💰Matthew Benham Pockets £100m from Minority Sale

Has anyone executed football ownership better then Matthew Benham at Brentford?

He took over in 2012 and has overseen their ascent from League 1 all the way to the riches of the Premier League.

The revenue of the club when he arrived to the revenue of the club today paints an amazing picture:

• Brentford Revenue in 2012: £2.81m 

• Brentford Revenue in 2025: £166.5m

^{*Numbers taken from accounts filed 4th March 2013 and 11th April 2025}

This week, news broke that he sold a minority stake of the club earning almost £100m from the sale. Today, we dive into the news as well as other bites from around the Premier League…

Interestingly, Mathew Benham put the club up for sale in 2023. Around a similar time, Tottenham, Liverpool and West Ham all issued public “we are exploring a sale” pleas too.

It’s been interesting to me that there has been little news regarding minority club sales or bids from any club in the last 18 months or so, it suggests a softening of the M&A market in the Premier League.

However this week, the duck has been broken as Brentford announced businessman Gary Lubner and filmmaker Sir Matthew Vaughn as minority shareholders.

Lubner is the founder of This Day Foundation and former chief executive of vehicle repair firm Belron. UK readers will be familiar with their famous subsidiary Autoglass.

Vaughn is married to Claudia Schiffer and produced Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch. He also directed Layer Cake, Stardust, Kick-Ass snd X-Men: First Class.

Details of the deal were not disclosed but the press release says the transaction could reportedly see as much as 25 per cent of the club changing hands.

Sky News also reported that the deal values Brentford at “around £400 million”.

I have three takes from this news:

1. Benham has pocketed almost £100m from this transaction (which may recoup all the money he has spent on Brentford since his acquisition) and still owns 75% of the club. An incredible play

2. Newcastle were purchased by the Saudi PIF just two years ago for £300m. It goes to show the ascension of Brentford to be valued at almost 25% more

3. Brentford have mastered the art of maintaining profitability and maximising earnings. Toney sale last summer. Mbuemo this summer. Likely Wissa next. Lubner and Vaughn have bought into a highly operative cash-machine

Shoutout to Mathew Benham who continues to show the rest of the league how its done.

Elsewhere in the PL, Chelsea have had an interesting week…

The 3-0 triumph over PSG in New York last weekend crowned them Club World Cup champions and landed them an £85 million payday from FIFA.

However, the US taxman is also celebrating.

Around £10 million of that windfall will go into the coffers of many American states as Chelsea will bear the largest bill among all participating Club World Cup clubs.

The reason is an interesting one. FIFA failed to secure a tax exemption for this year’s tournament.

While the 2026 World Cup will be shielded from similar charges, the Club World Cup was not. That means all clubs involved are liable for US taxes. In New Jersey, where Chelsea won both the semi-final and the final, state taxes are among the highest in the country. Once you add ticket revenue taxes, which vary from four to seven percent, and the liabilities add up quickly.

I’m sure Chelsea won’t mind, they had a fantastic tournament.

But quite the misstep from FIFA President Gianni Infantino. Not sure how he didn’t secure the exemption for this tournament.

Finally, I leave you with news of the biggest contract extension in NBA history…

This works out to $782K per regular season match played over the next 5 seasons.

Insane.

See you next week.