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Unfit and Improper Persons: An Idiot’s Guide to Owning a Football Club
'A very funny book that tackles some serious football issues.' Gary Lineker
'Witty and wise.' Clare Balding
'Brilliant. Blows the lid off football. Hilarious, detailed and insightful.' Alan Davies
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Ever dreamed of setting up your own football club?
Join the team behind The Price of Football podcast as they start a (fictional) football club and discover what's really going on behind the scenes of the beautiful game.
Buying a football club will set you back a few quid, but you've also got to pass the Premier League and EFL's 'fit and proper persons test'. That all seems like a bit of a faff to the team behind the award-winning podcast The Price of Football, so acclaimed comedy writer Kevin Day, football finance expert Kieran Maguire and producer Guy Kilty start an imaginary club instead.
In Unfit and Improper Person s they take West Park Rovers on a hilarious journey from the lowest level of the FA pyramid right up to the English Football League, the Premier League and, if fortune favours the fictional, into the heart of Europe.
At least that's the plan, but inevitably they face a few challenges along the way. Where to find a shirt sponsor? What should the mascot be – is a dog called Rover too obvious? Can they pay the women's team the same as the men's team? (Spoiler hardly anyone else does.) And how can they get Messi to the Kleanwell Stadium next season, like they promised the fans?
Roofing over the toilets, paying the electric on the floodlights, salary caps, parachute payments and avoiding bankruptcy, never mind relegation – owning a football club isn't all about stuffing prawn sarnies and quaffing champagne in the directors' box.
Unfit and Improper Persons is informed, funny and, thanks to exclusive interviews with those who've been there, done that, it lays bare the labyrinthine world of football finance.
'Witty and wise.' Clare Balding
'Brilliant. Blows the lid off football. Hilarious, detailed and insightful.' Alan Davies
---
Ever dreamed of setting up your own football club?
Join the team behind The Price of Football podcast as they start a (fictional) football club and discover what's really going on behind the scenes of the beautiful game.
Buying a football club will set you back a few quid, but you've also got to pass the Premier League and EFL's 'fit and proper persons test'. That all seems like a bit of a faff to the team behind the award-winning podcast The Price of Football, so acclaimed comedy writer Kevin Day, football finance expert Kieran Maguire and producer Guy Kilty start an imaginary club instead.
In Unfit and Improper Person s they take West Park Rovers on a hilarious journey from the lowest level of the FA pyramid right up to the English Football League, the Premier League and, if fortune favours the fictional, into the heart of Europe.
At least that's the plan, but inevitably they face a few challenges along the way. Where to find a shirt sponsor? What should the mascot be – is a dog called Rover too obvious? Can they pay the women's team the same as the men's team? (Spoiler hardly anyone else does.) And how can they get Messi to the Kleanwell Stadium next season, like they promised the fans?
Roofing over the toilets, paying the electric on the floodlights, salary caps, parachute payments and avoiding bankruptcy, never mind relegation – owning a football club isn't all about stuffing prawn sarnies and quaffing champagne in the directors' box.
Unfit and Improper Persons is informed, funny and, thanks to exclusive interviews with those who've been there, done that, it lays bare the labyrinthine world of football finance.
304 pages, Hardcover
Published December 12, 2023
35 people are currently reading
242 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
March 23, 2025
In retrospect, three seems harsh given how much fun I had with it at times. But there is a sanctimonious winking at the reader about um the moral failures of FA club owners that jars ridiculously with the truth that the book unveils about owning a Prem-bound club: it’s a really morally complicated and difficult thing to keep people happy and make success happen.
January 4, 2024
As a big fan of the podcast, I enjoyed the various references to the podcasts throughout and the book was written in the same humour that Kevin brings to the podcast twice a week.
Many of the concepts were familiar to me from listening to the podcasts although it was interesting to have them laid out in this format - ie a journey from the bottom to the top of the football pyramid.
Ticking off as many of the financial and governance issues as possible was at times at the expense of delving deeper into some of the more interesting topics.
Some typos such as getting Leah Williamson's name wrong in a section about getting women's football on a more level footing with the men's game was ironic and unfortunate. Including Man City in a list of teams who hadn't been relegated from the Premier League was just plain wrong.
Many of the concepts were familiar to me from listening to the podcasts although it was interesting to have them laid out in this format - ie a journey from the bottom to the top of the football pyramid.
