Like me, a lot of you will have been glued to the various websites during the last few hours of transfer deadline day.

Panic buying viewed from a distance is an entertaining spectacle. A bit like watching desperate blokes wandering around John Lewis at 3 o’clock on Christmas Eve willing to buy anything at any price.

And if confirmation was needed that football finance is less grounded in the real world than Collateralised Debt Obligations ever were, the transfer window provided it.

Whilst we’re all suffering because of spending cuts, tax increases, fuel prices going through the roof, house prices falling and increasing inflation biting into our spending power, football clubs, agents and players seem to live on anther planet.

Regardless of the fact that nearly all clubs (including our own) are de facto insolvent without a rich owner guaranteeing the losses, the football world continues to ignore real life. And I’m not just talking about the £50 million for Fernando Torres with a salary of nearly £10 million per year, I’m also talking about Burnley being able to agree 'personal terms' with Charlie Austin (or more likely, his greedy agent) when we couldn’t or wouldn’t. It seems that even 21-year-olds from the lower leagues expect a weekly salary that you and I would be happy to earn in a year.

A lot of us are already thinking about whether we can afford next year’s season ticket, even if the price remains the same. And quite a few of us will draw the conclusion that it is £500 that we should be spending on something more essential in the present uncertain economic climate.

It is clear that left to their own devices, clubs (apart from Arsenal) will never see sense and continue their relentless pursuit of bankruptcy and only the Abramoviches and Sheikh Mansours of this world will keep their clubs afloat until they get bored with them.

It’s about time that the football authorities in the UK do what other national associations on the continent do and issue a licence to clubs for each season based on an agreed business plan and a sensible balance of revenue and costs. And if a club can’t balance the books for the season ahead, no licence will be issued and you’re out of the league.

It’s the only way to stop the financial madness and the only way to protect clubs and supporters from £50 million transfer fees, £10 million pound salaries and £500 season tickets to watch Championship football.

Blue_Fred added 16:06 - Feb 2 Introducing a salary cap would work - clubs get x amount per season for the value of their 25 man squad and no one individual may earn more than 10% of the total cap (including bonuses). Not an instant fix, but over 3-5 years this would encourage 'sensible' salaries and therefore lead to competition. It would also see the 2nd rate European Premiership mercanaries leave the country and promote Home talent which in turn helps the National side.

0

TractorRoyNo1 added 16:33 - Feb 2 it's a global game, when Real Madrid went bust the local government bought their training ground for zillions, so you cant blame our big clubs for 'playing the game' so the rules have to come from FIFA, only when they follow a system like American Football and share the wealth / talent around will the merry go round stop. but at least the £70 million which Abramski put into the market is 'new money' and it was mostly spent in the UK, my beef is when money goes out of our leagues on carlos kickaball and his agent

0

Big_Foot_Blue added 17:31 - Feb 2 UEFA fair play finance rules start in 2012/13 where they have to be operating at a profit to be allowed in Europe but dont see how this will help because the rich citys etc will just surely put more money in the club bank
0

CleverTrevor added 21:56 - Feb 2 On a point of fact, I doubt very much Austin is earning in a week what we would be happy with in a year - unless £15k (or maybe less) will do you for a year.
0

MBG added 11:28 - Feb 3 It’s good to see some of the bloggers thinking about the wider issues. The fair play rules which come into force in 2012/13 should have an impact unless clubs use creative accounting but because there will be a long phase-in it won’t be until a decade from now that we’ll see a significant impact. What football needs is an independent body with real teeth that runs the game like they do American Grid Iron or Australian Rules. There they have strict salary caps, equitable distribution of television revenue and ticket pricing policies to make it affordable go to games. They are concerned with growing the pie. In Europe and England in particular there is no body that looks at the overall health of the game and the interests of fans so it has become a scramble to the bottom. It’s a disgrace that clubs are going to the wall because they can’t repay debts which in many cases are less than Fernando Torres, Wayne Rooney and other overpaid stars are earn in a week.

0

TractorRoyNo1 added 10:16 - Feb 4 ony prob, is that football is a truly international game and the American games are not. i can't see 'anyone' especially FIFA being able to police it, i remember when the one half hour rule came in for kids, manure apparently offered to fly bowditch (?) from stansted to manchester each week, many big clubs reportedly bring kids from overseas to their acadamies by giving their parents a house in the area and a 'job' (programme seller?) for dad - in other words these clubs will get around whatever rule is made. MBG added 11:28 - Feb 3 What football needs is an independent body with real teeth that runs the game like they do American Grid Iron or Australian Rules.

0

Blogs 297 bloggers