Martin Samuel The Mail - Great read and FFP reality bite

[JGL07]

Remember, our owners as well as all the others have signed up to abide by this. Reason being they could see that this would be good for City in the long run.

However, the FFPR only apply to European competitions. So is there anything to stop a new owner taking a long term plan of spending heavily to win domestic honours, then consolidating for a year or 2 to abide by FFPR and be allowed in to Europe after that. It would be harder to get players to come on the promise of Europe in the future, but as our owners are proving, nothing's impossible!

Without access to the revenue from the Champions' league you cannot come anywhere near meeting FFP rules. Equally to attract the best players when not involved in the Champions' League requires paying a heavy premium in wages.

City managed to scramble through just before the drawbridge was raised. It could end up as pretty much a closed shop from now on if the FFP rules are fully enforced.

 

[Bluemoon dan]

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

If only all journalists full stop never mind football ones. Samuel's non football related columns are also always well worth a read.

 

[Tony - MCFC]

Best journo by a mile. Always top notch read.

 

[M18CTID]

Great article and nice to see some Rags getting a history lesson in the comments section:

Geoff Kearsley, Ormskirk - Wrong, wrong, and wrong again. Learn something about United's history before you spout such ill-informed rubbish. The fact is that United have been buying their way to success for the past 110 years - ever since John Henry Davies pitched up at Bank Street in 1902, you've had owners pumping cash into United to grow the club. After Davies there was James Gibson who did exactly the same, and after him there was Louis Edwards who invested some of the money from his dodgy meat business. Fast forward to the summer of 1989 and his son oversaw a spending spree on players that was unprecedented in the English game at the time, this despite only finishing 10th the season before. Most of this money was borrowed, not self-generated, and it plunged the club deep into debt. There you have it - several occasions where United have spent far more than they earnt, and the success followed later. How is what Manchester City are doing now any different?

 

[BlueBas]

Every one is talking about us & FFPR, but all the clubs in Europe will be affected. United need to replace Giggs, Scholes and Rio (as well as journey men such as Berbaflop and Michael Owen). If, as lots of newspaper speculation expects, Fergie goes for the likes of Modric, Bale, Hazard, Schneider etc, they will still have to fund it all. I know they have better revenue than us at the moment, giving a profit last year of ~£50m. But they can't afford to splash £100m any more than we can, specially with their debts still running at about £500m. We have the advantage of a fairly young squad, and certainly no-one nearing retirement age. I know we have to get the wage bill down and get rid of our journeymen (Adebayor springs to mind, although Adam Johnson and Edin Dzeko may also be on their way. I know there are others, but can't think who at the moment!) But, even with all that, our squad, even with no new arrivals (can't see it!), would still be better than they were this year, for the experience they have gained playing as a team!

 

[citymike1969]

I always thought that Terry Hall and the Specials were from Coventry.

Apart from that, great article.

And it was very moving.

Terry Hall has lived in cheadle for 30 odd years rag 100%

...he might have lived in cheadle for thirty years, and be a good friend of that gobshite boyle but he's from Coventry and was a rag when he lived there, the miserable as fuck, divine right, glory hunting ****.

 

[OB1]

A fine article from a sensible, objective journalist. If only UEFA would take note of his articles on the subject of FFP.

 

[sincity]

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

Regarding that, two things can happen.
One, with the exception of Utd, the other major clubs can only sign one or two players a season (unless they also sell), based on their revenues. So this would mean that lower clubs will not necessarily get plundered every time they discover a star.

Two, you will probably never see a 50mil buy of Torres or a 35mil buy of Carroll ever again. Player value and agent commission will come down, as will, eventually, the wage demands. Players will find it hard to move, because other clubs will make doubly sure that they are buying players that will be value for money, since they will not find it easy to make good profits in a future sale. Player exchanges will be the norm..

Youth player development and sales Or more avenues for investment would be the right way to go, and so our owner is going in the right direction, but City would need to hold on till it becomes profitable.

 

[munster]

The stated mischief behind FFP was the risk of a club going bankrupt because of an owner's "never-never" finance.

I'm not seeing how that applies to City.

I seriously can't see how UEFA will sanction this; any points deduction or exclusion from competition and they'll be a referral to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (or similar tribunal).

 

[VOOMER]

Every one is talking about us & FFPR, but all the clubs in Europe will be affected. United need to replace Giggs, Scholes and Rio (as well as journey men such as Berbaflop and Michael Owen). If, as lots of newspaper speculation expects, Fergie goes for the likes of Modric, Bale, Hazard, Schneider etc, they will still have to fund it all. I know they have better revenue than us at the moment, giving a profit last year of ~£50m. But they can't afford to splash £100m any more than we can, specially with their debts still running at about £500m. We have the advantage of a fairly young squad, and certainly no-one nearing retirement age. I know we have to get the wage bill down and get rid of our journeymen (Adebayor springs to mind, although Adam Johnson and Edin Dzeko may also be on their way. I know there are others, but can't think who at the moment!) But, even with all that, our squad, even with no new arrivals (can't see it!), would still be better than they were this year, for the experience they have gained playing as a team!

Our advantage is they are running at full tilt in terms of revenue streams. there's virtually zero space for growth for them. rather than in the past when its was say the dippers and the gooners they had to compete with, in transfer dealings, they have chelski and us in England, then real, barca, Anthi (the russsian team), PSG and Malaga in europe, all of whom can pay better wages and bigger transfer fees. We like 3 of those teams have barely scratched the surface when it comes to earning potential, its all just a matter of time.<br /><br />-- Wed May 02, 2012 6:34 pm --<br /><br />

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

Regarding that, two things can happen.
One, with the exception of Utd, the other major clubs can only sign one or two players a season (unless they also sell), based on their revenues. So this would mean that lower clubs will not necessarily get plundered every time they discover a star.

Two, you will probably never see a 50mil buy of Torres or a 35mil buy of Carroll ever again. Player value and agent commission will come down, as will, eventually, the wage demands. Players will find it hard to move, because other clubs will make doubly sure that they are buying players that will be value for money, since they will not find it easy to make good profits in a future sale. Player exchanges will be the norm..

Youth player development and sales Or more avenues for investment would be the right way to go, and so our owner is going in the right direction, but City would need to hold on till it becomes profitable.

The FFP will be challenged and scrapped and probably not replaced as it becomes clear its a cluster *uck idea with almost zero merit. I certainly don't forsee, nor does anyone else that we have some kind of usa sport style trading system.