If Fulham pick up a couple more yellows then Blackpool might get a Europa League place...
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Chelsea topped the fair play league? That's suprising.
*edit*
Just looked the at Premier League Fair Play table.
Chelsea scored highest out of everyone on positive play (ie. attacking football) and Newclastle scored lowest, both by a fair margin. Not immensely suprising after yesterday's game but it highlights just how frustrating this season has been for us throwing away so many points despite being such an attacking side.Last edited by abigsmurf; 16-05-2011, 10:13.Comment
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As expected Man City are being linked with every player in the world. Main rumours are Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale this morning. Apparently ?40 million on the table for Bale...Comment
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as much as i hate the thought of it but im resigned City will win the league in the next few years, they will spend until they do and 40 million for bale, i bet spurs sell, as for Ronaldo no chance as Real really dont need citys money.Comment
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With City now in the CL, I fear that anyone our teams are interested in they will lap them up. As a Liverpool fan, a team also linked with top players (Eden Hazard today), I can't see us attracting these guys without CL football. Mind you we got Suarez and I think Chelsea sniffed around him.Last edited by hudson; 18-05-2011, 11:28.Comment
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Man City could completely overhaul the team this close season really. Now they definitely have Champions League (and if the beat Bolton at the weekend, they won't even have to play a qualifier) then they're a more attractive place to go. Previously they've been able to pull in players looking for a payday, but not those who don't need the money and just want to play Champ League.
Not the case anymore. I'd expect them to sell at least 10 players and bring in new ones.Comment
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I doubt they will do that. With the FFP rules coming into place next season, they going to have to find a way to stick by those rules.Originally posted by Flabio View Post
And you know it's a big risk selling most the team that got you there, and buying 10 new players. They will have the problem of not gelling for a few months, which could mean a slow start, which allows the likes of Liverpool and Spurs to get a march on them in the league. And they will be back to square one. All Man City need to do is sign 2-3 players and keep doing that.
I doubt also Chelsea were sniffing around Suarez. Pretty sure they were sniffing around Torres at that time. For Liverpool, unlike Man City, they are a big club so should be attractive to players.Comment
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Indeed, it's going to be interesting to see how a club like Man City (who in their last accounts showed that their yearly turnover doesn't even cover their yearly wage bill yet, let alone player purchases) will cope with those new rules. A lot will also depend on how strictly UEFA enforce them.Originally posted by Prototype View Post
I read an article written by Gabriele Marcotti which said that in order to help ease the rules in, clubs that break the rules in one year may still be allowed to play in European competitions if they can show that they are "moving in the right direction". It's probably sensible as it would be tough for all clubs to comply overnight, but I fear it's something that could be exploited to make sure glamour clubs that break the rules are still allowed into the CL.Comment
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The FFP rules are still not going to be in place for a while. For 2 seasons the most you'll get are letters from UEFA.
After that there'll be a bit of a grace period where they allow some leeway so long as a club is moving towards being self sufficient.
Incidentally, how are new stadia covered by the rules? A new stadium could easily put a club a few hundred million out of pocket and I believe the rules only allow clubs to spread big purchases over a couple of years under these rules (whereas you'd expect stadium financing to take 10-15 years).
It's also somewhat amusing that bank loans aren't covered as expenses. Man U's debt keeps increasing yet they meet the guidelines, a club in administration could meet the guidelines. I half suspect this was a provision to allow for the dodgy loans in Spanish football.Comment
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From everything I've read, capital projects such as building a new stadium aren't included in the UEFA calculations when they're deciding if a club complies with FFP.Comment
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I believe the new FFP rules draw a distinction between 'good' debt (such as infrastructure for ground improvement or building youth academies) and 'bad' debt such as Man Utds leveraged buy out or the likes of Stoke/Sunderland etc who just borrow millions they can't afford to buy players. I think they also frown on debt for equity swaps such as that done by Abramovich at Chelsea.
The way certain clubs are still spending like drunken sailors on shore leave makes me think they believe they've found a way around the rules as big spend now will see huge amortisation figures hit the books in the next 4 or 5 years. Its not simply a case of buy a team now and forget about the spend in a year or two, transfers fees are spread over the length of a players contract and those huge signings also attract huge wages.Comment
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It's not all bad at our joint - some of the the 'loans' from Ellis Short have been restructured into shares, and the others have no interest rate and no repayment date.
Once he calls them in though, we're screwed.Comment
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Ah ha, found the article I was talking about.
Agree with Merf, I don't think the Man City owners (for example) would spend a huge amount on transfer fees and wages without giving any thought to the incoming FFP rules. If City go out and spend ?100 million or more on players again this summer, they clearly believe the FFP rules aren't going to be a problem.Comment
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I can see quite a few clubs sticking two fingers up to the FFP rules and daring UEFA to ban them.
Can you really see UEFA going on a banhammer trip if Real, Chelsea and a bunch of others all decided to ignore the ruling?Comment
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so taking on Flabio's point further I could quite see the huge clubs that would clearly fail the rulings all having a chat behind closed doors and agreeing to say sod it lets blow their rules and dare them to ban us all, I can see poor Arsene's face now if that happens whilst we are fielding our financially compliant team of under 21 dwarves.
why spend fortunes on lawyers, accountants, weird off balance sheet structures and bank arrangment fees if you can go simple and all just plain ignore the rules and dare UEFA to ruin their cash cow by kicking out Real, City, Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool, Milan, Inter etc strength in numbers would be a powerful allyComment
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