It's been a crazy week for football owners. Reading refusing to pay their bills, both Sheffield Wednesday and Scunthorpe United owners have thrown their toys out of the pram and not wanting to pay anyone or anything to do with the club.
The Government HAVE to get involved now. The FA and EFL are proving that they are not longer up to the task, vetting and checking these business people coming into the game and then turning it into a nightmare.
I'm not sure they can to any useful level, FIFA rules and the nature of the league mean it all needs to come from the clubs but I fear too many are basket cases or desperately looking for new investment to agree any sensible controls. Until then a constant string of show pony owners will do the cycle of taking over with good intentions, getting carried away, burning cash and losing fan backing and sulking off leaving debts that aren't serviceable.
Without real structural change we will keep going through the same cycle of wash, rinse, repeat.
The current discussions regarding the TV deal ought to help tier 2-4 clubs but wont as it will just get spunked on wages & fees, rather than clearing debt, improving infrastructure etc.
Yes a winning side is what attracts almost all supporters, keeping them coming & spending money at the ground requires sensible levels of investment in facilities, transport solutions, hospitality etc.
There ought to be a bigger role for fans via a supporters trust to get involved in the running of their club & not just a lip service role to the owner but one where they genuinely have a say over stuff that matters to them.
No idea how you got a thumbs down on that but also pretty clear that most fan pressure does a lot more to encourage the next big signing (and the wage and transfer inflation that come with it) than it ever has for sustainability.
You can, and probably should prioritise getting things right on the pitch but only so many teams can win a league , and relegation, or failing to get promoted for a few years shouldn't guarantee bankruptcy. It's inevitable some of those over stretching will hit issues later on and the game does close to nothing to interject.
Add in the fact fans supply most of the money directly or indirectly and can't easily move on themselves there are special requirements.
Yeah but in the same way some demand the manager to be sacked 10 minutes into the season or loan players to be sent back after 2 games, you don't actually do it unless you are bonkers, or Watford.
Getting the Government involved would only lead to increased costs, for a return of flip-flopping ideas most of which take 20 years to implement and rarely come to fruition.
Might as well pass the mantle of football governance to some random guy you'll meet down The Rye.
I think we can all agree that there is way too much money spinning around in football and that it only ever sits with those teams in the top leagues / competitions. Especially in England, the funds are only kept & shared within those in the Premier League and not shared down the leagues.
What needs to happen is that FIFA & UEFA need to grow a backbone and have a global wage cap. This should include the Saudi League & any other state run Football clubs & leagues. This is then enforced with strict penalties that harm the clubs rather than monetary fines. Bans or disqualification from competitions, penalty points in the league etc. Without a firm (bit fair) rules to follow, this situation is going to continie repeating itself again and again
And in response to those saying "That's unfair on footballers as they only have a short / limited career" I answer that a player on £10K a week, earns £520,000 a year which in the current climate, is still a lot of money! For those players earning £100,000 a week, thats £5.2 million a year (almost like winning the Lotto every year).
You can't tell me that someone like Rashford, Salah or Haaland can't live on a smaller wage? Give over! All they need to do is manage their spending better.
I'm pretty sure there's a lot of clubs, agents , players and officials that don't agree with your basic proposition (however sound) and that their lawyers won't have anything that you are suggesting without a struggle.
How many state owned oil clubs are there now? Or American owned venture/ vulture capital types? Those two areas alone are probably now the majority of the premier league who in our case hold the cash and will point to them attracting it in record numbers.
Probably won't be any big changes or quick fixes , but perhaps perversely the Prem at some point will drive some accountability in return for their handouts. As much as they will continue to do as they like they don't want to subsidize potential opponents in the championship, they'd probably much rather more came to the likes of us or went into facilities, and in return they really want all young players from around the country.
I understand that there will be opposition and to a point, understand it but if players LOVE the game, that should only improve the passion for the game rather than those who only put a shirt on for a pay cheque.
When you look at the general state of this country today, I doubt additional government involvement will improve matters.
The whole game is unsustainable. It just lives off more and more TV money, the result of which is inconvenienced matchday fans and wealthier players and agents. Alongside this are the owners (who I just don’t understand), generally losing money in return for a stack of personal abuse.
Lovely idea but the success of the premier league with fans from all around the world getting out of bed at all hours to support man utd and trash talk Arsenal and vice versa would suggest it isn't the case commercially.
Good video here: The man's an idiot, let's his 10 year old son pick managers, is awful in the transfer market so tries to cheat FFP and falls out with and sacks anyone who offers an opinion
Comments
But it's not fans' job to run a football club. Whatever the ownership structure, we *are* the football club, and some owners need reminding of that...
It's been a crazy week for football owners. Reading refusing to pay their bills, both Sheffield Wednesday and Scunthorpe United owners have thrown their toys out of the pram and not wanting to pay anyone or anything to do with the club.
The Government HAVE to get involved now. The FA and EFL are proving that they are not longer up to the task, vetting and checking these business people coming into the game and then turning it into a nightmare.
