FFP

[Sexual Ealing]

^^
Especially when it’s not a fair and level playing field.

I keep banging on about it, and I know it’s monotonous, but the fact we are so hamstrung by pathetic financial governances, imposed by 2 different football authorities, while other clubs spend money with impunity purely because of who they are, is really pissing me off.

I appreciate this isn't going to be a popular opinion, but we don't want it to be "a fair and level playing field", we want the thumb that's currently on the scales to be moved a tiny bit more so that it benefits us more than it already is.

Other clubs spend money that we can't spend due to their greater revenues. Just like we've been spending money that clubs earning less than us can't spend. I'm sure, I dunno, Eintracht Frankfurt or Villarreal would love to have chucked a couple of hundred million and a few hundred thousand a week at new players when we were. But they can't.

Sporting CP's wage bill (now they've sold Gyokeres) is around one twelfth of ours. How about rather than levelling the playing field so that one more club can spend whatever they want, how about levelling it the other way so that a solid Premier League side isn’t able to spend ten times on wages what the best sides in most other countries can?

If the rules meant that everything was done on integrity,  sporting merit, wise investment and club administration rather than the bigger clubs just bullying the rest, we'd probably still be pissing around in the Championship. But we're not, because we used our size and greater spending power to smack the likes of Bristol City and Middlesbrough out of our way. I imagine we'd have given their moaning about fairness and level playing fields pretty short-shrift at the time.

Great post.

[Sexual Ealing]

We've sold our ground to ourselves, we've sold our women's team, we've done mutually benficial transfers, we buy and sell players like they are merchandise where our only interest is resale, we charge obscene ticket prices, we've spent money most clubs can only dream of spending. We're not some plucky little club fighting against all odds, we're as big a part of the problem as other clubs. We are many of the things wrong with modern football.

Another great post.

[Percy McCarthy]

^^
Especially when it’s not a fair and level playing field.

I keep banging on about it, and I know it’s monotonous, but the fact we are so hamstrung by pathetic financial governances, imposed by 2 different football authorities, while other clubs spend money with impunity purely because of who they are, is really pissing me off.

I appreciate this isn't going to be a popular opinion, but we don't want it to be "a fair and level playing field", we want the thumb that's currently on the scales to be moved a tiny bit more so that it benefits us more than it already is.

Other clubs spend money that we can't spend due to their greater revenues. Just like we've been spending money that clubs earning less than us can't spend. I'm sure, I dunno, Eintracht Frankfurt or Villarreal would love to have chucked a couple of hundred million and a few hundred thousand a week at new players when we were. But they can't.

Sporting CP's wage bill (now they've sold Gyokeres) is around one twelfth of ours. How about rather than levelling the playing field so that one more club can spend whatever they want, how about levelling it the other way so that a solid Premier League side isn’t able to spend ten times on wages what the best sides in most other countries can?

If the rules meant that everything was done on integrity,  sporting merit, wise investment and club administration rather than the bigger clubs just bullying the rest, we'd probably still be pissing around in the Championship. But we're not, because we used our size and greater spending power to smack the likes of Bristol City and Middlesbrough out of our way. I imagine we'd have given their moaning about fairness and level playing fields pretty short-shrift at the time.

Yep. We want ‘the Big 6’ to become ‘the Great 8’ and then that’s it. Then it stops.

[Somniloquism]

And….the some of the clubs who became  ‘the big 6’ by spending with impunity before the rules were developed are STILL breaking the rules or not being punished for past transgressions.
That’s where the unfairness lies.

I completely agree with Dave’s Points, and they are well made.

But maybe the argument to some of those points though is that Frankfurt or Villarreal (for instance) do not have 3 owners who are rich beyond our widest dreams and therefore have the means AND desire to invest whatever they want.

Didn’t Chelsea just defer their punishment by a year for a bigger fine?

So someone posted. But I suspect it is bullshit unless anyone wants to supply the proof from UEFA or Chelsea. Their current punishment is worse then ours because of them being censored the year before as well with neither the hotels or womens team sales being accepted by UEFA. For example we don't have the A list rules applied the second year if we hit certain levels where they have it applied the next two seasons even if they meet levels.

[Somniloquism]

Is this new? Or something we already know?

https://editorial.uefa.com/resources/029b-1e280b615680-700e46bcfcfa-1000/aston_villa_summary_version_3-year_sa_20250704174251.pdf

I had posted the links and the extracts about the player A list rules previously. However lots of different threads of touched on them so Guessand, maybe Malen, Europa 25/26 is probably some of them.

[Olneythelonely]

Is this new? Or something we already know?

https://editorial.uefa.com/resources/029b-1e280b615680-700e46bcfcfa-1000/aston_villa_summary_version_3-year_sa_20250704174251.pdf

I had posted the links and the extracts about the player A list rules previously. However lots of different threads of touched on them so Guessand, maybe Malen, Europa 25/26 is probably some of them.

I’ve just taken you off my banned list, so apologies for missing it.

[Brazilian Villain]

Paddy Power with their annual take on the Citeh saga. https://x.com/paddypower/status/1955947512566833443

Good stuff.

[brontebilly]

She sounds like Colleen but definitely doesn't look like her anymore.

[ozzjim]

How the bloody hell are Forest able to spend so much!?

[PaulWinch again]

How the bloody hell are Forest able to spend so much!?

PSR wise they’ve sold Elanga and they’re going into their first European season.

[jwarry]

How the bloody hell are Forest able to spend so much!?

You beat me to that! Spending £60m on Hutchison and McAtee and now making offers for Eico Lewis - when they only got docked points two seasons ago and have nowhere near our revenue
It doesn’t make sense

[Toronto Villa]

our net spend under Emery post Ramsey leaving will be something like £50m. In that time we have gone from relegation fodder to CL participants and grown our commercial revenues considerably.

[Sexual Ealing]

our net spend under Emery post Ramsey leaving will be something like £50m. In that time we have gone from relegation fodder to CL participants and grown our commercial revenues considerably.

Unfortunately, Emery hasn't always been our manager.

[cdbearsfan]

We've sold our ground to ourselves, we've sold our women's team, we've done mutually benficial transfers, we buy and sell players like they are merchandise where our only interest is resale, we charge obscene ticket prices, we've spent money most clubs can only dream of spending. We're not some plucky little club fighting against all odds, we're as big a part of the problem as other clubs. We are many of the things wrong with modern football.

And your solution is?

[Sexual Ealing]

We've sold our ground to ourselves, we've sold our women's team, we've done mutually benficial transfers, we buy and sell players like they are merchandise where our only interest is resale, we charge obscene ticket prices, we've spent money most clubs can only dream of spending. We're not some plucky little club fighting against all odds, we're as big a part of the problem as other clubs. We are many of the things wrong with modern football.

And your solution is?

Getting on with it with a minimum of moaning, perhaps?