Our "friendly " rivals from the west country may go into administration. I suppose De Canio's wages and his spending hasn't helped. Another Portsmouth perhaps? http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21047858
So what is to be made of this???? A points deduction is obviously no enough of a deterrent towards clubs over spending on transfer fees and wages. Swindon have already been given a transfer embargo for braking rules on financial fair play so should there be stronger penalties than just a 10 point deduction? Despite the plight of clubs like Portsmouth people still don't seem to heed the warnings. I do feel sorry for the Swindon fans (to a certain degree) as they have little say in how the club is run.
I think it is another sad day for football. Supporters expect to much from their clubs these days. Sky and the Premier League are like a disease that is spreading its virus throughout the game. The trouble is do the armchair fans out weigh the genuine supporters. I could spend a whole day discussing what a lot of fans seem to miss until their club is the next one to go bust. It's like so many times when I have heard people moan about Paul Scally and I just think, yes but what would we do without him. Like questions of winning the lottery and would you invest in the team you love, yes I would but by no means the level of cash numbers that are banded about in today's game. Something seriously needs to be done but it will never happen while we have the power of Murdoch and the band of Billionaires at the realm. It is now so deep routed even the government would be to scared to act and are probably skimming the cream anyway. Initially it kicked us out of the dark ages of run down football grounds but now it has gone to the complete opposite and this in the 150 years of the FA, they could and should have used the opportunity to bring our game back to being available for all and not just via our tv screen. The simple question is how do you afford a match ticket or season ticket, I'm conscious of my next purchase already. While players are paid ridiculous wages (see Hoadie thread) because everyone expects. I was to young to remember it but the days of your flat cap supporters in a stadium have well gone and been replaced by your prawn sandwich brigade in many quarters - who do I blame, well where do we start. England's first millionaire transfer (Clough) - Scraping of the maximum wage (Jimmy Hill) - The Thatcher Era - Sky (Murdoch) - Chelsea (Abramovich) - the list goes on - in truth they all contributed to history and in some cases unintentionally contributed to where the game is today.
With the money that the bigger clubs ( in fact ALL in the Premier League ) get from their 'share' of TV money - they can afford to charge a realistic price for matchday tickets. They don't because they ( or rather their players ) are greedy and need to be financed or they will leave. I will use the Rooney situation where he held Man Utd to ransom and got an obscene amount in his new contract. Point of interest - last night Barcelona v Malaga in the copa del rey ( similar to our FA Cup ) - admission prices 9 Euros.
Oxford fans have been saying for ages that something is not right about the way the Scum is run as a football club. How can a club in the 4th division of English football be allowed to spend the type of wages they did last season? For instance it's rumoured that Leon Clarke was being paid £6000 a week after he left QPR to join them, now I know this is only a rumour but somehow I feel this is not a million miles from the truth. They were effectively allowed to buy their way to the title last season and it's really no surprise that they are riding high in league 1 this time. If they do enter administration it will be the 3rd time they've been allowed to clear their debts and start afresh. It's clear a points deduction is not a severe enough penalty and well run clubs, like Gillingham and Oxford, are being penalised by playing by the books. Rant over
That is not a rant Richmond. They are all very valid points. I am gobsmacked that a football club can be allowed to go into Admin for the 3rd time!! Surely the penalty should have to be much more severe. Or else why don't we all just spend, spend, spend, then go into admin, clear debts, start over again minus 10 points and continue on again. This is apparently what Swindon have done for the past 25 years. I don't wish Swindon to be folded completely (honestly ) but surely, if they do go into admin again, they should have a far greater penalty. Something like a double relegation like happened last time. Or maybe even more divisions than that. I feel very sorry for all the small companies and traders that will now be paid off probably 1p in the pound
Their wage bill must be massive with the calibre of players they have and I would expect PDC would not come cheap, time for a clear out hopefully.
The trouble is football clubs have become like a game of monopoly to their owners and it is the genuine fans that get punished by the consequences. The whole thing has become completely rotten to the core.
Just my opinion..I dont think a club who enters administration should docked points! It should be automatic relegation at the end of that season!
relegation to conference I say. only half joking as any punishment needs to put them in a worse position than if they had not committed the offence in the first place otherwise where is the deterrent ? if they did not break all the rules they would still be ( most likely) in league two, so even if they are relegated it would leave them as they were. if that's the case they had nothing to lose. relegation to conference would send out the right signal given this is the 3rd time this has happened to them.
I like your thinking BelfastBlue because sometimes it is difficult to come up with answers re punishment. Although I do not know how practical it would be to implement, seems a good idea to demote clubs to one league below what they would have been originally and if that is possible to prove. Maybe it might also make supporters more vocal in regards to what is happening with in the internals of a club rather than the want, want, want of success all the time.
agree BRB, if we calm down the demand, and that includes pressure fans of all clubs demanding top draw signing after signing then wage demands should drop down a bit a result. all of these clubs overspending has had inflationary effects on the market. say what you like about scally, he tends to invest wisely.
Can anyone else see the irony in this thread???? Calling for fans to cut the pressure on signing top drawer players when that is exactly what many fans are calling for at this very moment.
But I haven't seen too many people suggesting "top drawer" players that would blow the budget. Every time someone has mentioned a player that is honestly way too good for us, they are normally shot down in flames with the old "wages too high", "too good for us", "would require a transfer fee" etc. I haven't seen anyone suggest we offer money for a player in the first team of a rival or a div1 club (except Bayo). Only ever 'out of favor' or fringe players suggested by most fans as targets. Hoping for the likes of Benson, Bayo, maybe even Cody is not exactly extravagant (except maybe Cody's wages). And the club has already shown a willingness to keep the wages down by not agreeing terms with a player that we know is good (David Wright) until some kind of agreement can be reached that suits all parties. We have also got in a lot of money over the summer, but not sure we've splashed out on any transfer fees have we? Maybe Adam Barrett or Legge did command a fee, not sure.
