Tony's Tweets

[paul_e]

The notion of "fair value" strikes me as being a contrived means that allows certain clubs to maintain a position of dominance.  When it comes to assessing "fair value" for Villa, as soon as we're back in the top flight, we would be well within our rights to market ourselves in the Arsenal/ Chelsea/ Spurs ballpark on the back of our history and past successes - yet why do I just know this won't be allowed to happen?  This is where we need a strong Chairman to stand up and challenge the status quo - could the Doctor be that man? I hope so.

FFP in it's entirety is just about protecting the big clubs, as soon as they rejected the idea of wage caps (which wouldn't be illegal no matter how many times it's suggested) and transfer caps and set the limit entirely on turnover they handed all power over to the 15-20 teams across Europe who can generate genuine worldwide appeal.  Other teams (like Leicester) might sneak into the mix for a year or 2 but the lack of a global marketing base to back them up will see them drop back before long.

[Dave]

FFP in it's entirety is just about protecting the big clubs, as soon as they rejected the idea of wage caps (which wouldn't be illegal no matter how many times it's suggested)

I don't think I've often seem it mooted as illegal, just a bit pointless. Other leagues will just attract any semi-competent footballer, the interest and money will follow them and all of a sudden there is no need for a salary cap anyway as there's only a fraction of the previous money sloshing around.

[paul_e]

FFP in it's entirety is just about protecting the big clubs, as soon as they rejected the idea of wage caps (which wouldn't be illegal no matter how many times it's suggested)

I don't think I've often seem it mooted as illegal, just a bit pointless. Other leagues will just attract any semi-competent footballer, the interest and money will follow them and all of a sudden there is no need for a salary cap anyway as there's only a fraction of the previous money sloshing around.

When it was debated a few years ago there were plenty of comments about it being against EU laws to put a restriction on wages but it's wouldn't be that, it's a sanction on the amount a club can spend on wages which is a requirement to enter the competitions, which is perfectly in line with any law you can find.

For it to be workable it would need to be enforced by UEFA and the primary sanction would be removal from the champions league/europa league for teams that breech the cap.

[The Edge]

I don't know why they still call it Financial Fair Play. There is nothing fair about it.

[Dave]

FFP in it's entirety is just about protecting the big clubs, as soon as they rejected the idea of wage caps (which wouldn't be illegal no matter how many times it's suggested)

I don't think I've often seem it mooted as illegal, just a bit pointless. Other leagues will just attract any semi-competent footballer, the interest and money will follow them and all of a sudden there is no need for a salary cap anyway as there's only a fraction of the previous money sloshing around.

When it was debated a few years ago there were plenty of comments about it being against EU laws to put a restriction on wages but it's wouldn't be that, it's a sanction on the amount a club can spend on wages which is a requirement to enter the competitions, which is perfectly in line with any law you can find.

For it to be workable it would need to be enforced by UEFA and the primary sanction would be removal from the champions league/europa league for teams that breech the cap.

And the Chinese, UAE, Mexican, Japanese, MLS and Australian leagues will suddenly find themselves a lot more attractive than they once were.

Which is why UEFA wouldn't introduce or enforce it. As far as they're concerned, their current way of doing things has made their leagues the richest and most popular that they have ever been.

What's in it for them to (as they would see it) downgrade the value of their product?

[VILLA MOLE]

What if Fifa made it law that the total salary per year could not exceed £50k a week?

[Dave]

What if Fifa made it law that the total salary per year could not exceed £50k a week?

Why would FIFA want to do that?  Neither FIFA, not UEFA have ever struck me as organisations who are concerned about there being too much money around the thing that they administer.

[paul_e]

Which is exactly why the 'solution' they've settled on is a waste of time that no one takes seriously ( other than villa)

[VILLA MOLE]

They might listen if people stopped going and stopped paying the subscriptions

It is forgotten who is the important party in this

[olaftab]

What if Fifa made it law that the total salary per year could not exceed £50k a week?

Oh yes the good old salary cap. They will find ingenuous ways to get past that.

[olaftab]

The problem is punters here and around the world as we are prepared to pay loads for watching it on TV.

[stuart445]

so he was at it then, in a sense, as he was the club's only shareholder?

He didn't take any of it out, if that's what you mean.

I sense we're on the slow boat to another Herbert discussion.

I fear you may be right.

I don't know about that. But I'm sure that there's one or two on here that would "hold a grudge"  if Ellis had broken all those unwanted records and taken us out of the PL.

Just because we lauded the arrival of Lerner as the coming of the Messiah and the death of the Antichrist, we don't have this pretend the reality was anything other that a complete disaster. Or do we?

Ellis took us from European Champions to relegation in just 5 years,  surely that's good enough reason to hold a grudge. I'm no Lerner fan but he took us from 6th to relegation in 6 years.

I don't hold a grudge against Lerner either to be honest I do believe he cared but that simply isn't enough.

Lerner humiliated this club more than any man before turning us into a genuine laughing stock then relegated us with one of the worst teams to ever grace the top division in England and here we are 2 seasons later still struggling to recover. Ellis was fantastic compared to that man.

Best team in Europe to relegation in 5 years I find that pretty embarrassing to be honest.  Ellis took over when we'd just won the League, European Cup and European Super Cup and then destroyed that in 5 years that takes some doing.

You are right Ellis is better than Lerner. Ellis took the club down from a lot higher place in a shorter period of time so beats Lerner hands down.

[Hookeysmith]

Are Villa being over cautious with ffp? Man City got a £49m fine in 2014 due to disparity in their transfers. No points deducted which would hurt these top clubs far more. They eventually got a £33m refund due to compliance in the following years. With Villa, the difference may only be a couple of million at most. Is it that bad in the grand scheme of things?

When Man city got done it always reminded my of Ace face in quadrophenia when fined he flashy asked "cash or cheque"   I think Citeh paid cash.

[saunders_heroes]

so he was at it then, in a sense, as he was the club's only shareholder?

He didn't take any of it out, if that's what you mean.

I sense we're on the slow boat to another Herbert discussion.

I fear you may be right.

I don't know about that. But I'm sure that there's one or two on here that would "hold a grudge"  if Ellis had broken all those unwanted records and taken us out of the PL.

Just because we lauded the arrival of Lerner as the coming of the Messiah and the death of the Antichrist, we don't have this pretend the reality was anything other that a complete disaster. Or do we?

Ellis took us from European Champions to relegation in just 5 years,  surely that's good enough reason to hold a grudge. I'm no Lerner fan but he took us from 6th to relegation in 6 years.

I don't hold a grudge against Lerner either to be honest I do believe he cared but that simply isn't enough.

Lerner humiliated this club more than any man before turning us into a genuine laughing stock then relegated us with one of the worst teams to ever grace the top division in England and here we are 2 seasons later still struggling to recover. Ellis was fantastic compared to that man.

Best team in Europe to relegation in 5 years I find that pretty embarrassing to be honest.  Ellis took over when we'd just won the League, European Cup and European Super Cup and then destroyed that in 5 years that takes some doing.

You are right Ellis is better than Lerner. Ellis took the club down from a lot higher place in a shorter period of time so beats Lerner hands down.

Yeah, you keep telling yourself that next time the likes of the mighty Cardiff and Brentford tear us another arsehole while we struggle at the wrong end of the Championship.

[Clampy]

In 1983 we were beating Barcelona in the Super Cup. 4 years later, we're playing Plymouth Argyle in Divison 2. That takes some doing.