Slow Newsletter: Larry Lloyd, Red Bull, Steph Houghton, Bournemouth financials

LARRY LLOYD, who was integral in Brian Clough’s successful Nottingham Forest side of the late 1970s, has died age 75. An old fashioned and uncompromising centre half, Lloyd had a very successful career that included two Football League championships (1973 and 1978), two European Cups (1979, 1980), the UEFA Cup (1973) and two Football League Cups (1978, 1979). He was capped four times by England between 1971 and 1980  and played for Bristol Rovers before joining Liverpool in 1969 for £ 50,000. He won the league and UEFA Cup with Liverpool in 1973 before being sold to Coventry for £ 240,000 in 1974. He arrived at Forest in 1976 where his career was revived by Clough. In total, he played 599 games in his career – 218 for Liverpool, 214 for Forest. 

The Red Bull football franchise has long been recognised for developing young players and also signing them from other clubs. In the transfer market over the last five years, Red Bull clubs have focused on very young targets. CIES Football Observatory’s latest report highlights the activity of clubs from 48 top leagues around the world. Red Bull Salzburg, who have dominated Austrian football for the past decade, have the lowest average age of acquisitions (20.93 years) in the last 10 transfer windows. The second team in the list is Red Bull Bragantino of Brazil with an average age of 21.72 years. The English club with the lowest age is Liverpool at 22.84 years. Brighton are next with 23.04 years.

Former England captain and centre back Steph Houghton has announced her retirement from the game at the end of the season. Houghton played 121 times for England and was captain for eight years. The 35 year-old has turned out for Sunderland, Leeds Carnegie, Arsenal and Manchester City, making 420 appearances and scoring 67 goals. Over the past three years, due to injury, she has played only 22 league games for Manchester City. Houghton, whose husband has Motor Neuron Disease, wants to spend more time with her family and look for new opportunities.

AFC Bournemouth’s 2022-23 accounts reveal a pre-tax profit of £ 44.5 million as the club benefitted from the advantages of Premier League football. In 2021-22, the Cherries made a loss of £ 55.5 million. Turnover was up from £ 53 million to £ 141 million, with £ 122 million coming from broadcasting. The club also saw growth in commercial activity (£ 12.7 million) and matchday income amounted to £ 6.1 million. Bournemouth’s wage bill totalled £ 100 million. The club was able to write-off shareholder loans to the tune of £ 71 million in 2022-23. In December 2022, Bournemouth was bought by Black Knight Football Club, a partnership headed by US businessman Bill Foley.