It explains that City’s case and Everton & Forests are different, both in scope and timeline, and the reason for the near term punishments is they are near term exceedances to which the PL teams had agreed. City’s is a historical claim related to past supposed indiscretions that are not only different in scope and scale, but time…as in they pre-date the the PSR under which Everton & Forest are being charged.
In short, it explains the irony that FFP was introduced to STOP CITY (and PSG) from crashing the UEFA Cartel Party, but was unsuccessful and now City ARE part of the Cartel, at least in terms of our record breaking revenues, so these rules will never ensnare us while catching clubs of the same profile as City in the 2006-2010 period of ownership transition and spend to improve!
It is only now, I think, that some City fans are starting to realize just how important the Top 4, the Champions League, and repeatedly getting to the latter stages of it, have been to the Club.
The revenue generated just from going deep is a regular €100M pay day. Then, you get to “inflate” your current Commercial Revenues and generate significantly more due to the global success of the competition.
For example, using numbers pulled from my arse, the sleeve sponsor stops being a €5M sponsor and becomes a €10M sponsor. Your game shirt main sponsor becomes a €50M/yr sponsor instead of a €15M/yr sponsor, and so on…
In short, CL success, combined with PL success, coupled with a high profile manager and a few superstar players, has created a commercial juggernaut that has grown exponentially rather than incrementally, and put us at the zenith of financial sustainability.
From here, we don’t need massive growth to be able to compete for everything, we just need to sustain our level of income from outside sources.
Soon, you may also be able to add an event venue and hotel to that mix, as well as another 5,000 seasoncards!
For most “average” clubs, maintaining PL status keeps them ticking along nicely, and the parachute payments help the yo-yo clubs stay competitive.
However, for the Top 6 or 8 clubs vying for the title, a domestic trophy, or European qualification, the commercial rewards from those things might mean the difference between viability and an FFP/PSR violation! The trick is to try to qualify BEFORE you spend like you already have. This is the problem Chelsea might face and, were the Glazer’s not usurping the concept through debt , United’s CL demise would exacerbate.
I’m not opposed to clubs being run in a conservative manner, but I am opposed to club’s not being allowed to accept significant financial inputs from either owners or outsiders. It’s how British clubs traditionally grew, and is certainly how the current elite teams became who they are!
www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk