Watfords' owners have decided to downgrade their academy from level 2 to level 3 due to the cost. In addition to that they are under a partial transfer embargo due to problems with the previous owner and his financial arrangements. Watford have been left with a squad of 12 players after all the loanees returned to their clubs and they released a number of players, but the owners plan to boost the squad by transfering players from their other clubs to Watford. Not sure what the FA and EUFA will make of this they might have blocked the loans loophole but apparently there is nothing to stop players moving between the various clubs owned by the same people. An example could be Jose Bloggs plays for Donald Duck Utd in Spain he is transfered to Woolford in the UK in the transfer window then after a few weeks or months DD Utd are having real problems with injuries so Jose Bloggs is released by Woolford and as a free Agent can resign for DD Utd the more than 2 clubs in 12 months will not count as he is going back to the club that owned him before. It's not hard to see how people who own multiple clubs can circumvent the current rules and regs with very little thought.
Am I right in saying that you can only play for 2 clubs in a season without a special dispensation? If so, at least it would mean they would have to move for the rest of the season.
To be honest clubs have been doing this for years. Most clubs of lower divisions have parent clubs that they get a few extra players from. And the rules are that you are only allowed 5 loanees in your first 16 so there is nothing stopping you having more and having a squad rotation system. Did we all make a fuss in our first season when we got to the playoff and Stoke got promoted having 9 players on loan? No because they loaned from various clubs and not all from the Directors second club. If you look at teams like Real Madrid and Barca They don't loan many players out as what they do is sell players with buy back clauses so if the player they sell turn out good they can buy them back on the cheap or Madrid a few years back bought a player for cash plus part exchanged for a player they had sold to another team so bought back solely to be part of the part exchange so there has been many loop holes that have been around for years so nothing new.
If you move between the same two clubs it does not count under the way the law is currently written, Apparently noone foresaw people owning more than one club as I was under the impression that under UEFA rules it was not allowed unless they messed up and forgot about owning clubs in different countries.
