Agent launches legal threat to FFP

[Stu]

I was unsure where to post this, but I thought seeing how FFP will affect the future of football, particularly in England, then it really does apply to us.

An agent has lodged a complaint regarding FFP, basically saying that it will stop him from earning money: clicky

He's not going to win too many fans over with that argument, but he raises other points, and the one which faces us here in England is this: FFP will damage competitiveness in England. The clubs that have been able to get away with running at huge losses have now, through using a method that is due to be outlawed, cemented their places at the top of the table. We all know who they are; Chelsea and latterly Manchester City. This pulling up of the ladder will, I believe, damage our game beyond repair.

What do the people of H&V think of FFP? Are you for it or against it? If you are for it, do you think it will, as UEFA say, allow for greater competitiveness in football, or will it further stifle any sort of upstart challenge from a club with ambition and wealth?

[Rudy Can't Fail]

A flat fixed fee for agents should do the trick.

[newtonsballs]

Give the role of footballers agent to the PFA - they can't even organise a comedian at a party. so should help keep the costs down.

[Steve R]

Inevitable I suppose after a French club got in on the lottery act, but FFP as implemented by UEFA is a farce. Platini has told PSG they need to be creative in the way money is injected into the club. Man City already have with the various sponsorships.

FFP by itself could never level the playing field. It really needs either or both of a salary cap not wholly based on turnover or a more equitable way of distributing the game's income.

[not3bad]

FFP does seem designed to destroy competitiveness from what I can see.  There will be a clearly defined pecking order based upon revenue, and without a wage cap the best players will more than ever go to the teams at the top of the tree.  It's a system that will ensure teams "know their place".  How is that Fair Play?  It isn't.

[paul_e]

FFP does seem designed to destroy competitiveness from what I can see.  There will be a clearly defined pecking order based upon revenue, and without a wage cap the best players will more than ever go to the teams at the top of the tree.  It's a system that will ensure teams "know their place".  How is that Fair Play?  It isn't.

The system as is exists purely to stop the bad press of teams being allowed to generate vast debts only to then go out of business.  The commercial implications of clubs like Rangers folding are too big so uefa and the premier league want to implement a safety net to say they did everything they could.

It's not intended to be fair, but introducing a 'protecting our profit streams' policy wouldn't go over well with the fans.

[Ad@m]

FFP does seem designed to destroy competitiveness from what I can see.  There will be a clearly defined pecking order based upon revenue, and without a wage cap the best players will more than ever go to the teams at the top of the tree.  It's a system that will ensure teams "know their place".  How is that Fair Play?  It isn't.

The system as is exists purely to stop the bad press of teams being allowed to generate vast debts only to then go out of business.  The commercial implications of clubs like Rangers folding are too big so uefa and the premier league want to implement a safety net to say they did everything they could.

It's not intended to be fair, but introducing a 'protecting our profit streams' policy wouldn't go over well with the fans.

No, it's really there because the 'big' clubs have seen increasing amounts of billionaires take over clubs and threaten the order of things and they want to pull the drawbridge up and stop it happening anymore. All FFP will do is preserve the current state of affairs.

[johncvilla88]

There should be a simple rule which states a club or parent company should not be able to record a loss 3 consecutive season and that is it! FFP is a joke make sure the large teams now won't get competitors in the future. It's going to make the league very bland in my opinion. If someone wishes to invest a fortune in a club it should be their choice. I agree this shouldn't be through loan note/agreements but straight cash should be fine even if it's through sponsorship like Man City are doing!

[paul_e]

There should be a simple rule which states a club or parent company should not be able to record a loss 3 consecutive season and that is it! FFP is a joke make sure the large teams now won't get competitors in the future. It's going to make the league very bland in my opinion. If someone wishes to invest a fortune in a club it should be their choice. I agree this shouldn't be through loan note/agreements but straight cash should be fine even if it's through sponsorship like Man City are doing!

but the man city sponsorship is, effectively, the owners sponsoring their own team at a vastly inflated fee.  Any 'solution' that doesn't see that, Or selling your reserve team stadium to the council (real madrid) or any of a number of government development grants happening to be awarded to you (AC Milan) along with a whole host of others is crap.

Ad@m - I agree that's a big part of it but I think the organisations are under quite a lot of pressure to sort this out.

[Big Dick Edwards]

I've never fully understood why clubs have to pay agents anything. As far as I'm concerned, if a player wants to employ someone to act on his behalf, the player should pay for the service himself.

[Percy McCarthy]

This FFP stuff always struck me as probably illegal. How can you punish a business for running at a loss?

[olaftab]

A flat fixed fee for agents should do the trick.

A very flat nominal fixed fee for agents should do the trick.

[ciggiesnbeer]

I hope we wins and the FFP stuff gets declared illegal. Its only result will be to make the game less competitive and freeze out smaller clubs from having a chance at progressing. Terrible rules.

[Dave Cooper please]

This FFP stuff always struck me as probably illegal. How can you punish a business for running at a loss?

Not really as you can't compare a football club to a normal business.
Normal businesses don't have league tables and massive financial rewards for finishing above a rival business in the same field.

[Ad@m]

This FFP stuff always struck me as probably illegal. How can you punish a business for running at a loss?

Not really as you can't compare a football club to a normal business.
Normal businesses don't have league tables and massive financial rewards for finishing above a rival business in the same field.

Also it's a competition and the organisers of the competition can set whatever rules they like surely?