Football Regulator

[Berkshire Blade]

Populist bullshit.

I'd bet that far fewer football clubs go out of business than in the vast majority of other sectors.

Football's problem is that player's who're slightly too good for the Dog and Duck earn "£250K" a year. Those who play for the Dog and Duck pay for the priviledge. I don't see why the premier league should fund this.

My local non league went bust. They were 2/3 leagues below the conference. Paying 3k a week in wages at one point with crowds around 200 people. A cap at all levels of spending needs to happen. No player needs 200k more a week than they would get elsewhere! English Football has never had more money coming into it yet very few clubs break even which should be the aim!

 

[FallowfieldBlade]

The government are setting up a new independent body to regulate football.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/64536218

If they added a wage cap half the problems in football would disapear IMO

 

[Brian Deane]

My local non league went bust. They were 2/3 leagues below the conference. Paying 3k a week in wages at one point with crowds around 200 people. A cap at all levels of spending needs to happen. No player needs 200k more a week than they would get elsewhere! English Football has never had more money coming into it yet very few clubs break even which should be the aim!

Clubs will still get around any spending caps as well as capping players wages, one off bonuses, property, cars etc literally anything to add as an incentive.

 

[FallowfieldBlade]

Clubs will still get around any spending caps as well as capping players wages, one off bonuses, property, cars etc literally anything to add as an incentive.

No they wouldnt any team getting around it would be punished like Man city who have destroyed FFP

 

[noire]

Half the players would disappear. Wage caps are an awful idea.

Football clubs are a private enterprise. Let them pay what they wish.

 

[Alan Birchenall's hair]

Half the players would disappear. Wage caps are an awful idea.

Football clubs are a private enterprise. Let them pay what they wish.

Exactly. This isn't the NHS. Or the Education system. Or people freezing to death. Or not having enough to eat. Or fighting substance addictions. It's people kicking a fucking ball about. We watch this for recreation, albeit that it's important to us. What people get paid for doing something simple as running around booting a ball is no business of the Government. Unless fraud is perpetrated (which can be addressed under current law), they should keep the fuck out of it.
Of course if the Prem, EFL, FA, want to impose a salary cap etc that's up to them. But it's no business of 'independent' stooges imposed on footy by the likes of dopey Nadine Dorries. And wouldn't you think they have better things to try and sort?

 

[Berkshire Blade]

Half the players would disappear. Wage caps are an awful idea.

Football clubs are a private enterprise. Let them pay what they wish.

Where to? The premier league is by far the biggest financially. Other leagues can't compete and wouldn't with sensible caps either.

 

[alcoblade]

Half the players would disappear. Wage caps are an awful idea.

Football clubs are a private enterprise. Let them pay what they wish.

I agree with this- so what's the problem they're trying to tackle with a regulator?

 

[noire]

Where to? The premier league is by far the biggest financially. Other leagues can't compete and wouldn't with sensible caps either.

Are the other leagues in the world going to follow our lead with salary caps in the spirit of fair play?

No is the simple answer.

All we will get is a resurgence of leagues in either Europe like Serie A and an exodus of talent. If you like James Richardson and long for the return of Football Italia on Channel 4 this might seem like a good thing I suppose.

I have quite enjoyed seeing the worlds best come to The Lane in our brief spells in the top flight in the past 25 years.

It’s pure inane jealous bitterness. Footballers get paid that much because they can do things 99.999% of the population can’t. Whether or not you consider what they do to be worth the money is another matter. But it’s private money so it isn’t an issue.

The idea that a wage cap an an “independent” regulator will somehow ensure everyone gets a turn to win the league and Marcus Rashford will sign for Hartlepool because it’s “fair” is utterly ridiculous and laughable.

I think of all the clubs on the land we probably have the most to worry about. Another layer of people in suits who know very little making decisions is the last thing one of the most unfashionable and unpopular clubs in the League needs.

 

[Berkshire Blade]

Are the other leagues in the world going to follow our lead with salary caps in the spirit of fair play?

La Liga has had one for a decade I believe

I actually like what la Liga do and set real time ffp that's why Barca had to let Messi go and sell players/reduce wages so yes other countries do have their own caps. Real Madrid and Barca are the only two clubs who really have the pull equal or better than the top premier league clubs and even they have to play within strict rules

 

[BladeByChoice]

Protect the cultural heritage of English football,

OK let me make a suggestion.

Have an area of every ground, home and away sections, for unrestricted standing, not safe standing, not rail seating, just cow shed terracing, and have somewhere for pissed up testosterone filled young men to go and have a bloody good punch up.

Now I’m an old twat I want to call the young lads daft cunts for doing what I did in the 70’s, just like the old twats in the 70’s did to me.

