Richer/bigger clubs have been taking players form smaller/poorer clubs since football was invented. We're just pissed off because it's happening to us again. We don't seem quite as pissed off when it's us doing the nicking.
Quote from: Tuscans on July 09, 2013, 12:50:29 PMQuote from: Dave on July 09, 2013, 12:30:45 PMSo presumably no Lowton or Westwood then. Or Young. Or Milner. Or Platt. What's the problem with the current system? If a club wants to sell or buy a player and terms are agreed by all three parties then it happens. If they don't, then it doesn't.Well I was sticking to just the Premier League, the lower leagues don't come into question unless its a club buying from that league who plays in that league.Why would you restrict it to just Premier League clubs? Assuming your idea is for the overall good of the game rather than just being a bit grumpy that Benteke is going to leave, surely you're be just as concerned by Villa buying from the Championship and disadvantaging those clubs as you are by Chelsea buying our players?Also, given how important it is that all agreed contracts are abided by, I presume you are quite keen for us to stick to the ones that we agreed with Given and Ireland and you don't want the club to do whatever we can to persuade them to leave?
Quote from: Dave on July 09, 2013, 12:30:45 PMSo presumably no Lowton or Westwood then. Or Young. Or Milner. Or Platt. What's the problem with the current system? If a club wants to sell or buy a player and terms are agreed by all three parties then it happens. If they don't, then it doesn't.Well I was sticking to just the Premier League, the lower leagues don't come into question unless its a club buying from that league who plays in that league.
So presumably no Lowton or Westwood then. Or Young. Or Milner. Or Platt. What's the problem with the current system? If a club wants to sell or buy a player and terms are agreed by all three parties then it happens. If they don't, then it doesn't.
At some point football will eat itself with the greed and excess of a few clubs, with fans of the others tired and bored of it all. Something to make it a more level playing field would be really useful. Players hopping it after 1 good season is massively disappointing for fans, and a nightmare for managers and clubs I would imagine.
Dog eat dog I'm afraid - we have done it to smaller clubs without feeling any sympathy - its the way of the game and as i said happens to bigger clubs than us - look how many stars arsenal have lost in recent years.
As far as the people who make the rules are concerned, football (and in particular, Premier League football) is the most popular that is has ever been.And as UK Redsox points out above, every single suggestion that has ever been made to make football more like American sports (i.e more fair) is universally ridiculed. And you've not responded to the point that I'm making. It's hard to take people seriously when talking about 'changing the game for the better' if they only complain about a problem when it disadvantages them. Norwich fans didn't have a problem when Lambert left Colchester for them and there was a good deal of mocking on here about their hypocrisy when he did the same to Norwich when he joined us. I bet those same people laughing at the Norwich fans will be complaining when Lambert eventually does it to us.Personally I didn't have any issues about the fairness of it when we decided that we would take Benteke from Genk (note: after just the one season with them). It's the way that a food-chain works.
What football needs to do is start enforcing some of the apparent laws they try to implement. Financial fair play being one, and the home grown quota too (the rule needs to be stricter on this). Certainly in the latter, there seems to be no movement because clubs like Man City keep spunking more money than they could possibly make back.Also enforcing clubs to develop younger domestic talent is also key for the national game. If we ever want to compete again, we cannot sit idly by and carry on as the level of quality of English players continues to dwindle significantly. It's soon going to get to the point where our national side will be struggling along with Scotland, Wales, Ireland etc to qualify for tournaments. I was thinking about the strikers we had 15 odd years ago. Shearer, Owen, Fowler, Heskey, Sheringham, Ferdinand, Wright, Dublin, Le Tissier, Cole, Phillips, Collymore and probably more. Even with such a grouping to pick from we achieved nothing. Now I could barely name you half a dozen strikers who might be good enough to play at National level in this country. Likewise in every other position. That's only 15 odd years ago too. The decline from that point, to this has been shocking. We could also do with being more open to players born in other countries who earn citizenship. Other national sides have done it. Lets get some Brazilian skill with shiny British passport in the England side. But this is another matter entirely.
This is why American football is fairer and more competitive than European football.