I'm not sure they can to any useful level, FIFA rules and the nature of the league mean it all needs to come from the clubs but I fear too many are basket cases or desperately looking for new investment to agree any sensible controls. Until then a constant string of show pony owners will do the cycle of taking over with good intentions, getting carried away, burning cash and losing fan backing and sulking off leaving debts that aren't serviceable.
And therein lies the problem.
Without real structural change we will keep going through the same cycle of wash, rinse, repeat.
The current discussions regarding the TV deal ought to help tier 2-4 clubs but wont as it will just get spunked on wages & fees, rather than clearing debt, improving infrastructure etc.
Yes a winning side is what attracts almost all supporters, keeping them coming & spending money at the ground requires sensible levels of investment in facilities, transport solutions, hospitality etc.
There ought to be a bigger role for fans via a supporters trust to get involved in the running of their club & not just a lip service role to the owner but one where they genuinely have a say over stuff that matters to them.
No idea how you got a thumbs down on that but also pretty clear that most fan pressure does a lot more to encourage the next big signing (and the wage and transfer inflation that come with it) than it ever has for sustainability.
You can, and probably should prioritise getting things right on the pitch but only so many teams can win a league , and relegation, or failing to get promoted for a few years shouldn't guarantee bankruptcy. It's inevitable some of those over stretching will hit issues later on and the game does close to nothing to interject.
Add in the fact fans supply most of the money directly or indirectly and can't easily move on themselves there are special requirements.
We can blame owners all we want, but fans are just as culpable.
If you give most football clubs £1M fans will demand £2M of it be spent on a players.
Yeah but in the same way some demand the manager to be sacked 10 minutes into the season or loan players to be sent back after 2 games, you don't actually do it unless you are bonkers, or Watford.
Getting the Government involved would only lead to increased costs, for a return of flip-flopping ideas most of which take 20 years to implement and rarely come to fruition.
Might as well pass the mantle of football governance to some random guy you'll meet down The Rye.
I think we can all agree that there is way too much money spinning around in football and that it only ever sits with those teams in the top leagues / competitions. Especially in England, the funds are only kept & shared within those in the Premier League and not shared down the leagues.
What needs to happen is that FIFA & UEFA need to grow a backbone and have a global wage cap. This should include the Saudi League & any other state run Football clubs & leagues. This is then enforced with strict penalties that harm the clubs rather than monetary fines. Bans or disqualification from competitions, penalty points in the league etc. Without a firm (bit fair) rules to follow, this situation is going to continie repeating itself again and again
To answer the question from earlier, Darren Moore has just stepped off the merry-go-round at Huddersfield station...
And in response to those saying "That's unfair on footballers as they only have a short / limited career" I answer that a player on £10K a week, earns £520,000 a year which in the current climate, is still a lot of money! For those players earning £100,000 a week, thats £5.2 million a year (almost like winning the Lotto every year).
You can't tell me that someone like Rashford, Salah or Haaland can't live on a smaller wage? Give over! All they need to do is manage their spending better.
I'm pretty sure there's a lot of clubs, agents , players and officials that don't agree with your basic proposition (however sound) and that their lawyers won't have anything that you are suggesting without a struggle.
How many state owned oil clubs are there now? Or American owned venture/ vulture capital types? Those two areas alone are probably now the majority of the premier league who in our case hold the cash and will point to them attracting it in record numbers.
Probably won't be any big changes or quick fixes , but perhaps perversely the Prem at some point will drive some accountability in return for their handouts. As much as they will continue to do as they like they don't want to subsidize potential opponents in the championship, they'd probably much rather more came to the likes of us or went into facilities, and in return they really want all young players from around the country.
I understand that there will be opposition and to a point, understand it but if players LOVE the game, that should only improve the passion for the game rather than those who only put a shirt on for a pay cheque.
When you look at the general state of this country today, I doubt additional government involvement will improve matters.
The whole game is unsustainable. It just lives off more and more TV money, the result of which is inconvenienced matchday fans and wealthier players and agents. Alongside this are the owners (who I just don’t understand), generally losing money in return for a stack of personal abuse.
Lovely idea but the success of the premier league with fans from all around the world getting out of bed at all hours to support man utd and trash talk Arsenal and vice versa would suggest it isn't the case commercially.
Got would just build an expensive useless rail link over football...and then abandoned it unfinished. Keep them out.
Should have started with Government,of course.
Good video here: The man's an idiot, let's his 10 year old son pick managers, is awful in the transfer market so tries to cheat FFP and falls out with and sacks anyone who offers an opinion
https://youtu.be/skspLtTkPgU?si=Nzgg9naqF6KkStGZ
Great video that. It is a lesson in “be careful what you wish for” if ever there was!
Maybe Rob Couhig isn’t such an ogre after all?
He's just asked the fans he was slagging off to pledge £2m in the next few days due to "cashflow issues" , utter clown.
After charging ridiculously greedy ticket prices. The EFL should have the power to revoke ownership or force a sale with people like that.