Analyzing Power Dynamics and Influence Factors in International Football Player Transfers

Executive Summary

The corresponding research study has been a definite attempt towards the undertaking of a deliberate explorative initiative in the process of determining the power matrix and influence dynamics regarding player transfer in the international sport discipline of football. The crux of the research process has concentrated on the determination of the sources of influence which impact such a transfer process comparable to supply chain management. In this context, the research has specified the effort invested by the Researcher of the pertaining study to develop the proposal to identify the most effective measures through which the future research process could progress towards an empirical evidence based effort of determining the sources of such influence in the supply chain management of players in the form of clubs, players and their agents.

Introduction

The questionable aspects related to the player transfer undertakings outline the essential gambles which are associated with cashing in on the reputation of individual players in the sports industry of Football (Kelly and Chatziefstathiou, 2018). The elements of intense scrutiny and analysis as well as observation are integral to every new agreement which a team could make within any established football related sports architecture. Every rumour related to the ambitions of the clubs related to the selling of players becomes the most discussed topic on the social media and at other online forums by dedicated fans of such individual players and this could be contextualised as the reflection of the microcosm of the ambition of such clubs concerning the management of players in such manners.

Research Gap

The research gap consists of the dearth of adequate academic comprehension regarding the existing power matrix and dynamics of interests which influence the supply of professional football players to different clubs.

Research Aim

To study the deterministic capabilities of clubs, football players and agents in terms of influencing the transfer of players to different clubs.

Research Objectives

To identify the influence of football clubs in terms determining the player transfer procedures and deals.

To assess the complications which emerge in the process of player transfer for all the parties involved.

To evaluate the strategies of sourcing in the Premier League and the associated role of the social media.

To recommend the future progression measures for the research study.

Literature Review

Gardiner and Welch (2016) have observed that the parties involved in transfer related complicated negotiations are four in number and these are the selling club, the purchasing club, the involved player and the agent representing the person. The following are the research perspectives which could bring into effect the measure of influence possessed by each of these elements in the conclusion of the deal. Rossi, Semens and Brocard (2016) have suggested that as the chief proprietor of the player registration, the clubs do have certain measure of authority on each of the deals of such kind since the clubs could refuse the performance of such sales in the absence of any particular agreement regarding previously made offers. However, De Marco (2018) have opined that this could be correct only in principle since in the reality, the acceptance of evolving bidding of players even without the complete valuation compatibility becomes an outcome of mounting external pressures on the individual clubs. This situation is often exacerbated by the internal financial conditions of the clubs (Chadwick et al. 2018). The problem becomes evident whenever any club has to make a definite decision regarding whether, for instance, to maintain a £1 million-rated player since any championship side could be offering only the meagre amount of £700,000. This becomes a dominant perspective in the context that highly rated players become problematic to be maintained even when the purchasing teams could not offer effective conditions of sales. Brocard and Lepetit (2018) have argued that such considerations culminate in the upfront sales of players so as to meet the immediate cash infusion related necessities. To this effect, the selling clubs always attempt to include an entire range of differential clauses so that better sales propositions could be achieved in the instance that incremental success could be achieved when the player could become beneficial for the client club as well (Egilsson, 2018). In such instances, the purchasing club could, more often than not, provide absolute consent in terms of the remittance of extra payment so as to reap the maximised benefits in future through the utilisation of the upcoming highly rated player (Gligor et al. 2019). Furthermore, Patnaik et al (2019) have determined that comprehensive sales clauses could enable the club selling the player to receive any particular measure of percentage windfall if recurrent and progressive sales of the player to new teams could occur at any unspecified period of time in future. In case of the purchasing clubs, refraining from such agreements could become a definite possibility whenever such purchasing clubs have extensive financial resources with multiplicity of human resource options from multifarious sources. In any case, Duff and Panja (2017) have specified that whenever multiplicity of teams could express their interests in a singular, often top rated player, the condition could be interpreted as a bidding war between such competing organisations. According to Bond, Widdop and Chadwick (2018) the most significant ability to influence such particular transfer of players is firmly concentrated at the hands of the players themselves. This could be better explained from the perspective that while the teams could come to any form of agreement regarding the transfers associated financial aspects, the players have to formulate the final decision regarding switching over to the purchasing teams (Gerke and Wäsche, 2019). The authority of providing consent or decline to move completely is the prerogative of the players. The tactic of attempting to persuade an unwilling player by the host club through clearly communicating the fact that the player would not be involved in the team functions in the condition of his continuation of services with the host club could become a counterproductive endeavour as well (Velema, Wen and Zhou, 2020.). The outcome could be clarified from the perspectives of Masteralexis (2016) that it becomes often an element of severe economic burden for any club of having such highly paid, such as one hundred thousand £s per week, player to be inactive at the reserve bench which would severely limit any probability of bringing any extensive benefit for the host club in the short and long terms. ELLIOTT (2017) has also drawn attention towards the fact that such conditions could adversely influence the reputation of the club as well since the supporters would invariably be discontent to come to know that any highly rated star player could mosey off in the middle of the most important of competitions to remain in the reserve and this could jeopardise the success measure of the club as well.

Methodology

The research methodology would involve application of Epistemological research methods which would further include the utilisation of the Descriptive research design, the Positivist research philosophy and the Deductive approach so as to effectively and accurately undertake the data collection and analysis processes.

The research process would further employ Stratified Probability Sampling method so as to first determine the extent of the data collection measures involving the research populaces under consideration and then, the appropriate numbers of research samples could be selected through such identified population through a direct random snowball sampling method. The research sample would involve two separate segments for the purpose of both Quantitative and Qualitative data collection purposes. The Quantitative segment would be comprised of agents of existing players as well as the players themselves and would involve the direct survey process and the Qualitative segment would involve mid level officials of selected football associations/clubs with the application of Interview method for data collection.

