Birmingham City Europa League spot under seige

Mid table clubs generally feel like they are getting jobbed by The Man. If they are not getting calls against them in matches, they are being outbid for second rate strikers. Then if they get a taste of some modicum of success, they risk their finances being investigated. With Birmingham City, they are at risk of losing their Europa League spot they should be guaranteed for being given the Carling Cup by Arsenal.

This situation first came to light last month when their parent company, Birmingham International Holdings said in March that their liabilities exceeded their assets by more than $45 million. This was heaped upon the announcement in January that B-ham chairman Carson Yeung was applying for a $20.25 million dollar loan using personal property as a guarantee. Yeung recently bought an additional stake in the team, and owns almost 25% of the club. He also loaned the team another $6.5 million dollars to keep things moving along.

Birmingham must now speak to the Premier League, as well as UEFA authorities, and show them the books while they make their case for being allowed to play in the Europa League next year. A ruling will be made some time down the road, and will no doubt fail to take into account that the extra ticket and television monies will help them become more cash flow positive (barring any drunken spending sprees).

The argument being made by Birmingham is that all the larger EPL clubs – Manchester United, Liverpool, et. al – are all suffering the problem of their liabilities being substantially higher than there assets. However, it appears that the FA are taking an approach that the larger clubs are “Too Big To Fail” attitude to these clubs. The rules will be bent to suit the needs of the larger clubs, at the expense of the mid and small market clubs.

This is all Portsmouth fault actually – the first team to enter bankruptcy while actively competing in the league.