by ronk » Mon Aug 27, 2012 3:39 pm
And the answer is a return to a 92 way even split of TV money...
The lower divisions made their mistake by not getting a deal for terrestrial TV when the had the chance. The money didn't matter, audience was the real key. It's too late to fix that.
Clubs are acting in naked self interest, as always. FFP is a way for owners to make money, that's all. As mentioned in the article, profits are rare enough at football clubs and many clubs have imperilled themselves chasing on the field success. These rules would change that , the biggest effect would be on clubs trying to do what Leeds and Portsmouth etc. attempted: speculate.
The debt provisions are a mistake, but the basic idea is sound, and from one perspective it's actually decent long term thinking. Existing owners are shutting out the option of selling to a dodgy leveraged buyer and cashing in. They have to be in it for the long haul because they'll have to figure out a way to make a profit.
Salaries are often so high because there is a small number of players willing and available to move, so big offers are made in those circumstances. With FFP there'll be more players chasing smaller pots of money so we won't tend to see the same bouts of wage inflation caused by a team with money to spend.
What will be interesting will be the wage structure effects. Scum, Arsenal and Spurs have structures and they often get away with paying less for players and players tend to look for pay-rises to move. It'll become harder for them to sell players to make a profit as the situation persists where players are willing to take pay cuts to be at a "big club".