Utilisation of close ended, multiple options based questionnaires would be undertaken by the research process for the purpose of Quantitative data collection and the instrument of Direct Interview through application of semi-structured questions which would be presented directly to the interviewees so that the responses could be recorded as direct transcripts for the future progression of the research process. Furthermore, the research methodology would involve utilisation of the Likert’s Five Point Scale of general statistical analysis of the collected raw data from the Quantitative research participants. This would involve segmentation of the data categories in the Mean, Median, Mode and Standard Deviation formats of the responses generated by the research respondents.

Sampling method

The application of non-probability sampling has been premised upon the necessities of Qualitative data collection through interview processes could be effectively performed through the suitability of the non-probability based sampling procedures as the definite numbers of managerial personnel (mid level officials of selected football associations/clubs) could be methodically selected through utilisation of a sequential criteria. The thematic analysis of the Qualitative data would also be incumbent upon the utilisation of such a particular sampling process through which different officials could be precisely and intentionally selected for the purpose of interview performance. On the other hand, the application of the Stratified Probability Sampling has been premised upon the necessity of the Researcher to highlight the specific subgroups of the sports agents and the individual players who would be included in the Quantitative data analysis and survey processes. This particular sampling process would be enabling the researcher to properly ensure the presence of each of the subgroups within the overall Quantitative sample selected for the purpose of the research. Furthermore, the stratified probability sampling process would be effective in ensuring representation of the smallest of the subgroups in a proportionate and equitable manner. This would be involving even the rare extreme cohorts of the sub-groups as well. Ultimately, this sampling technique could provide high statistical precision and this could contribute in the selection of a relatively limited research sample which could assist the researcher to keep costs down in terms of investment of resources and time duration for the purpose of such data collection and analysis.

Limitations

The limitations of the research could be understood to be the potential of experiencing consistent delays in the Qualitative data collection based interview data since, the identified mid-level managerial personnel of the selected clubs could spare little time out of these busy daily schedules while the researcher could be performing the interview sessions. This limitation could prompt the Researcher to provide singular inquests to such managerial personnel so as to rapidly record their response transcripts electronically and this could involve only a customary approach in data handling and collection. Furthermore, the constraints related to time and cost overheads would be significant which could limit the extent of the research study as well.

Ethical considerations

The ethical considerations would be significant so as to completely avoid any legal complication. To this effect, the research study would have to be compliant to the stipulations of the Data Protection Act (1998). This would entail the provisioning of a legal affidavit by the Researcher so as not to disclose any obtained personal information from the research participants to any third party without attaining prior permission from the concerned individuals. Furthermore, the Researcher would have to be cognisant not to utilise any persuasive and coercive method to obtain participation from the research respondents and the research participants would further have complete liberty to withdraw their participation at their own accord at any point of time.

Reference List

Bond, A.J., Widdop, P. and Chadwick, S., 2018. Football’s emerging market trade network: ego network approach to world systems theory. Managing Sport and Leisure, 23(1-2), pp.70-91.

Brocard, J.F. and Lepetit, C., 2018. The labour markets of professional football players. Routledge Handbook of Football Business and Management, pp.294-307.

Chadwick, S., Parnell, D., Widdop, P. and Anagnostopoulos, C. eds., 2018. Routledge Handbook of Football Business and Management. Routledge.

De Marco, N., 2018. Transfers, agents and minors. In Research Handbook on EU Sports Law and Policy. Edward Elgar Publishing.

Dougherty, M.R., Slevc, L.R. and Grand, J.A., 2019. Making research evaluation more transparent: Aligning research philosophy, institutional values, and reporting. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 14(3), pp.361-375.

Duff, A. and Panja, T., 2017. Football's Secret Trade: How the Player Transfer Market was Infiltrated. John Wiley & Sons.

Egilsson, B., 2018. Supply chain management in professional football. Routledge Handbook of Football Business and Management.

ELLIOTT, E.P.L.R., 2017. Winning the war for talent: Foreign players, status and the English Premier League. In The English Premier League (pp. 98-110). Routledge.

Gardiner, S. and Welch, R., 2016. Player trades, free agents and transfer policies in professional sport. In Research Handbook of Employment Relations in Sport. Edward Elgar Publishing.

Gerke, A. and Wäsche, H., 2019. Football, networks, and relationships. Routledge Handbook of football business and management, pp.273-281.

Gligor, D., Gligor, N., Holcomb, M. and Bozkurt, S., 2019. Distinguishing between the concepts of supply chain agility and resilience. The International Journal of Logistics Management.

Kelly, S. and Chatziefstathiou, D., 2018. ‘Trust me I am a Football Agent’. The discursive practices of the players’ agents in (un) professional football. Sport in Society, 21(5), pp.800-814.

Masteralexis, L.P., 2016. Regulating player agents. In Research Handbook of Employment Relations in Sport. Edward Elgar Publishing.

Patnaik, D., Praharaj, H., Prakash, K. and Samdani, K., 2019, March. A study of Prediction models for football player valuations by quantifying statistical and economic attributes for the global transfer market. In 2019 IEEE International Conference on System, Computation, Automation and Networking (ICSCAN) (pp. 1-7). IEEE.

Rossi, G., Semens, A. and Brocard, J.F., 2016. Sports agents and labour markets: evidence from world football. Routledge.

Saunders, M., Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A., 2009. Research Onion. Research methods for business students, pp.136-162.

Velema, T.A., Wen, H.Y. and Zhou, Y.K., 2020. Global value added chains and the recruitment activities of European professional football teams. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 55(2), pp.127-146.

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