Ticking off as many of the financial and governance issues as possible was at times at the expense of delving deeper into some of the more interesting topics.
Some typos such as getting Leah Williamson's name wrong in a section about getting women's football on a more level footing with the men's game was ironic and unfortunate. Including Man City in a list of teams who hadn't been relegated from the Premier League was just plain wrong.
February 23, 2025
Meh! Too much fact, not enough fiction
January 29, 2024
It's alright. A bit too much of Kevin Day humour, but there's some interesting stuff.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 6, 2024
This was such a great read whilst on holiday. It really does show all the right (and mostly) wrong ways in which football is run nowadays. A real eye-opener.
August 21, 2025
A witty, if often disheartening, read. Despite the author’s humour it is hard not to see the money in football as a moral failure, that will no doubt lead to pain and misery for fans across the world as their clubs are swallowed up by monolithic conglomerates eager to wash their human rights abuses through a premier league-scented fabric softener.
Very interesting, and if I had any complaints it would be that at some points I wanted to know more about particular subjects; like sustainability within football, or the women’s game… maybe time for another book
Very interesting, and if I had any complaints it would be that at some points I wanted to know more about particular subjects; like sustainability within football, or the women’s game… maybe time for another book
March 7, 2026
As someone who's written a book featuring football, money, regulations, and humour, this one was always going to be right up my alley. The fictional rise of West Park Rovers from the Southern Combination League to the Premier League and beyond is rarely anything other than entertaining, featuring a healthy mix of history (Hibs were initially refused entry to the Scottish FA because it was for Scottish, not Irish players, while only 15 of the 50 clubs then in existence entered the initial FA Cup, with many worrying that the competition could "lead to unhealthy rivalry and even bitterness" - it's almost as if they predicted the invention of internet forums) and mad finances (Bet365 take in 13 times the Premier League's combined income, though they still can't get Stoke promoted).
The main takeaway has to be that the game has changed utterly in the past 30 or so years. When Brighton were promoted to the top flight in 1979, their income went from £950k to £1.2m. When they were promoted in 2017, their income went from £29m to £139m. Liverpool's total income in 1973/74 was £850k; in 2021/22, it was £595m. It's a stark illustration of why the league has gotten so uncompetitive in recent years, with promoted teams going straight back down, but happy out with their parachute payments which make them favourites to bounce back up again.
Throughout the leagues, the finances make little sense as clubs push for promotion - wage caps make perfect sense to curb spending. The average Conference side lost £360k on income of £2,466k; League Two is annual losses of £667k on income of £4,166k; League One is £1.626m losses on income of £6.362m. When West Park get to the Championship, their fictional accounts show a loss of £9.1m on income of £18.1m. Reading in 2021/22 spent £243 on wages for every £100 they earned. It's no wonder clubs get into financial problems more often than ever before. But get to the Premier and stay there for a couple of years, and the parachute payments are worth around £90m over three seasons - enough to ensure more than double the income of the rest of the league and bounce straight back. Slightly surprisingly, the EFL would be happy to ban parachute payments for distorting the Championship.
Foreign tours are another eye-opener - Manchester United can earn £15m a year from their foreign tours; tickets for Liverpool v Man Utd in Bangkok sold out quickly despite prices starting at about €120. Club non-fungible tokens are discussed too, which seem almost cynically complicated, while the rules around tapping up of players seem bizarrely Victorian, and it's a wonder that in this day and age you can't just go to the manager you want the way you'd do in any normal profession. Of course, one of the reasons you'd be tapping up a new manager is because you're about to sack your current one - Chelsea spent €175m on ten manager sackings under Abramovic, which surely isn't the best use of money.
There's an interesting look at academies too, where top clubs sign players literally to make up the numbers and give the real prospects some players to play alongside - and even to give academy coaches jobs. Are there too many players in academies? Is their relative academic failure and poor reaction to rejection (78% of 18-year-olds rejected by Premier League clubs have dropped out of the game altogether within three years) a cause for concern? Tony Pulis has suggested reducing the number of academies to have larger regional focuses. Fewer players, but playing against better players and with less of the rejection issues.
