Study title

The project has two main research questions: RQ1 - what is the financial impact of Covid-19 on English professional football clubs so far? RQ2 - what is the wider impact to the local community focusing on four professional football clubs and football community trusts? The data collected for the project is broken down below across the two research questions highlighted above and is split between quantitative data (research question 1) and qualitative data (research question 2). Data collection for RQ1 Quantitative data was extracted from the financial statements of football clubs and the relevant financial data was used to create a bespoke financial database in Microsoft Excel. The data covers all 92 professional football clubs in the EPL and EFL in any given season from 1992/1993 to 2019/2020. At present there are 20 clubs that compete in the EPL and 24 in each of the Championship, League 1, and League 2. Owing to promotion and relegation during the time period analysed, our database covers a total of 112 unique professional football clubs. The financial database contains 28 independent variables in respect of financial and sporting performance that we have defined as Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for a football club. Data collection for RQ2 Qualitative data was sourced from four professional football clubs that are currently competing in League 1 at the time of writing. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with key individuals at the clubs. A total of 18 interviews were undertaken across the four clubs. Owing to the Covid-19 situation and various lockdowns and restrictions throughout the project, the majority of interviews (apart from one face-to-face visit) were conducted online using Microsoft Teams. Interviews were recorded and transcribed in Teams and then exported to Quirkos (a specialist qualitative analysis programme) for further thematic analysis. Interview schedules were designed based on job role of the interviewee. For example,...