Financial fair play

[thick_mike]

That's Bale's wages covered for a year then.

#welcomeGarethHale

Poor footballer far too reliant on Pace.

I missed this somehow. Do we still have a post of the year competition? This is the comment equivalent of Mcginn’s goal against Sheffield Wednesday...beautiful ❤️

[p_ad]

Aye an absolute belter

[garyshawsknee]

Tiny?

Didn't we have to pay £1m to Brighton for Barry? (A bargain, admittedly)

Sorry, I was talking about City.

[eamonn]

Whatever happened to the other geezer we bought to keep Barry company when he didn't take the penalty, Michael Standing Room Only, was it?

[cdbearsfan]

He became his agent, I think.

[adrenachrome]

Them getting a 10 point deduction and still winning the league with Liverpool second would have been very, very, very, entertaining.

I wouldn't know whether to laugh or cry.

On second thought, I would laugh till I cried.

[frank black]

Being investigated by the premier league according to the BBC.

Sale of VP

[villa `cross the mersey]

Being investigated they by the premier league according to the BBC.

Sale of VP

they are out to get us ....can't have another club challenging the " big six"  or whatever they are referred to
Going back to the inaugural years of the Premier League it was apparent that the "powers that be" didn't want a club outside of The " Big six" winning it

[PeterWithesShin]

All they're checking is if the valuation was fair market value. They're hardly out to get us, the EFL are doing the same with Derby, Sheff Weds and Reading.

[purpletrousers]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2019/09/05/premier-league-check-aston-villas-sale-villa-park-against-ffp/

Premier League to check if Aston Villa's sale of Villa Park was against FFP regulations

Aston Villa’s sale of Villa Park is to be probed by the Premier League to check whether it breached financial fair play regulations, the Daily Telegraph has learnt.

After it emerged independent valuations had been ordered by the English Football League into the sale by Derby County, Sheffield Wednesday and Reading of their own home grounds, it can be revealed that Villa will not escape scrutiny after winning the Championship play-off final to secure a return to the top flight and a £170 million jackpot.

All four clubs sold their stadiums to their own owners – who then leased them back again – in an apparent attempt to balance their books and avoid a transfer ban or points deduction.

It was unclear last night whether the Premier League would follow the EFL’s lead by ordering an independent valuation of Villa Park or simply examine evidence provided by the club before deciding whether the £56.7 million sale represented the kind of “fair market value” required under its rules governing related-party transactions.

Villa, Derby, Wednesday and Reading all exploited an EFL rule change that ended a ban on its clubs using profits earned from selling their stadiums to comply with its financial fair play regulations.

The Telegraph has learnt the 2016 rule change was never intended to open the door to such a practise, which was branded “cheating” in May by Leeds United owner Andrea Radrizzani and saw Middlesbrough threaten to sue Derby.

Moves are afoot to close it again amid concerns a club could sell their stadium to balance the books and buy it back again without breaching rules which also exempt investment in facilities.

Premier League profit and sustainability rules, with which the EFL’s own regulations were harmonised three years ago, do not prohibit clubs using cash earned from stadium sales to comply with them.

However, Uefa’s Financial Fair Play rules, on which the EFL’s original regulations were based, do, acting as a deterrent for top-flight clubs.

Villa declined to comment last night but a source with knowledge of Villa Park’s sale to owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens, via a group subsidiary company called NSWE Stadium, has told the Telegraph the EFL had already approved it after the club commissioned three independent valuations of the ground.

The Premier League newcomers are thought to be entirely confident of complying with its rules.

Derby, who lost to Villa in the play-off final, sold Pride Park to owner Mel Morris the season before last for £80m, almost double the amount for which it was listed as an asset on the club’s book.

That allowed them to post a pre-tax profit of £14.6 million that year when losses in excess of £39m over a three-year period amount to a breach of the EFL’s profit and sustainability rules.

Last season, Birmingham City were docked nine points after recording total losses of £48.8 million between 2015 and 2018.

Derby, Wednesday and Reading have consistently denied having breached any regulations.

[cdbearsfan]

Utterly ridiculous that when there is a club that's just gone out of business due to lack of funds, the authorities are Hellbent on preventing owners that DO have lots of money from investing in the sport.

[PeterWithesShin]

I have little doubt that if we didn't have a pot to piss in and were stuck in division 2 while it was sha in the top flight having sold their ground to themselves to pass FFP that most people wouldn't object to it being looked at to make sure they weren't pulling a fast one. Unless we overvalued VP then we have fuck all to worry about so no idea why people think it's a bad thing.

[purpletrousers]

I think post-Bury there will be greater scrutiny to adhere to whatever rules (rightly or wrongly) there are, and don’t see why this is anti-Villa. The story I’ve pasted above suggests we had three independent evaluations and it was EFL approved, so it’s hard to see any real story in this.

Obviously there needs a better owners test and probably monitoring system, though I’m sure many would argue that to be restrictive.

I’d appreciate if anyone can give an overview in one or two lines of what spending restrictions there are now in the top flight “profit and sustainability rules”, are our rich owners limited by what they can do in this division?

[cdbearsfan]

I have little doubt that if we didn't have a pot to piss in and were stuck in division 2 while it was sha in the top flight having sold their ground to themselves to pass FFP that most people wouldn't object to it being looked at to make sure they weren't pulling a fast one. Unless we overvalued VP then we have fuck all to worry about so no idea why people think it's a bad thing.

Well, maybe some others. But I've said Financial Fair Play is a load of shite since it came in.

Basically we had an ex-Juventus player and the likes of Man United and Barcelona together, terrified of more teams like Man City and Paris Saint German trying to break their stranglehold on silverware. A disgraceful piece of cartelisation.

[PeterWithesShin]

I agree with the idea of FFP but there needs to be a way for owners to be able to invest, but I don't know how that can be done while trying to make sure a club isn't left deep in the shit if the rich owner/s leave.