There's a couple of ropey areas. The bit about sustainability - while well-intentioned - is way wide of the mark; clubs don't achieve carbon neutrality by getting rid of plastic water cups, certainly not while the star striker jets off to Senegal for the AFCON. A more detailed look at a club's carbon footprint might have been interesting - including chartering planes for league games and players flying around the world to play for their national team (they hardly fly steerage either) and the 22,000 miles Man Utd flew in their 2022 pre-season - though in fairness there's lots of areas covered in the book and you could have a similar foible about other wanting more depth in other areas too; its' approach of a little of info about a lot of areas works well overall. There's also a repeated idea that there's a lack of equality in the men's and women's games because the women earn 23p for every £100 the men earn - that would be a concern if the players were teammates, but they're not, and there's no more reason for them to be paid the same as there is for the youth team players to be paid the same. Let the men's game subsidise the women's game and help it grow, sure, but they're not equal. Lewes FC, who in 2017 started paying their men's team and women's team the same, are referenced - the book was published before Lewes' financial problems in 2025. Paying inflated wages to the women's team has arguably harmed it more than it's helped.
Where is football going? How to change it back from a position of increasing uncompetitiveness, where many leagues are dominated by the same one or two teams, and once big clubs are reduced to forever making up the numbers? The European Super League is considered, as is the tipping point towards majority US ownership in the Premier, which might usher in the end of promotion/relegation. Like other areas, there's no hugely in-depth look at the area, which is fine - a little discussion about lots of areas works here - but it's hard not to fell that while club football in Europe in the pre-Premier/Champions League era had its problems (hooliganism, injuries, and the contract retention issues Jean-Marc Bosman fought in court to overturn), as a balanced sporting spectacle, it was far better than what we have today.
The main takeaway has to be that the game has changed utterly in the past 30 or so years. When Brighton were promoted to the top flight in 1979, their income went from £950k to £1.2m. When they were promoted in 2017, their income went from £29m to £139m. Liverpool's total income in 1973/74 was £850k; in 2021/22, it was £595m. It's a stark illustration of why the league has gotten so uncompetitive in recent years, with promoted teams going straight back down, but happy out with their parachute payments which make them favourites to bounce back up again.
Throughout the leagues, the finances make little sense as clubs push for promotion - wage caps make perfect sense to curb spending. The average Conference side lost £360k on income of £2,466k; League Two is annual losses of £667k on income of £4,166k; League One is £1.626m losses on income of £6.362m. When West Park get to the Championship, their fictional accounts show a loss of £9.1m on income of £18.1m. Reading in 2021/22 spent £243 on wages for every £100 they earned. It's no wonder clubs get into financial problems more often than ever before. But get to the Premier and stay there for a couple of years, and the parachute payments are worth around £90m over three seasons - enough to ensure more than double the income of the rest of the league and bounce straight back. Slightly surprisingly, the EFL would be happy to ban parachute payments for distorting the Championship.
Foreign tours are another eye-opener - Manchester United can earn £15m a year from their foreign tours; tickets for Liverpool v Man Utd in Bangkok sold out quickly despite prices starting at about €120. Club non-fungible tokens are discussed too, which seem almost cynically complicated, while the rules around tapping up of players seem bizarrely Victorian, and it's a wonder that in this day and age you can't just go to the manager you want the way you'd do in any normal profession. Of course, one of the reasons you'd be tapping up a new manager is because you're about to sack your current one - Chelsea spent €175m on ten manager sackings under Abramovic, which surely isn't the best use of money.
There's an interesting look at academies too, where top clubs sign players literally to make up the numbers and give the real prospects some players to play alongside - and even to give academy coaches jobs. Are there too many players in academies? Is their relative academic failure and poor reaction to rejection (78% of 18-year-olds rejected by Premier League clubs have dropped out of the game altogether within three years) a cause for concern? Tony Pulis has suggested reducing the number of academies to have larger regional focuses. Fewer players, but playing against better players and with less of the rejection issues.