 

[Cassius Kray]

The White Paper has finally been published, if anyone is interested in reading it:
https://assets.publishing.service.g...of_club_football_governance_-_White_Paper.pdf

I'm not entirely clear how a Regulator works in conjunction with FIFA's requirement that its members (i.e. the FA) be independent and free from external interference.

 

[noire]

The La Liga model basically ensures the biggest clubs can continue doing what they want with creative accounting (which they can afford) and the rest continue as they were.

I can’t honestly believe anyone would hold Barcelona and Real Madrid as shining examples of financial stability and cortinthian sporting integrity.

The fantasy that Manchester City will be relegated to the Conference, stripped of their titles and forced to ground share with Stockport County is just that. A fantasy.

English football is no better and no worse than any other league. The biggest supported and therefore richest clubs will always rise to the top. If we suddenly reverted to a German style 51% fan ownership rule we would end up with Manchester United winning the league uninterrupted for the next 20 years.

 

[jt64]

My local non league went bust. They were 2/3 leagues below the conference. Paying 3k a week in wages at one point with crowds around 200 people. A cap at all levels of spending needs to happen. No player needs 200k more a week than they would get elsewhere! English Football has never had more money coming into it yet very few clubs break even which should be the aim!

You can cap the amount a club can spend, but limiting the amount a player can make would almost certainly be illegal. And, as has been pointed out upthread, unless you get agreement from all FA's worldwide, it is completely pointless and just putting the English game at a competitive disadvantage

 

[Sheffsteel]

Football as it was known before the PL even started was way more balanced as a whole. For me it's the PL that has ruined it.

That's a well used cliche but the facts suggest differently.
Football has never been so popular and the English league has never been so far above the competition regards income and standards.

Think it all comes down to ambition and how you see building up a business.
Should the intention be "to make just enough money" to survive (very much a think small Sheffield attitude)
or "make as much money as the market will allow" and expand as much as you can without boundaries, this is ambitious capitalist attitude.

Are the other leagues in the world going to follow our lead with salary caps in the spirit of fair play?

No is the simple answer.

All we will get is a resurgence of leagues in either Europe like Serie A and an exodus of talent. If you like James Richardson and long for the return of Football Italia on Channel 4 this might seem like a good thing I suppose.

I have quite enjoyed seeing the worlds best come to The Lane in our brief spells in the top flight in the past 25 years.

It’s pure inane jealous bitterness. Footballers get paid that much because they can do things 99.999% of the population can’t. Whether or not you consider what they do to be worth the money is another matter. But it’s private money so it isn’t an issue.

The idea that a wage cap an an “independent” regulator will somehow ensure everyone gets a turn to win the league and Marcus Rashford will sign for Hartlepool because it’s “fair” is utterly ridiculous and laughable.

I think of all the clubs on the land we probably have the most to worry about. Another layer of people in suits who know very little making decisions is the last thing one of the most unfashionable and unpopular clubs in the League needs.

Seems a bit harsh but it's the truth, you've hit the nail on the head there.

I listen to the Euro show on Talksport and the experts were saying the Italian league is dying a slow death, there's so little interest. They were also saying the Spanish league is also slowly diminishing. The top half teams are very good but the bottom half are really poor and offer little competition. He said the big mistake these leagues made was to allow clubs to negotiate their own TV deal however it's backfired because the PL share out their TV money so even the worse teams in the PL are given 120 million each season, this results in every game being tough and the English league having the reputation as being the best (in depth) league in the world.

Hence why Real, Barca, Juventus and Milan can see their leagues (and their wealth) becoming smaller in future.
So they are desperate to stop the Premier League juggernaut by starting a new Euro super league to compete against the Premier League.

I've also heard other guests on the show talk about how MASSIVE the Premier League is.
The South American expert Tim Vickery who lives in Rio said only the other week that people in England probably don't realise how big the Premier League is there. He said it's really sad because very few Brazillians are interested in the Brazilian league anymore as all the kids seem obsessed with the Premier League and you see so many Man Utd, Arsenal and Liverpool shirts everywhere on the streets. Tim actually said that you can tell when there's a big PL match being shown on TV because the traffic is quiet and there's hardly anyone on the street because most people are inside watching the match. I've also heard similar about how massive the Premier League is in India, Australia and even in the USA, where they are complaining that many Americans are more interested in the Premier League than the MLS.

Agree the motivation behind this is nothing to do with improving the game....it's plain jealousy.

 

[Berkshire Blade]

Seems a bit harsh but it's the truth, you've hit the nail on the head there.

If you ignore the fact la Liga has had a salary cap since 2013 I guess No idea what the french, German and Italian leagues rules are but la Liga is probably still the biggest rival to the premier league and they can do it.

