Benito made a comment about Rooney effectively being a money-grabbing whore, and the Reds have bitten.
The financial meltdown started when we got 5th place in 2001-2. Why would I have been gutted about the Champions League run? Full of ****, indeed. I was gutted when we crashed and burned and yes, I'd rather have seen us get 10th place finishes for the last decade than spend recklessly, gamble our finances and get relegated to this ****hole we're in now.
I think the question is were you happy to benefit from the Champions League whilst knowing that the spending it took to get you there was a pretty big gamble? It was fairly common knowledge at the time that Leeds had mortgage their future season ticket revenue to buy the players needed to get into the Champions League, so given how pissed off you are about the crash were you not at all pissed off, or at least concerned, during the CL run by the gamble being taken with your club's future?
I experience the hatred for United day in day out, there are more ABU's than United fans, "that's a fact " as Rafa would say but hey lads doesn't it just make it all that sweeter ? read my latest on " isn't Fergie brilliant " to taste the sweetness !!!!!
I naively thought we were going to get into the top four and the gamble would pay off. It didn't seem like a gamble at all. Why does that matter anyway? My point is that FIFA and/or the FA should keep tighter control of club finances - the Fair Play Regulations, if enforced, will be a positive start. How does what I believed a decade ago affect that point in any way whatsoever?
It doesn't really matter that much, it just shows that people's views on the regulation of spending and debt is very much dependent on their own personal views. People like yourself who are very much in favour of the FFP rules now would probably have screamed in protest if they'd been proposed a decade ago when it was Leeds who were spending 80% of their total revenue on players in a single season in order to get into the CL and the future looked bright. Likewise, if Utd as a plc had taken on ã500 million in debt and spent it on top quality players and facilities in 2005 in order to outspend Chelsea, I doubt most of the fans would have breathed a whisper of complaint, and any protests would have been nowhere near the level of crap the Glazers got. Ultimately a lot of people's views on the whole FFP thing are influenced more by their personal experiences than by a desire to protect the game. Prior to Man City and Chelsea spending tens of millions on players it was pretty much accepted that chairmen and owners should put money into their clubs on a regular basis and cover losses. Now those two have started challenging the established top clubs, people start arguing in favour of regulation.
no, the problem is when teams start spending alot more than they earn, they want to enforce these rules for a reason. If i have 10 billion punds i can buy a team, run it however i want and ruin the system, it is to stop foreigners just using teams as real life championship manager!!
I'm torn. On the one hand I strongly agree with you that teams should only spend what they can earn and pay back from revenue over a short period of years. On the other hand, the FFP rules will potentially **** the smaller teams up. The top four / five will become even more dominant as the extra matchday, commercial, broadcasting and prize money from the CL/EL revenue will allow them to spend more within the FFP rules, thus allowing them to outspend all the teams below them and hence stay in the CL/EL longer and longer. I don't like how Man City and Chelsea have gone about building their teams, but then without a rich backer how would a club like City hope to get into Europe when the top four are earning and spending so much more? Or are we just going to accept that football is now a two tier system where only the big clubs with big stadiums and and rich ones they get into Europe and the rest just get shafted. I appreciate that some clubs can do better with good management and a solid youth system, but it takes a lot to overcome a potential ã40 million revenue deficit (ã20 mill broadcasting / prize, ã10 mill commercial and ã10 mill from the extra home games).
