In these troubled times for the game it makes me wonder what our readers think needs to be done to save the ever growing number of clubs in serious trouble/ Two clubs come to mind, in Rangers and Portsmouth, when I think of prime examples as to how a team should not be run. The overall mess that the game finds itself in is down to a myriad of issues that never seem to get addressed, and until the powers that be sort it out the potential of more clubs will fall by the wayside. The part that agents play has been a sore spot with me for some time as they seem to be solely driven by their own greedy agenda and over valuing players to inflate their own bank balance. Andy Carroll's transfer is a prime case of over evaluation, but I'm sure his agent will gladly pay back some of his ill-gotten gains to Liverpool because Andy is no longer rated as a 35 million pound transfer target (lol). Getting back to reality we all know that his agent will willingly pocket another fee if he is transferred back to Newcastle. The financial aspect of the game has now gone beyond the pocketbooks of most clubs operating in anything other than the Premiership and even some of them will suffer in their aspirations of competing with the top teams. The demands of players in the salary department seems to have lost all sense of reality, especially when you consider that their dedication to their employers is at an all time low. A lot of them will constantly complain about their lot in life and conveniently forget the people who pay good money, despite their own financial constraints, to show up every week to see total non-commitment on behalf of their team. Things have to change to prevent a total disintegration of the league system and nothing can be left off the table unless the powers that run the game are prepared to sit by and let it happen. How committed are the decision makers to take an in-depth look at the game from top to bottom or are they, as I suspect, driven only by the desires of the top fashionable clubs? All clubs need to work together to stop the almost incurable disease that is starting to invade the entire integrity of our beloved sport and I might suggest they ignore the issues at their, and our, peril. Wake up before it's too late. I hope this thread will get some of us saying what needs to be said, again before it's too late.
It actually almost needs a a club to go out of existence as it would be a huge wake up call for the rest of the clubs who have lived beyond their means for decades. I really think it's time that L1 and L2 were regionalised as well. The trips that Torquay, Plymouth and Exeter have to make to the likes of Accrington and Morecambe is not sustainable. From all that's gone on there over the past 10 years, Portsmouth deserve to go the wall.
Portsmouth deserve to go the wall, no they do not. Pompey is its fans and history. Those fans have derserved better. BCFC have been guilty of ludicrous overspending as well. Difference is not so much and the owner here is prepared to overwrite the debt. Portsmouth football club is a socially important community based football club or should be. It should be about its fans, they did not control contracts or oversee them. However the FA & EPL can see contracts. If governing bodies were responisible they should have stopped the clubs egomaniac owners dishing out wages that were unsustainable. Germany has the 51% rule were fans get to own the majority of the club, fans get involved in decisions. All transfers are licensed, a system that means agents, clubs and players are far more dilligent. How does the richest league and pyramid of leagues in the world get itself into this mess? Greed. Why? Because the top clubs can just like the banks, neither were regulated or controlled. So clubs need to be regulated, financial fair play rules above all the game needs to become fairer. It won't happen unless the government step in.
Using that arguemenrt, virtually all clubs fans have the teams history and 95% of those clubs fans deserve better unless you support Man U, Chelsea or another big team. It's never about the fans, it's always about money and mis-management of the whole club, which are the same reasons that took us to the brink of extinction thirty odd years ago.
I used the 51% rule in Germany as an example of how football can be improved. Clubs owned by fans won't behave like Pompey unless some mania set in. That ruling was put in place by law. As a consequence German football is far more fan friendly.
We have to hope that the financial fair play (FPP) laws make a drastic impact as otherwise we continue to see clubs spend beyond their means. Unless you are Premiership club or a Championship club with wealthy owners, you are in a crap place right now as players wages have spiraled out of control and the clubs revenues simply cannot match them. It's all well and good saying that we want to ensure the clubs stay in existence but then the fans whine and moan about the lack of big money signings and say that the club lacks ambition. We can't have it both ways. FPP is the best attempt that I can see to bring some measure of fair play and stop clubs relying on owners to prop them up. The downside is that it widens the gulf between the Championship and the Premiership but that's the way it goes. I am in complete agreement with the salary capping that is implemented over here in the NFL. Each team can only spend an agreed amount on their entire roster. It promotes good coaching over fat wallets and allows the small market teams to compete with the big markets. New York's and Chicago's teams do not dominate. Imagine that in the UK! The big problem is that the quest is no longer just for the Premier League title but European glory as well. Unless all of UEFA agrees on salary capping, the Premier league will not as Real Madrid will continue to defy financial boundaries to "one-up" Barcelona and the rest of the Euro fat cats will try and follow them. It's hard to believe that in my lifetime our national game has become so screwed up.... all down to greed.
Right on the mark Tampa. Greed has become the downfall of many revered institutions including our beloved game. Sad really.
Football clubs are now businesses, and businesses fall every day. Portsmouth or Rangers going down will do nothing to stop businessmen from being businessmen so we need to sit back and just accept that his is what will happen.
Bristol City, indeed except a very small band of clubs are not run as businesses. When was the last time BCFC ran anywhere near a profit? Football clubs should be looked upon as extensions of their community and valuable social assets. Tesco or Cafe Nero clubs are not.
