One of the principal findings of the most recent enquiry into professional football was that: “Running a successful league club is now a major commercial activity”. In general terms, professional football clubs too were confronted with financial and management problems.

The total neglect of human assets as opposed to physical assets is one of the anomalies of financial accounting. Perhaps nowhere is this anomaly greater than in the instance of the professional football club, because here the net worth of the human resources, principally the playing staff, helps...