Top European clubs have funds withheld by UEFA - FFP kicking in or merely posturing?

I still can't see FFP being properly enforced but nonetheless... a start is a start....

http://www.nufcblog.com/2012/09/12/top-european-clubs-have-funds-withheld-platini-gets-serious/?

It looks like the Financial Fair Play rules that are being introduced by UEFA President Michel Platini do have some teeth, with the news that 23 clubs have had their funds from last season’s European competitions withheld, due to their financial siutation.


When Michel first talked about Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules a few years ago, he always said that if clubs didn’t balance their books, and only spend what they bring in with their revenues, then they would be barred from European competition.

And it seems the withholding of funds from last season is the first step by UEFA in clamping down on clubs who keep spending money like it’s going out of style, and often have wage bills which are even bigger than their revenues.

And it seems that some clubs now don’t have the money to pay their players, or to pay other clubs for players they have purchased, and Atletico Madrid, Malaga, Fenerbahce and Sporting Lisbon are some of the clubs who have until September 30th to settle those types of debts.

If they don’t do that, they will be hauled in front of UEFA to explain what they are doing – which seems just fine with us.

Atletico are the current Europa League champions so Michel Platini is not holding back on who he goes after – and that’s very good to see.

Clubs in England that are probably going to get a call from UEFA include Manchester City, Chelsea and QPR, simply because they are nowhere near balancing their books, but also show no signs of cutting back on their expenditures.

And as an example of that, City lost £197M in their last financial year for which records are available – the 2010-2011 season.

FFP is a long overdue control on clubs’ spending, and between 2011 and 2014, no club is allowed to lose more than £39.5M in one financial year, and between 2014 and 2017 that figure is reduced to £26.3M, and after that clubs are expected to break even – so it’s not as if clubs haven’t had ample warning or time to get their books in order.

Some clubs have not taken Platini’s initiative seriously, and Qatari-backed Paris Saint Germain are another club who are spending money like it grows on trees, and at some point they will need to be confronted on what they are doing.

Last summer PSG spent £120M on players like Zlatan Ibrahmovic, Thiago Silva and Ezequiel Lavezzi and Russian club Zenit St Petersburg have spent around £75M on just two players in the summer – Hulk and Axel Witsel.

As a reminder this is what Platini told Gazzetta dello Sport a couple of weeks ago:

“These rules were unanimously approved by all clubs, politicians, judges and the European Union. There’s no going back from here on.” “FFP is a hard rule for any team, regardless of whether we’re talking about PSG, Juventus, or any other team.”

“I have spoken with directors from all clubs. They have all stressed that they would follow the new rules. It seems that some worry a bit more about FFP than others, though.”

“Financial Fair Play does not stop clubs from buying players. Clubs can still spend as much as they want as long as their budget accounts for it.”

There have also been discussions in UEFA of high sponsorship deals such as exists for the Etihad Stadium with Manchester City, who are getting £400M over 10 years from Etihad Airways for the naming rights.

Etihad are owned by the Abu Dhabi government and the Manchester City main owner, Sheikh Mansour, is a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family, and there certainly seems to be an unfair link there.

And £40M per season is hardly the fair market value of such a deal – it’s a sweetheart deal in other words, and we’re surprised UEFA haven’t yet done something about this.

As an example of other naming rights deals which currently exist, Arsenal struck one with Emirates Airlines back in 2004, to name their then new stadium The Emirates Stadium, and those naming rights are worth just £2.8M per year for 15 years – so you see what we mean.

We have no idea what Mike Ashley and Sports Direct s paying Newcastle United for the naming rights to St. James’ Park – and it would be nice to know what that figure is – with Newcastle hoping to get up to £10M a year off the naming rights, but no company seems to interested, with the fans dead against it.

But the good news is Michel Platini is putting teeth into the FFP rules for European clubs, and that’s got to be good news for Newcastle, since we only lost £3.9M in the financial year 2010-2011.

 

Buying and selling top players could get really complicated if this continues. There's going to be a chain, and it's going to have to start with either a highly profitable club, or one not in Europe. If one club wants to buy a 50m player, they're going to have to sell one, so the club they sell to then has to sell a high valued player, continuing until some profit machine/none european club eventually buys a player to end the chain. Looks like the days of mega transfers may be slowing.

 

I'd like someone to clear this up - how comes Atletico Madrid have monies held back, yet City - who cannot possibly have posted a balance sheet that works - don't? Just looks to me like the haves will continue to grow whilst the havenots struggle more and more to keep up.

Either way, the money that has been held back probably doesn't mean jack to someone like City, right? They could just keep bankrolling themselves, because the top, top prize of 30m euros is probably less than the owner has in his pocket right now. And if it starts to get a bit pi$$y, then they'll just lobby for a Euro Superleague. Football is going to change so much over the next decade or so, and I don't know what'll be left after the bombs go off.

 

The clubs that are having money held back are those that haven't paid a football debt due: that is, wages and transfeer fees.

City are paying all its bills, so are not in this category. Their books don't balance, but the date by which they must balance is not till 2013-4. At the moment, double standards are not being applied.

With respect to barring them from European competition, City could certainly do without the revenue. They will, however, be hurt by the loss of prestige. Imagine Man U winning the European Cup while Man City had their season end with the last premiereship match. Not playng in Europe means your second rate (unless of course you buggere off to start a super league)

 

I very much doubt any investigation into Manchester City is going yield anything but the finest Swiss watches and an early retirement for the investigators. I will be very surprised if the new rules mean anything to anyone important, to the extent where I think the "posturing" in the title represents too strong a word for what I think will be wetter than the journalists who follow @Joey7Barton...

I'm not convinced by any of the fans perceptions that I've read on the matter, either. They all say different things and show feck all comprehension, something I'm sure the corrupt politics of football will take advantage off (not surprising, considering they created it on purpose) to wash down their champagne dressed horse-arseholes with fistfuls of cash. Basically, you just have Chelsea, Man Utd, Liverpool and Man City fans ****ting their pants and making up some alternate reality to make them feel secure in knowing they'll be around to lord it over us for years to come, when actually the "measures" don't seem intent on stopping them anyway. The best chance financially-sensible run clubs have got is to follow a model like ours and field the strongest possible eleven on the cheap, hoping that the big-boys over-spend on crap and struggle as a result.

The reason they've given these clubs soooo long too adhere to the "measures", and they're either busy ignoring it or finding some way to cheat it, shows exactly how ineffective this is going to be... Just my opinion though, I'd love to be wrong about it.

 

Hmmm ...

Platini ...

money being withheld...

I wonder where it's going?