondents believe modern football breaks before the sporting decisions even start.
Not on the pitch.
In boardrooms.
It’s about structure.
You can have great football people. But…
If governance is weak, they will still make bad decisions.
Or be forced into them.
The quiet strength of long-term thinking
25% picked long-term squad planning.
That’s not a sexy option.
It doesn’t create headlines.
It doesn’t win a window.
But it compounds.
It’s the difference between:
– reacting every summer
– and knowing, three years ahead, who needs replacing and why
The fact that one in four people chose this tells me something encouraging:
More fans and professionals are starting to think in cycles, not windows.
Put together, the picture is clear
Very few people want:
“one more clever signing”.
Most people want:
– discipline
– leadership
– continuity
In other words: fewer heroic decisions, more boring consistency.
And that’s exactly how well-run clubs are built.
The Contemporary Football Take
If football were a house, transfers would be the furniture.
Important, visible, expensive.
But you don’t fix a collapsing house by changing the sofa.
You fix the foundations:
governance first,
financial discipline second,
planning third.
Get those right, and transfers improve naturally.
Get them wrong, and no amount of talent will save you.
The poll revealed a diagnosis.
And the diagnosis is structural.
This weekend I’ll be in Nottingham for Forest - Arsenal.
I’ll write a newsletter about it next week.
See you on Monday!
Federico