PSG have definitely failed: www.bbc.com/sport/football/27243933. What are your thoughts? They are unlikely to face a ban this season. Really hope this begins to bite soon and forces clubs to live within their means. Is this is Fifa / Uefas biggest ever test?
It is a big test for UEFA because they have to make their sanctions meaningful if it's going to work. I don't know what the penalty will be for PSG but for clubs like theirs who have had massive cash injections and those that are bankrolled by billionaires, then small fines are not going to have any effect. My personal preference would be to see the clubs fined by the amount that they have failed FFP by and for the most blatant cases of trying to circumvent those rules, a ban from UEFA competitions.
If they fine PSG it's a joke, even if only part of the sanction is a fine. only meaningful sanctions are points deductions, because they give an edge to teams you face that managed better financially so say if you get them in your CL group, they start on -3 points because of their failure to balance the books while Arsenal have balanced the books, so PSG who bought all those players have a bigger mountain to climb. Points deduction in the following league season too. This kind of thing allows teams to close the gap and they should get that opportunity as they played by the rules. otherwise the top clubs will just keep getting record sponsorship deal after another, how many times has that record been broken in the last 5 years? Sanctions should always benefit the other teams the rule breakers are competing with.
I think this premise is better expressed as: the teams who break the rules should have the advantage over their competitors curtailed. But I agree with the overall sentiment.
not only this, but also disadvantages imposed. Nulifying their advantage puts them on a level playing field with those who followed the rules, when they should be punished for breaking the rules.
I wonder if FFP could ultimatelyt move cubs towards a European Super League. As it stands at the moment they risk being klicked out of the CL so I dont think its too far fetched that the nest step is that they will try to start a league of their own which the richest clubs in Europe can compete in. And as for sanctions I think a transfer ban would hurt them. If they wrent allowed to buy players until their books balanced. So say they were £100m over the limit they would have to maker £100m from sales and revenue before they would be allowed to buy players again. Then fine them as well which would be added to the amount they failed by. So the £100m would become £110m if 10% was used.
I think this was Wengers recommendation too. What does money matter to the owners of these clubs, if that was the penalty then the arrogance of some of these owners could even see them go out of their way to break the rules by more than the next man so they can boast about it. Man City, Chelsea or PSG overpend by £200m a year ? So what ? That's not far off what they spend a year on transfers. No financial penalty will prevent these owners from abiding by the rules, only 3 penalties will work and that's points deduction from CL group stage, outright ban on CL qualification, and transfer bans, sadly if any of these penalties were applied they would be challenged through the courts and the lawyers would make sure these penalties do not stick...
Interesting thought. A super league has been on the cards for a couple of decades now, but has never really had the impetus to get off the ground. I don't see clubs getting kicked out of the Champions League and as Wenger has commented on, that's probably got to do with selling TV coverage rights. But if some clubs wanted a reason to break away from UEFA, then this could provide a motive to do so.
In theory the courts shouldn't be able to reverse any decisions. The CL is an invited competition, and UEFA set the rules - hence why certain leagues get more invites etc. There are already rules that have to be met to compete, this is essentially an extension of the already existing system, and in that case, bans (or lack of invites) are more likely to stick than fines, which will only work if they are less than the value of competing in the CL so that a club will pay up in order to be able to compete imo.
how about the clubs not being able to field certain players that they have bought in excess of their expenditure limits.
You're all naive if you think FIFA/UEFA will pull the trigger on this, considering their own finances should be called into question. If they do this, then what's to stop teams from revolting against the authority? And i would wager that a lot of FIFA executives are probably receiving some dosh from certain clubs. (Allegedly, so i can't be sued)
They have to tread a fine line - harsh enough sanctions to make an impact, not so severe that a breakaway league forms (which I don't think will happen anyway). Restricted squad values / wages are a good idea as a first step.
They have to make it meaningful to make it work, but you're right that they won't jeopordise their own finances. As Wenger pointed out, TV channels like Canal+ have paid a lot of money to UEFA to be able to show PSG's champions league games.
I was just considering this again. In my earlier post I said it could add weight to the idea of a european Super League so banning the clubs does have a risk. How about an alternative approach, like let them continue in the CL, but make players illeligible who were bought AFTER they broke the financial barrier to fail FFP. So their most recent players would not play until they have met the requirements again.
According to the BBC,Citeh are facing a fine of £50,000,000 and restrictions on the size of their squad for breaking FFP rules.
Does the fine count towards next seasons figures? if so then City are ****ed. they wont be signing anyone and will have to offload a number of players to cover the fine and trim the squad back. They will then struggle to buy players of a similar quality in the future without facing another punishment. Well played UEFA.
