Venture Football

09/09/2026

I want to see venture football.

Take a small Premier League club, preferably one near the bottom of the table or at the top of the championship, and recruit six genuinely elite players at the peak of their careers that are off contract/free agents.

They can be from anywhere, but they have to be global elite.

They take relatively low wages.

In return, they get long-dated options over shares in the club at an independently determined strike price. Say 4% of the fully diluted equity each.

The options might only be worth less than £1 million each when granted. The value of options reflects the club’s value today, discounted substantially for risk.

Option valuation is a well-established practice in venture capital and most sophisticated tax authorities have recognised methodologies for valuing startup options.

I also find it difficult to see UEFA or the Premier League successfully arguing that an independently determined option value, calculated using a methodology accepted by His Majesty’s bloodsuckers for tax purposes, should somehow have a completely different value when calculating player remuneration.

Then the players would back themselves to get that club up to the pointy end of the table and into champions league football.

If six top players turn a £200 million club into a £1 billion plus club, the upside on those options could be enormous.

The players would effectively be venture investors contributing human capital rather than capital.

It also creates a much more interesting test of footballing greatness.

Winning another title after joining Manchester City, Real Madrid or Bayern, surrounded by superstars, proves something, but not much.

Turning Coventry, Ipswich or Hull from a yoyo club into a Champions League club while owning part of the upside would prove rather more.

There would obviously be regulatory issues around squad-cost rules, related-party transactions, remuneration and fair value. But the core structure is not exotic. Options are routinely valued. Investors routinely take equity exposure to businesses they expect to improve.

The unusual bit is that the investors here would also be the principal operating assets.

Six players. Low wages. Long-dated options. One shitty football club.

Venture football.