There's a couple of ropey areas. The bit about sustainability - while well-intentioned - is way wide of the mark; clubs don't achieve carbon neutrality by getting rid of plastic water cups, certainly not while the star striker jets off to Senegal for the AFCON. A more detailed look at a club's carbon footprint might have been interesting - including chartering planes for league games and players flying around the world to play for their national team (they hardly fly steerage either) and the 22,000 miles Man Utd flew in their 2022 pre-season - though in fairness there's lots of areas covered in the book and you could have a similar foible about other wanting more depth in other areas too; its' approach of a little of info about a lot of areas works well overall. There's also a repeated idea that there's a lack of equality in the men's and women's games because the women earn 23p for every £100 the men earn - that would be a concern if the players were teammates, but they're not, and there's no more reason for them to be paid the same as there is for the youth team players to be paid the same. Let the men's game subsidise the women's game and help it grow, sure, but they're not equal. Lewes FC, who in 2017 started paying their men's team and women's team the same, are referenced - the book was published before Lewes' financial problems in 2025. Paying inflated wages to the women's team has arguably harmed it more than it's helped.
Where is football going? How to change it back from a position of increasing uncompetitiveness, where many leagues are dominated by the same one or two teams, and once big clubs are reduced to forever making up the numbers? The European Super League is considered, as is the tipping point towards majority US ownership in the Premier, which might usher in the end of promotion/relegation. Like other areas, there's no hugely in-depth look at the area, which is fine - a little discussion about lots of areas works here - but it's hard not to fell that while club football in Europe in the pre-Premier/Champions League era had its problems (hooliganism, injuries, and the contract retention issues Jean-Marc Bosman fought in court to overturn), as a balanced sporting spectacle, it was far better than what we have today.
October 22, 2024
From the authors of “The Price of Football” podcast Unfit and Improper Persons brings a new perspective into the everyday management of modern sports teams especially in this case football.
Very witty and probably the most funniest Football book I have read.
Set up as a fictional football team beginning their football life in the bottom throws of the English football pyramid,Day and Maguire talk us through the peculiar progressions taking that team from the bottom of the pyramid all the way to the top of the European leagues.
All of contemporary problems around English and also European football are discussed, from the type of owners each club to the rather interesting case of the woman's game and how undervalued it is.
The rules of the FA, the youth policy of clubs and finally membership of the Football League and Premier League are very very interesting concepts that we get to learn about, and is mind-blowing.
Everything is covered from sponsorships to the trampoline, I mean, Parachute payments and their inequities in the English football league and inequities of the Premier league and the inequities of the woman's leagues as well, and finally into the inequities of the European leagues.
The Scottish Leagues are discussed with the brave, but agreeable notion that the teams in the Scottish Premier League will be financially better off without Rangers or Celtic.
If you have an interest in business and in football this is definitely one of the books you need to read which is essential. Hey you might even get a better understanding your Manchester city's 115 charges versus Everton's blatant spending.
A great companion to The Price of Football by the same authors.
Very witty and probably the most funniest Football book I have read.
Set up as a fictional football team beginning their football life in the bottom throws of the English football pyramid,Day and Maguire talk us through the peculiar progressions taking that team from the bottom of the pyramid all the way to the top of the European leagues.
All of contemporary problems around English and also European football are discussed, from the type of owners each club to the rather interesting case of the woman's game and how undervalued it is.
The rules of the FA, the youth policy of clubs and finally membership of the Football League and Premier League are very very interesting concepts that we get to learn about, and is mind-blowing.
Everything is covered from sponsorships to the trampoline, I mean, Parachute payments and their inequities in the English football league and inequities of the Premier league and the inequities of the woman's leagues as well, and finally into the inequities of the European leagues.
The Scottish Leagues are discussed with the brave, but agreeable notion that the teams in the Scottish Premier League will be financially better off without Rangers or Celtic.
If you have an interest in business and in football this is definitely one of the books you need to read which is essential. Hey you might even get a better understanding your Manchester city's 115 charges versus Everton's blatant spending.
A great companion to The Price of Football by the same authors.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 22, 2024
This is a good-humoured, good-fun guide to owning a football club. The fictional club, West Park Rovers, romp through the divisions, from the basement of English football to the riches of the premier league. The book looks at all the fanfare that an owner would have to manage as well as all those tough financial decisions too.
The concepts and topics covered in the book will be familiar to anyone who's listened to the podcast. I particularly enjoyed the more in-depth looks at the history and origins of certain parts of the game that Kevin and Kieran don't have as much time to delve into on the podcast.
And as is customary for the Price of Football (or moreso Kieran, really), there are lots of facts and figures in the book. Although, I'm sure they've already spotted the one that isn't quite right - I reckon Derby County would've loved to have achieved a points total of 18 in that fateful season... ;-) but one misprint was probably the least of Derby's worries in recent seasons!
