Exclusive: Arsenal, Chelsea payments verdict as police chief points finger at clubs
Arsenal, Chelsea and other Premier League clubs may be asked to pay for policing at their games after the Metropolitan Police chief made a statement “out of left-field”.
That is the view of football finance expert Dan Plumley, who told Football Insider that although Premier League clubs may be able to afford the costs, there was a wider issue that could affect the “whole football ecosystem” that would need addressing.
Mark Rowley, commissioner of the Met Police, stated that he wanted to “slash the number of forces by two-thirds”, as the new chief looks to overhaul policing in the UK [The Times].
The commissioner then went on to say he finds it “particularly astounding that the Met is still being asked to pick up 80 per cent of the £24million annual cost of policing football matches in London, including the Premier League’s”, citing clubs’ ability to “splurge over £100m on a single player and pay them a weekly wage equivalent to more than 600 constables”.
Arsenal of course signed Declan Rice from West Ham for a fee of £105m [Sky Sports] while Chelsea brought in Enzo Fernandez from Benfica for £106.8m [Sky Sports], and Moises Caicedo from Brighton for £115m [Sky Sports].
Chelsea, for instance, have already spent over £200m [transfermarkt] this summer, signing Jamie Gittens from Borussia Dortmund, Joao Pedro from Brighton, and Estevao from Palmeiras.
Whilst their North London counterparts have not been as aggressive, Noni Madueke is closing in on a £52m move to Arsenal, and Viktor Gyokeres is close to agreeing a big-money move from Sporting CP.
Football League clubs will struggle with policing payments
Speaking to Football Insider exclusively, finance expert Plumley explained that whilst Arsenal and Chelsea could afford to cover the payments of policing, the same could not be said for the teams below the Premier League, many of whom are loss-making.
The senior lecturer from Sheffield Hallam University pointed out that it was easy to focus on the big Premier League teams, but those added payments had the potential to disrupt “the whole football ecosystem”, and it would be difficult to force bigger clubs to cover the costs.
Plumley said: “Yeah, this kind of rears it’s head every now and again, doesn’t it?
“And it kind of came a little bit out of left field, as you say, I don’t think anybody was really expecting it to be mentioned.
“But in terms of the finances of it, I think we’ve got to look a little bit broader here and the focus is on the Premier League, of course, with the numbers and there is absolutely a logical argument in the fact that Premier League clubs can afford to pay the bill.
“Obviously, they don’t want to, and who actually makes that call and whether or not you’d have to pass it through government, I would imagine it would be really tricky anyway to even get it off the ground.
“I think the bigger thing for me is he talks about London, but also the wider cost of policing across the country, which involves not just the Premier League clubs.
“We’re talking about the 72 Football League clubs as well and National League, etc. those clubs potentially can’t afford it as much because they’re running on really tight budgets and a lot of them are loss-making.
“So that would hit them really hard in terms of if they had to pay that bill for your average League Two club, as an example.
“It’s really easy to focus on the Premier League and the millions, but actually, there’s a bigger consideration here about the whole football ecosystem and whether or not some of those clubs could actually afford it.
“How do you then separate the two out, and which clubs do you make pay, which clubs don’t, or is it everybody who has to pay?
“So I think I think there’s a lot here that we’re not talking about with this particular headline and I just think ultimately it’s going to be really tricky to even implement, and I just can’t see it happening any time soon, to be honest.”
Arsenal, Chelsea set to continue lavish spending
Staying on the topic of London’s Premier League clubs spending large sums, Arsenal continue to be interested in Rodrygo, Mick Brown told Football Insider.
The Brazilian winger has been of interest to the Gunners for some time now, and is seen as a player who can push the North London side towards major silverware.
Arsenal are coming off the back of their third successive second-place finish in the Premier League and after an injury crisis ruined their 2024/25 campaign, Mikel Arteta and his side will be keen to add high-quality depth in the transfer market.
Meanwhile, in West London, Chelsea have received a boost in their pursuit of Morgan Rogers, and if the England international were to make Stamford Bridge his next home, he would surely arrive as another of the £100m transfers Rowley made mention of.