Clubs are spending less and being a bit more responsible - The City guy ( Marwood ) was on 5Live saying that a lot if clubs are preparing themselves for finance restrictions within the Prem as well as FFP for UEFA
The days of big spend have gone I reckon
You say that but what was stopping Chelsea, PSG and Zenit all throwing their considerable wealth around last summer? I do think FFP is scaring a few teams off the big fees, but those backed by the multi-million pound owners (or if you're legal advisor is Michel Platini's son, like at PSG...) you still seem free to spend as they wish. These rules are rubbish and people will find loopholes. Indeed I remember reading a comment from Platini saying clubs will have to be "clever" to maximise their revenues. That's as good as saying, 'if you sell your commercial rights to your billionaire owners for a ridiculously large contract, you can continue to pay extorionate fees that no one else can match'!
We may well find that there is less consistently large spending, but with the right loopholes exploited nothing is stopping the Zenit's (Euro 95m), Chelsea's (Euro 100m) or PSG's (Euro 140m) of the world continuing to spend so much in one window.
The money problem in football is so deep set now these flimsy rules will do nothing for the game. There may be a reduction in spending from ALL clubs across the board, but that's because the FFP rules favour those who already have the means to operate within their budget.
"There have been some interesting developments that clubs may use to boost revenue, such as Real Madridâs $1 billion resort island in the United Arab Emirates and Trabzonsporâs plan to build a hydroelectric power station. On the face of it, any revenue from such activities would have to be excluded from FFP, as âit is clearly and exclusively not related to the activities, locations or brand of the football club.â However, the same clause does confusingly allow the inclusion of revenue from non-football operations if those operations are âclearly using the name/brand of a club as part of their operationsâ with no reference to location. Another one for the lawyers."
"While the majority of clubs are in favour of FFPâs attempts to tackle footballâs economic woes, there is a concern that far from making football fairer, all this initiative will achieve is to make permanent the domination of the existing big clubs: survival of the fattest, if you will. The argument goes that those clubs that already enjoy large revenue (like Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United and Bayern Munich) will continue to flourish, while any challengers will no longer be able to spend big in a bid to catch up."
"Some have questioned whether the regulators will have the bite to go with their bark. Expelling teams from the Champions League works fine on paper, but would UEFA really risk damaging their main cash cow? If, for example, they banned Manchester City, Milan, Inter, PSG and Juventus, they would risk killing the goose that lays their golden egg and increase the prospects of a European Super League.
Indeed, key proponents of FFP have expressed doubts over UEFAâs willingness to act, such as John W Henry, âThe question remains as to how serious UEFA is regarding this. It appears that there are a couple of large English clubs that are sending a strong message that they arenât taking them seriously.â/
From the Swiss Ramble blog, full article: http://swissramble.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/uefas-ffp-regulations-play-to-win.html
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