Financial fair play and its possible effects.

[rob.notenboom]

Does anyone here have a good read on this? I have read some but am too lazy to do the necessary work to figure it all out (and the info might not even me out there anyway). The way I read it, some teams might be in serious trouble as some of their expenditures in the lead-up will count against them once this is underway. I'm specifically thinking about Chelsea, Man City and Liverpool as they have been spending and spending ... Chelsea not so much on transfers but on carrying former coach's salaries. Could be quite a kick in the teeth if Ambramovich can't just bankroll the team and walks away from it all. Similarly with L'pool and Man City.

[Gordon]

Does anyone here have a good read on this? I have read some but am too lazy to do the necessary work to figure it all out (and the info might not even me out there anyway). The way I read it, some teams might be in serious trouble as some of their expenditures in the lead-up will count against them once this is underway. I'm specifically thinking about Chelsea, Man City and Liverpool as they have been spending and spending ... Chelsea not so much on transfers but on carrying former coach's salaries. Could be quite a kick in the teeth if Ambramovich can't just bankroll the team and walks away from it all. Similarly with L'pool and Man City.

By far and away the best blog on football and finance is The Swiss Ramble http://swissramble.blogspot.com/ I believe he has done five or six posts on Financial fair play in his team analysis. I think you will be able to find all you need/want to know there. It is one I read regularly and I highly recomend it.

[rob.notenboom]

Cool. Thanks. Will check that out.

[elmateo]

To be fair to Liverpool, they still haven't spent the huge amount they got for Torres. Carrol was a big purchase, so was Suarez, but even combined there is leftover. Chelsea is definitely up there in player transfers, in part for Torres, but they also bought Arteta, David Luis among others in recent times and will likely pour lots in the next year before the rules really begin to tighten... given the aging core of the team they have now and a new manager... Swiss ramble has very good break-downs of the clubs in financial security and not. Outside of Germany and maybe the middling clubs in some of the leagues, I think most European teams operate on finances that defy 'logic' (Arsenal makes money but has a huge debt from their stadium).

[rob.notenboom]

Gordon: Read this article last night: http://swissramble.blogspot.com/2012...urce=BP_recent

Exactly what I was looking for (actually I tried to post this last night ... not sure what happened). Amazingly thorough. Thank's for the recommendation. I can see that this blog is going to become essential reading for me.

elmateo: I agree about L'pool. Forgot about the Torres windfall. Despite some of Liverpool's current underperforming transfers, shipping Torres now looks like genius. I only mentioned them because they have owners who have invested money in transfers. Certainly Chelsea and Man City have much farther to go to balance the books.

[alberta white]

Is swissramble a refrence to FIFA's location or is it the personal blog of Andy Swiss, one of the BBC's Sports reporters?

I imagine it may be the former although the latter would also allude to its veracity of informed comment.

[rob.notenboom]

It looks like neither. The blogger's name is Kieron O'Connor and I believe the title of the blog is in reference to his rambling (born in GB but has lived in Italy and Sweden) and his current residency (married a Swiss woman and living in Switzerland). This is almost the sum total of the info on his profile.

Seems he's won a few awards. Not sure if that is a mark of legitimacy, but his output is rather impressive. Very long articles backed up with a lot of specific details (at least in the short amount I've read so far). Fascinating stuff as he seems to have a handle on football finance to some depth (to be honest I have no way of evaluating this being rather ignorant on the subject). He seems less to offer opinions than to provide details, stats, and analysis.

[Eh?]

It might look at first like some of the clubs that are being bank rolled by owners will get punished by these rules but there will be loop holes like in everything..... One that has already been exposed (even though its been investigated already) is the 800 million pound "sponsorship" package by Ethiad for stadium rights and some ground development etc. Clubs that need a cash injection will just get a new deal by a company owned by their rich owners.

These rules might also increase the divide between the CL clubs and the rest of the clubs making up the ranks. A run in the CL can be worth well over 100million pounds and for clubs already making 150, 200 million and in some cases 300-400 million in revenue a season.... having another 100million makes their stranglehold even tighter. Leaves the door open even wider for the CL clubs to come in an poach players from non CL clubs much easier as they will be offer to wages that will not be given anywhere else due to the restraints.

[rob.notenboom]

It might look at first like some of the clubs that are being bank rolled by owners will get punished by these rules but there will be loop holes like in everything..... One that has already been exposed (even though its been investigated already) is the 800 million pound "sponsorship" package by Ethiad for stadium rights and some ground development etc. Clubs that need a cash injection will just get a new deal by a company owned by their rich owners.

These rules might also increase the divide between the CL clubs and the rest of the clubs making up the ranks. A run in the CL can be worth well over 100million pounds and for clubs already making 150, 200 million and in some cases 300-400 million in revenue a season.... having another 100million makes their stranglehold even tighter. Leaves the door open even wider for the CL clubs to come in an poach players from non CL clubs much easier as they will be offer to wages that will not be given anywhere else due to the restraints.

Yes I suspect that's highly likely. As much as some might lament it, there are some positives of the salary cap in MLS. Obviously the disparity in European leagues would kill any possible development of MLS. Look at the strangle-hold that Real and Barce have on La Liga ... FFP or not they probably have a team of lawyers figuring out how to get around it. How did Midnight Oil put it?

The rich get richer
The poor get the picture

... so cynical.

[Eh?]

Yes I suspect that's highly likely. As much as some might lament it, there are some positives of the salary cap in MLS. Obviously the disparity in European leagues would kill any possible development of MLS. Look at the strangle-hold that Real and Barce have on La Liga ... FFP or not they probably have a team of lawyers figuring out how to get around it. How did Midnight Oil put it?

The rich get richer
The poor get the picture

... so cynical.

Well teams are allowed to spend what they earn (as I understand it) and thatm eans the strangle hold Barca/Real have will reamin. Saw an article that Reals revenue was 500 million euros and barca was over 400...... Insane really