How Would YOU Design Football Finance Law?

[citizen_maine]

1. All debt must be at zero before transfers can be carried out as ffp was first introduced to stop clubs going into debt with funds they don’t have.

That might have been the original intention, but no implementation of FFP has ever addressed debt

 

[mattcity5]

In response to the original question, my first question would be "Why do we need any football finance laws?".

I don't think there's been a single benefit having any of the rules, so get rid of them.

 

[mattcity5]

It sounds harsh but there is something to be said for this. Soccernomics points out that football club’s “customers” are not like that of a normal business and stay loyal. They just start again and hardly ever disappear forever.

That said I think there are even better ways to have a free market and yet preserve competition.

I wouldn't say that competition needs preserving though. That will happen on its own to some extent. There are so many very good players around the world these days, it doesn't even really matter if one team buys the best 25 players. There are other players available.

The money side of it is just an excuse for failing teams.

 

[KS55]

Aside from 2 and limiting to % of t/o as this aids the clubs with the most. I agree

You could vary the %age of t/o, so those earning the most had a smaller allowance and those lower down a bigger one on a sliding scale. Debt would then be the backstop for smaller clubs.

 

[DiscoSteve]

Give every team playing red an instant and annual £100 million fine for, simply playing in red. And that fine counts as a cost in the FFP/PSR sums.

Oh and double that for any team purporting to play in the same city as us but actually play in a small associated borough of that city.

Seems fair to me, whats not to like?

 

[foggy1974]

It depends if you are setting it up for the few as it is now because we've gone over a hundred years with very few financial regulations & only a handful of clubs in the lower leagues have gone to the wall. If an owner wants to invest then as long as its ring fenced, they can't sell off the ground & training ground, then there shouldn't be any need for a snake oil schemes like ffp

 

[ufo]

I think we can all agree the current iteration of 'PSR' is nothing more than a poorly designed, protective sets of rules that stifle outside investment & protect the old establish order from 'new' money, much like it's predecessor FFP. I have no doubt that if this isn't completely reworked we will see the downfall of the Premier League as the leading world football competition within the next 5 years.

So with that said, I'd be interested to get others views on how they would implement a financial system, that is fair to all, protecting clubs health & being welcoming to outside investment. Now, I do get the argument that some no system at all in place would be at unfair disadvantage as clubs with benefactors who have endless cash could simply keep buying players, regardless of performance, with no real threat to the financial health of the club, until they get it right. Some clubs medium to short-term financial health is dependent on getting their signings right - literally shit or bust. On the other side of the spectrum is we can't have rules that simply maintain an established order from any sustained threat to their revenues (through CL qualification et al.) such as those in place, clearly dictated by the likes of Arsenal, Liverpool & United.

The rules imo need to include the following:
- The safeguarding of a clubs financial health.
- Competitive fairness regardless of club 'size or history'.
- No deterrence to outside investment.
- A system that is flexible & nonrestrictive.
- Governed by an independent regulator.

But how to design/implement it?

What say you?

Unlimited debt cap for rags only .
Anyone using courtinho money as a disguise or home down payment should get maximum prison time.
Annual pl audit by an independent auditor and make it public

 

[He’stheleftbackremember]

Limit debt, including debt to tax man to a specific level before the league step in and direct club via a plan to reduce said debt by selling players etc, if they don’t follow agreed plan then points deducted. Different levels of debt allowed for each division. The higher the division more debt you are allowed, but the same for every club in that division. The level must be agreed as sustainable for a typical club in that division.

 

[TonyM]

How can you get any simplier than today's basing it off kit colour?

 

[Blue Maverick]

Limit debt, set a bond the owner must take out in case it all goes tits up so the club can use that, I’d say £500 million. I’d like to see a wage cap but that would have to be done worldwide so it would never happen, follow the law of the land and don’t think you are something special.