The nature of the football industry is very different to the business industry.

The high bargaining power of suppliers indicates a decreased ability for

clubs to translate revenue into consistent profitability.
Five Forces Analysis
There is an approximately constant
number of clubs in the English football
industry. The clubs are distributed among
the different divisions / leagues based on
performance.
The threat of entry is very low. A new
entrant can only enter a given league
based on results in the previous league.
Players, other clubs, non-playing staff and
equipment providers are suppliers.
When players are free agents, they possess
high bargaining power because of their
unique skills+.
Clubs possess high bargaining power and
can demand high transfer fees to agree to a
player sale.
Non playing staffs bargaining power is lower
than players.
Equipment providers also have a low
bargaining power as clubs can switch easily
between different equipment suppliers.
Club supporters are one of the buyers and
they have high switching costs and low
bargaining power.
This is because of supporters high degree
Threat of Buyer
of loyalty to the club and unwillingness to
New Entry Power switch from supporting one club to another.
Sponsors are another form of buyer though
not as important as club supporters.
Competitive Revenues from sponsorships are an
Rivalry important source of revenue for clubs.
A substitute threat for the product i.e.
Supplier Threat of
football could be Basketball, Rugby or
Power Substitution other sports.
However, a closer substitute product to the
English football industry would be any of
the other football leagues such as the
Competitive rivalry in the football industry is very different to the Bundesliga, the Spanish La Liga or even
business industry due to the Louis-Schmeling paradox. the Spanish Segunda division.
Although there is a high level of competition in the English football The threat of substitutes i.e. other leagues
industry, no club would want to eliminate competition to the point is low because of the high customer
of having a monopoly as that would reduce profits. loyalty prevalent in the English football
industry.