Martin Samuel The Mail - Great read and FFP reality bite

[Jumanji]

Whenever any club does well, up pops a bigger club to plunder their manager and best players. Oh well, just means in the long run that if we get it right Financially we will be the dominant force for years to come

Very true. Just look at Newcastle.

Now that they are doing well, every man and his dog wants Ben Arfa, Tiote, etc to join their team.

And knowing how football works, those fans will get their wish as Newcastle will struggle to keep their players. Guaranteed.

 

[waspish]

If they made it top 6, Stoke and Bolton wouldn't get anywhere near it as you'd simply have six already bigger and better teams getting a £30-40m headstart over them every single year. It would also create a situation where there were two more clubs for all the 'ambitious' players to go.

The whole problem with the current Champions League format is that it is self-perpetuating; once you're in, you get a huge helping hand to ensure you stay there.

A novel idea, I know, but the Champions League should be for the Champions only. Never going to happen though, unfortunately.

Didn't Leicester get top 6 and Bolton under fat Sam? The thing is teams like Sunderland Everton villa and even a stoke will think its achievable? If we wouldn't of been bought out I'd think it would of been achievable

My point is that once you make it top 6, those sort of teams are as likely to break into it as they are to break into the top 4 under the current system. If they did it this year, you'd be giving City, United, Arsenal, Tottenham, Newcastle and Chelsea all an additional £30-40m each with which to fund further team development. It would just entrench those teams at the top and make it even more difficult for the likes of Stoke and Bolton to compete.

What's up with those teams getting in champs league I want a competitive league not one like Spain and Scotland

 

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

Its all part of the(?) plan to create the European super league

Karl-Heinz, I fancy! Aided and abetted by the 'I've no idea where I'm going' Platini!

 

[Dubai Blue]

Didn't Leicester get top 6 and Bolton under fat Sam? The thing is teams like Sunderland Everton villa and even a stoke will think its achievable? If we wouldn't of been bought out I'd think it would of been achievable

My point is that once you make it top 6, those sort of teams are as likely to break into it as they are to break into the top 4 under the current system. If they did it this year, you'd be giving City, United, Arsenal, Tottenham, Newcastle and Chelsea all an additional £30-40m each with which to fund further team development. It would just entrench those teams at the top and make it even more difficult for the likes of Stoke and Bolton to compete.

What's up with those teams getting in champs league I want a competitive league not one like Spain and Scotland

You've lost me now. Nothing's wrong with any of those teams getting in the Champions League, but once they do the likes of Stoke and Bolton won't be challenging for 6th place again.

 

[BoyBlue_1985]

Holy crap balls that is an epic piece of writing

 

[waspish]

My point is that once you make it top 6, those sort of teams are as likely to break into it as they are to break into the top 4 under the current system. If they did it this year, you'd be giving City, United, Arsenal, Tottenham, Newcastle and Chelsea all an additional £30-40m each with which to fund further team development. It would just entrench those teams at the top and make it even more difficult for the likes of Stoke and Bolton to compete.

What's up with those teams getting in champs league I want a competitive league not one like Spain and Scotland

You've lost me now. Nothing's wrong with any of those teams getting in the Champions League, but once they do the likes of Stoke and Bolton won't be challenging for 6th place again.

I know where you coming from and I kinda agree but I'm saying as a fan before we got took over I believed we had chance of a top 6 finish its the hope in fans that there is a possibility of getting champions league qualification if a top 6 qualifies you for champions league, at the moment top 4 is a pipe dream for most fans/clubs with the FFP...

 

[halfcenturyup]

Next step is probably pressure to reduce the size of the national leagues "to reduce the number of games the top players play". Then increase the size of the CL groups to make the national leagues pretty much redundant, and finally consolidate the CL groups into a European league. Easy-peasie.

Its all part of the(?) plan to create the European super league

Karl-Heinz, I fancy! Aided and abetted by the 'I've no idea where I'm going' Platini!

 

[moomba]

Rather than giving the existing champions league clubs more money to entrench their position in the competition (and earn more money to further entrench their position to earn more money etc etc etc), some of the champions league money should be distributed to all clubs in the league.

The competition should be about the prestige, not the cash.

 

[Bozzie]

Another good article from Martin Samuels. I actually like the fact that he's not pro City, just un-biased.
The real problem with football finances is the amount of money paid in salaries in ratio to income and the only way that will ever be controlled is if everybody concerned with football agrees to control it. You won't find many players / agents signing up to a charter that allows players contracts to fluctuate according to their clubs finances. Both Leeds and Portsmouth have come unstuck with this and, even now at Portsmouth, Tal Ben Haim is on a £36k per week deal. To be fair, that's not his fault, it's the people at Portsmouth who agreed to it and the FA should look carefully at the 'fit and proper person' checks they carry out.

 

[nijinsky's fetlocks]

Wonderful article.
If only all football journalists had Samuel's objectivity and eloquence.