http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25418135 The world players' union is about to mount a legal challenge in the European courts that states that footballers' rights are currently infringed by the current transfer fee system and that it contravenes law. The proposal in principal means that like any other worker, a player can 'hand in his notice' and sever his contract with his employer/club, for the club who wishes to secure the services of that player, they would have to pay the employer/club the remainder of what's owed on his contract and then he's free to join the new employer/club without paying any transfer fee. A good idea ? It would certainly end the astronomical fees that mean only the very rich clubs can afford the best players and would restore some parity to the competitive playing field. It would also stop agents touting their players to the highest bidders and raking in huge fees for themselves. But it could also mean that a player could simply walk away from a club presumably in mid season and leave them up the creek without a paddle. Thoughts ?
If it was to happen it'd just mean all that extra transfer money goes into silly wage packets. As an example Rooney on 250k a week, so thats still 13m per year left on his contract. It may lower transfer fees but it'll just go into raising wages to stop players being poached. Going to be much harder for smaller clubs to keep there players if thsi was to happen. Seems to onesided towards the players that way tbh.
I guess it would need to be implemented alongside some kind of salary cap to prevent that from happening, but would that in itself contravene EU law ?
What we really need is a Lawyer to help us answer some of these questions. Does anybody know of anyone on here who is one ?
You can't have any laws which stop private companies from deciding what they pay their workers above the minimum wage.
Think it would be a brilliant idea. Isn't this what they are doing in the US already? Salaray cap in NHL? also there are no transfer fees.
Yes in most american sports. But they have a collegiate draft system where they get players from. Clubs don't grow and mould their own players. Players leave at the end of their contract or clubs trade them. Its different in football where players are developed in house. The no transfer fees thing is never gonna happen first it is a great revenue generator for small clubs and a relative way to protect assets for bigger ones. Plus as Piskie said the money will just be regenerated into wages. As fans we won't see any benefit for it so frankly I couldn't care less. But yes the football contract system does exist in another plane to every other business in the world.
It would kill small clubs and would end up with clubs like Man Citej having 100 players on their books all earning 100K + per week.
The salary cap is illegal I think I read somewhere. It is an employer`s cartel and would not fly. I believe that it is the current contract buying and selling and the compensation paid between clubs that is considered a cartel agreement like a salary cap would be, or a draft like they have in the US. The US get round that law by employing all the players centrally. The NHL/NBA/NFL are one company employing all the players in the league. I cant see that working in Europe. The players have up 'til now shied away from this because of potential detrimental effects that might occur. Even if it does go through, I think there are enough things that can be added by the clubs so that this will be just a wrinkle in the system, like the Bosman was.
Bosman ruling was a pretty big deal though and has had quite a significant impact on the way that contracts and transfer fees have been managed since. Essentially it's player power as he can legitimately run down his contract and leave as a free agent, whereas before his club pulled the strings even when his contract had expired.
Not true. Many people misunderstand the salary cap - it is not and does not restrict an players earnings, what it does is limits the amount a club can pay on total salaries for the year. In NFL the salary cap this year is (I believe) $125m, that's for a roster of 53 players, star Quarterbacks earn $15m a year and back up place kickers earn $100k, there's a real science to contract negotiations, what many dont realise is there is also a salary floor in NFL which I believe is around $105m - the reason this exists is that the league want it to be competitve, the league don't want 56-0 blowouts and neither do the American public, there have been games where teams are 4 touchdows ahead and the offence have continue airing it out and scoring more points and even home fans have criticised their team, they call it 'running up a score' and it's frowned up on in NFL. For the record, when Man City won the league a couple of years back they became just the 4th team to do so in 17 years, in the same period there were 13 different Superbowl winners....
I really don't think football should try to be more like a failed and declining sport like American football.
