I read last Saturday’s piece regarding finances within the Premier League. And I can’t see Financial Fair Play being much of a help to the teams from 7th to 20th. Something is going to hit the fan and I’m guessing it won’t be thousand pound notes.
The inequities of the teams goes much further than the size of the pockets of the owners. The disparity in the size of stadiums has to be a stumbling block for most organizations. From a high of 75,000 plus fans attending to a low of 14,000 and change. How on earth can they compete financially? They can’t. And the penalties of relegation are enormous. Spend stupidly or suffer even more. Quite the catch 22.
Deep pockets are fine up to a point but when it becomes as disparate as Manchester City and Chelsea vs Bolton or QPR it creates an environment of third world teams always sucking hind teat. Can’t compete, never will financially. It’s a shame. There is animosity towards the well heeled. History proves this daily everywhere not just football. I just can’t imagine MC subsidising bums in seats by the tune of 161 pounds at an average gate of 44,764 fans. IMO it will be the ruin of the game in the PL.
Arsenal and Manchester United seem to have their ducks in a row as far as money goes. But on closer inspection, their stadiums are the biggest. Also their transfer records are among the best. Plus I am sure that if everything went sideways the owners would step in and buck up. Wolves have/had a good financial footing. 2.5 million pounds better than Villa per game with 12,000 less fans showing up. Since they are in the npower now, I’m guessing that their only recourse was to spend above budget to stay up. It will be interesting to see their finances after a year in the Championship. Again that catch 22.
The cost of running teams in Belgium and The Netherlands seems to be a lot more sensible at this time as the sale of players to Villa have been deemed great bargains. I would think that the selling teams feel they got good money for their wares. Belgium and The Netherlands don’t field poor teams but their finances seem to be more sensible.
Will billionaires accept any kind of structure that diminishes their spending ability?
You can’t expect a gentleman’s agreement among owners to keep the league more competitive financially. To a select few it is nothing more than a toy to show the world who they are. It’s about them, not the players, and definately not the fans.I think a lot of owners are fans of the game and had the ability to buy in but have to watch their money and have had the rug pulled out from under them. Trying to field a competitive team is becoming more and more difficult for them.
What is the answer? A total upheaval would probably ruin several of the top teams as owners would walk away as it wouldn’t suit their egos. Correcting the inequalities in finances would take several seasons.
The money from TV is the same for all in the PL so really it’s a wash. The size of stadiums is an issue. The cost of tickets can also be an issue as I’m sure it is different in all cities. The ability for owners to subsidize is the overpowering elephant in the room. This has to be fixed.
My suggestions would be, and really you don’t have to agree with me.
(1) A salary cap on the team. These players aren’t worth what they are being paid in the most part. It’s mostly a ploy to keep the poor teams poor talent wise and to take away their ability to improve the team IMO.
(2) Income sharing. When a team shows up at Arsenal who have 60,000 seats, shouldn’t they be compensated to some degree?
(3) Reducing the number of foreign players on the team at stupid wages. Don’t feel sorry for them they will get work somewhere.
(4) Place more emphasis on home grown talent and nurture it. I watched the Olympics and Britain improved immensely in the 4 years from Beijing so growing home grown shouldn’t take that long with the right people, facilities, and finances in place. Right down to the little leagues.
(5) All teams to have an academy and the top team have to have a number of their academy players in the roster. This will improve all academies and provide a stronger base for the league. Also smaller wages for players. Also, not to cherry pick all the young talent from anywhere in the world for the academy.
(6) Is there an advisory board that looks after the well being of the league? If not one should be in place to reign in some of these guys.
At Villa we are lucky that the owner is capable of surviving the finances of the last 3 years and years to come, not one that is treading water furiously. For a healthy league finances need to be on a more equal footing. Just look at the misfortune at Birmingham City with their ego driven owner.
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