bluenova said:
strongbowholic said:
I don't know of any other industry where there is such protectionism, and worse, it is accepted. Cocal Cola and Pepsi are rival companies, competing for market share. No one is interested in how they have grown their brand, how they have developed their product, how they have exploited their commercial markets, how they have been funded or what they have invested in. Further, no one is demanding those companies share their profits equally within their industry among Virgin Cola, Rola Cola, Panda and Corona.
It's quite incredible.
er....I thought football was a sport?
No other industry would accept their annual profits being affected by a handful of young men kicking a leather bag of wind around for 90 minutes a week.
As for salary caps being illegal - I doubt that's relevant. They have salary caps in the US, and they're not known for their socialist principles over there. The caps are based on agreement, and rules of participation in competitions. The EU have already given the green light to FFP, and other sports have salary caps.
I find it a little depressing that we expect to be able to outspend everyone, and then threaten legal action if anyone tries to stop us.
I have no problem with the money we spent winning the title because it's no different to the billions Arsenal, Utd, Liverpool and Chelsea have spend over the last decade (around £5billion in wages between them) - but I don't see it as a 'good thing' for football in general unless it helps brings about change and leads to more genuine competition.
No,depressingly, it's a business. Football is merely the product. This notion of the Corinthian spirit is as dead as the dinosaurs.
They may well have salary caps, by agreement in the US, however, as I point out, the second you restrict an employees earnings in Europe, you leave yourself open to challenge in the courts based on EU legislation, hence there is no way a salary cap will be reintroduced (it was abolished following a challenge many, many years ago).
How do you go about justifying to Wayne Rooney who puts bums on seats at the swamp, who is a source of vast commercial revenue to the rags, that he is going to earn minimum wage from now on despite being the main reason out of the 11 that people turn up, buy the shirts, mugs, videos, dvds ad nauseum? They don't come to see the swamp. They don't come to see the Glazers. That's why there will not be a salary cap.
It's a business. It's cold, hard, cash.
The second the rags floated as a PLC, that was it, game over. They were up for sale at any point, 24x7 to the highest bidder. Add in Sky, inflated ticket prices, the Champions League and the pigs guzzled greedily at a trough overflowing with money.
The beautiful game ceased being a sport and became a business.
They were partly responsible for creating this monster. They opened Pandora's box and it is a tad rich (excuse the pun) for anyone to be bleating about not being able to get the lid back on.
We ALL sat idly by and let this happen. Tough shit; as you sow, so shall you reap.
I would love to see a league where Wigan could realistically be in with a chance of being champions. I would love to see it so competitive that anything and anyone could win. As it stands now, even a big club like Spurs, Newcastle or even Liverpool will realistically struggle to win it again without huge investment.
They changed it to make it harder for the have nots to compete and to keep it all for themselves. They tried to ring fence the money and the trophies. Is that sport? Is that fair? Is that competitive? Of course it isn't.
