UEFA Financial Fairplay Regulations Released

[john@staustell]

The English champions will not be excluded.

Anyone can produce 5/10/20 year 'growth plans'. Until recently I was at a certain company, and high enough up the food chain to know that the income and growth plans were stupidly optimistic as a wheeze/necessity in getting grants etc. Passed all the tests so far though, despite the creative accounting!

[Ted Hughes]

The principles of some of the ideas of FIFA/Platini are correct - stopping dubious business men buying clubs and milking them for all they are worth, by loading lots of debt on the club. However, all they are managing to do is stop rich owners coming in again and creating interest in the league. For the likes of a West Ham or Sunderland say, the only real hope they had of sustained success was finding a sugar daddy. These regulations mean that that will never happen and they will therefore have to face a life of mediocrity. I'm not worried about City, as we're already with the big boys, but it's depressing reading for anyone else.

I see legal challenges coming up and hopefully the European parliament and courts will prove useful for once

Doesn't the their competition, their rules point negate that though? I suppose it could be argued that they hold a monopoly in Europe but it would likely drag on for years.

Ignoring the implications for us for a second (I'm sure we'll find ways to make it work, we've been involved in the discussions all along) it really does massively enforce the current status quo. UEFA are basically telling smaller clubs to feck off and forget about European competition, any new sugar daddy investors will need a 20 yr plan of gradual growth which I just don't see happening. If anything this new rule could be great for us as we'll be that last ones to be able to crash the party

This is the point I've been making; we're a horse that has already bolted from the stable. This is to stop others doing the same.

Imagine if other rich oil magnates etc were to take over at Everton, Newcastle, Sunderland or the equivalent clubs in Spain, Italy, Germany etc & if the Russian oil barons, who are quietly getting their teams closer & closer to the top table, succeed in their ambitions? Then it will completely fuck up the people who put Platini & his chums in power & totally wreck people like Berlusconi. Milan without Chump's lg will struggle to get the gates Sunderland do. Rags will slump in attandance/interest if they're not part of it. Abramovic wants to spend his money on Boats full of naked women rather than keep propping up Chelsea. Etc etc.

The problem in football has been because of people borrowing money. That's what they're supposed to be addressing. These regs have been carefully designed NOT to stop you from borrowing so long as you're already at the top table but to make it impossible to borrow if you're trying to get there. You can still go bankrupt though, just not get any chump's lg money to help prevent it. It's disgusting.

[simon12]

I would say all he has to do is rebrand 25% of his oil as "MCFC Oil" and we`ll never have a problem (well not for at least 200 years anyway). That fits within the rules as I read them.

[Ted Hughes]

I would say all he has to do is rebrand 25% of his oil as "MCFC Oil" and we`ll never have a problem (well not for at least 200 years anyway). That fits within the rules as I read them.

I freely admit I'm thick but I can't find any specific bits in that document that prevent the Sheikh from doing pretty much anything, ie; investing money, having 50 companies which he's 'indirectly' linked to, sponsoring us for £2M per year each, bringing in money from other sources in the surrounding area or as you say, using the brand name on various things to get around it.

As for realistic market value, how can UEFA get access to the books of companies who aren't even in Europe, to prove A: who owns them B: how much they can realistically sponsor us for? I just think we're owned by people who are far too big a concern for an organisation like UEFA to stop. I should imagine the CIA would struggle & fail.