 

[Charlieblade]

Yeah that's just what we need for what is one of Britain's most successful industries. Premier League grounds sold out every week with matches beamed all around the world. Half the Championship clubs getting more than 20k every week. Half the League One clubs getting 15k plus. Even National League has many teams on 5k plus. No sign that I can see that this popularity waning.
Bury are cited as an example of what can go wrong. Well sure, they had a knobhead in charge. But when he was spending like a drunken sailor on shore leave, Bury fans had no problem. It's just when it went tits up, that they were up in arms. Blackpool fans were happy when Oyston got to the Prem, but less so when they tumbled down again.
So a wealthy fan of, let's say Bristol City takes over the club and promises investment, that he's always been a fan blah blah. They'd love him. Then he puts his missus in charge of the first team and down they go. No amount of regulation can stop that.

Fans on the board? Half of us think Sander is the messiah and the other half think he's a waste of space. Depending which persuasion gets a vocal representative on the board, his decision on selling/keeping Berge will piss off the other half. Keep fans away from the board. Objectivity is needed. And as for changing identity, well Leeds United were called Leeds City until the 1960s and played in blue and yellow. Nobody would think that was their identity now. (Leyton) Orient have had both names, and I don't think many cared. Swansea City were called Swansea Town etc etc....

But the best of the lot is the idea that this (or any) government are capable of appointing a regulator that could improve things. Let's look at some of them. OFGEM - did a great job in regulating supplier entry into the market didn't they? Fuck knows how many many have gone bust in the last year. OFWAT - still 50+ litres of water per person per day leaking under ground. FCA - well everyone still has a bank nearby don't they? And we're still subsidising Lloyds TSB after they were bailed out 12 years ago.
Tosspots like Gary Neville only whinge because Man Utd. aren't winning everything like they did previously. Note that he played for the club under the Glazers ownership for 6 years but never uttered a peep 'cos they were successful and he was getting big bucks. Now he suddenly thinks it's all wrong.

And where does regulation stop. I know 2 blokes in our village pub who have supported Penistone Church FC in the NECL League for 40 years, and travel to every away match. Like we can name all old Blades players, they reminisce about old PCFC players. If someone took them over and screwed up, would the regulator have been responsible for that failure? After all some of their players are semi-pro. PCFC matter to these 2 guys just as much as the Blades matter to us......

The last Sports Minister, dopey Nadine Dorries, talked of 'tennis pitches' and gave a speech to the Rugby Football League commenting on how exciting it was when Jonny Wilkinson kicked the last minute drop goal to win the World Cup. And we seriously think this lot can 'regulate' football? Do me a favour.....

Outstanding! A brilliant post made by someone with a bit of vision and foresight. Sorry I could only give it one like.

 

[Champagneblade]

A lot of the Premier League is based on greed.

The problem with greed is that it's never satisfied.

I think there has to be far more regulation on agents. To have situations where the Agent can be paid by both clubs and the player is somewhat obscene.

Needs to somehow be channelled back to the days when agents were player representatives paid by players.

I won't hold my breath though!

 

[BrisBlade]

It will be interesting to see if this incentivised the Premier League to make some changes to be able to refute the need for a regulator.

I know a lot of sensible folk argue against it, but I like the idea of having the voice of the fans on the board. That doesn't mean Joe in seat 347A gets decision making rights - instead something like each season ticket holder gets to vote for a representative and the top three are included as non-voting members to ensure a balanced spread. This would force owners to have to front up and listen to supporters groups before they act. It would also foster a connection between the board as custodians and the fans as long term stakeholders.

 

[robbiez666]

I'm confused by some of the logic in this thread.

The Premier League being huge is not good in the interests of football. It is good for clubs in the Premier League.

I would rather Brazilians support Brazilian clubs, Nigerians support Nigerian clubs etc. Now that's in the interests of football.

Money is destroying football for all but the chosen few. I couldn't give a shit if more UK footballers went abroad. It's hardly harmed every single country who win the word cup. How many Argentina players play in Argentina?

Football is slowly dying as a sport because while the interest in say the Premier League has never even greater, the interest is growing outside of the UK. How many kids can get tickets to their local teams if they're Arsenal, Chelsea, Man City, Man U etc?

It's becoming a game where only the rich can attend at the top end and one increasingly supported by people watching on TV/illegal streams.

What happens when billionaire decide they aren't interested in football and put their money elsewhere? Or governing bodies start prosecuting them for cheating? This is not a sustainable way to run a sport.

Football is about supporting your local team. How many kids do that now? Fast forward 50 years and will we just have mega franchises playing in random locations? Teams have already started doing this in some sports.

There always seems to be a carrot involved in this. Sheffield United will never be one of these mega clubs. We may occasionally get to play them but it will just become less and less of a contest.

 

[Crackers]

So y’all would be happy being bought by a venture capital fund, relocated to Don Valley and renamed the Sheffield Pidgeons? I’ll make a few calls..