Chapter 1 – Ownership Models & Ultimate Power

Core question:Who ultimately holds power in a football club, and why does that override everything else?

Episode 6 - Corporate Groups and Holding Structures

In this episode we unpack corporate groups and holding structures in modern football, where the club is no longer the top of its own pyramid. We explore how “vertical control” works, why a holding doesn’t need multiple football clubs to behave like one, and how group-level boards, budgets, and risk tolerance quietly reshape sporting decisions. A deep look at power as architecture: stability and professionalisation on one side, loss of autonomy and identity tension on the other, ending with one question: can a club keep its meaning when authority sits above it?

Chapter 1 – Ownership Models & Ultimate Power

Core question:Who ultimately holds power in a football club, and why does that override everything else?

Episode 5 - One-Man Ownership: Speed, Risk, Dependency

When one person holds all the power, football clubs can move faster than any institution. This episode explores how one-man ownership delivers speed and risk tolerance, but also builds deep dependency and structural vulnerability. A neutral, system-level look at why football keeps returning to this model despite its costs.

Chapter 1 – Ownership Models & Ultimate Power

Core question: Who ultimately holds power in a football club, and why does that override everything else?

Episode 4 - Why Own a Club? (Part 3)

Power, Identity, and Non-Financial Returns

In the final episode of the series, we focus on the structural consequences of non-financial ownership motivations.

We explore how football clubs can function as proxy power spaces within families and organizations, why opportunity allocation and authority placement behave differently in football than in other industries, and how the sport tolerates control without technical competence. We then consolidate all previous insights into a clear framework of non-financial returns: visibility, legitimacy, access, influence, identity control, and historical imprint.

The episode closes by reframing the ownership question itself and setting up the next chapter of the podcast: what happens when all this power is concentrated in one individual.