Overall, I enjoyed this and thought it made the sometimes complicated subject of football finance humorous and easy to follow. Would recommend.
The concepts and topics covered in the book will be familiar to anyone who's listened to the podcast. I particularly enjoyed the more in-depth looks at the history and origins of certain parts of the game that Kevin and Kieran don't have as much time to delve into on the podcast.
And as is customary for the Price of Football (or moreso Kieran, really), there are lots of facts and figures in the book. Although, I'm sure they've already spotted the one that isn't quite right - I reckon Derby County would've loved to have achieved a points total of 18 in that fateful season... ;-) but one misprint was probably the least of Derby's worries in recent seasons!
Overall, I enjoyed this and thought it made the sometimes complicated subject of football finance humorous and easy to follow. Would recommend.
March 29, 2024
I thought this book was good but could have been so much better. It went for a comical theme throughout and the fictional elements distorted the facts. If they had focused on the facts and figures of the game in more detail and made the book in a more serious tone I think it could’ve been quite compelling. Still worth a read and still interesting just not particularly written in a style I enjoyed.
December 10, 2023
A fine read on the details of what happens when a club goes from the bottle of the pyramid to the top of the game.
All those abstract concepts about football finance you might have heard on the Price of Football illustrated in the rise of the fictional club West Park Rovers, with the usual balance of humour and knowledge of Kieran, Kevin, and I guess Producer Guy too.
All those abstract concepts about football finance you might have heard on the Price of Football illustrated in the rise of the fictional club West Park Rovers, with the usual balance of humour and knowledge of Kieran, Kevin, and I guess Producer Guy too.
June 17, 2024
A more accessible version of Kieran's Price of Football academic textbook, with typically excellent writing from Kevin, who takes us from grassroots to Premier League with wit, research and a tight leash on rambling. Very useful general guide for the age of football as industry, and a superior kind of 'book of the pod'.
June 5, 2024
Super fun read about what it takes to be a soccer team in England. Gets into plenty of nitty gritty that may not be what most sports fans are into but a look into the less covered and reported side makes it just as interesting.
July 21, 2024
I thoroughly enjoy the podcast ‘The Price of Football’ of which this is effectively an excellent sequel. I enjoyed it enormously and would recommend it without hesitation to anyone interested in the way the beautiful game is financed. It’s both instructive and humorous.
January 18, 2025
A fantastic balance between making me genuinely laugh out loud with silly humour and delving into the serious problems facing the game. Great book for football fans that both love the game but want facts and detail on the biggest issues in the current game.
June 6, 2025
I love football is father and brother affair for me.
So any single detail of the game I can get I love reading.
The book is written in very much the same way the podcast sounds like.
Lots of jokes in between some interesting facts which result in well written book.
So any single detail of the game I can get I love reading.
The book is written in very much the same way the podcast sounds like.
Lots of jokes in between some interesting facts which result in well written book.
October 22, 2023
English football fans can’t truthfully claim they know what they’re talking about unless they’ve read this book.
August 13, 2024
Good book with some very interesting facts, perhaps too much blurb about the fictional part of the club however..
November 6, 2024
Fine. Enjoyed it but don’t want to give it 5*
March 16, 2025
Top tier football book
March 27, 2025
A great accompaniment with my FM save taking Chippenham to the champions league
August 12, 2025
they interviewed someone from my favorite club (clapton cfc) so it is a perfect book. is very funny and informative through and through!!
January 15, 2024
Truly excellent book. It’s funny, brilliantly written and has all the details about football finance I love. This is a great example about what clubs at all levels face when it comes to football finance. Clever idea that is brilliantly executed.
November 12, 2024
This is a funny yet informative read about the various activities that are involved in managing a football club. The story is about the legendary team, West Park Rovers, from their initial days until they climbed up the English Pyramid and eventually embarked on their journey towards European Club Football. The book provides a great understanding of the financial aspects involved in running a football club and also highlights the challenges that a club faces while progressing through the leagues.
October 28, 2024
A really funny and informative book about both the business of football and the business of being a supporter. Really explains a lot about how teams are run, the requirements needed to compete at the highest levels, and even below that.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews