FFP

[PaulWinch again]

Is the selling of the women’s team included in that?

[Ads]

According to SCR we made a £83m loss as they don't count the women's sale and a few ither things.

No other industry has such arbitrary rules designed to ring fence a cartel of elite businesses. Anti-competitive garbage.

[PeterWithe]

Meanwhile Chelsea post the biggest annual loss ever apparently, £264m

[LeeB]

Meanwhile Chelsea post the biggest annual loss ever apparently, £264m

Good that they got off so lightly the other week, the poor lambs clearly have enough on their plate as it is.

[aev]

That Athletic piece is grim reading.

[Ads]

It is an absolute miracle that we swim so strongly against this nonsensical tide of rules designed to protect the elite.

[Toronto Villa]

Surely at some point in a Bosman type of case a club or group of clubs will challenge this. The rules are so heavily skewed in favour of the established financial few and clearly restrict growth from challengers. It’s so prohibitive that revenues receive the greatest weight to financial fairness. Losses, debt seemingly much less relevant. The rules ensure chasing teams in all the major leagues never catch the elite clubs. It’s helped UEFA stop a breakaway league which seems a big part of what the rules are as they are.

[Beard82]

These rules are too tight - and it will force some kind of reaction from aspiring clubs because they have to much invested to accept that they arent allowed to join the "elite".  It feels like there is a space between the current rules and a free for all that is better for everyone and by not acknowledging the failures of the current rules then it will cause (like TV says) a bosman type response. 

Currently its harming fans, players and ultimately the quality of the "product" being served - particularly in England.

How we ever let this happen to sport we all loved is unreal. 

[Baldy]

Rich dudes like Zukerberg, Bezos, Gates, Brazilian Villain, Buffett etc are never going to invest in the EPL apart from the Big 6.

Unless financial rules change radically we are stuck with the Big 6 forever. Boring.

The chimney Boys and alike must be pulling their hair out seeing the obstacles in front of them. It makes what Villa have achieved to date even more remarkable.

Indiana Jones has had easier journeys.

[paul_e]

I'm not sure I agree they're too tight, I think they're too arbitrary if anything. Why isn't debt considered? Why do people who had no involvement in a sponsorship deal get to decide if it was fair or not? Why does self-reporting your years of cheating get you a massively reduced punishment? Why is the actual sporting achievement of taking players and making them better considered less important for a football club to do than signing a new official lawnmower partnership deal?

It's the inconsistencies where sometimes the requirement is to act like a real business but other times your not allowed to do that.

[Beard82]

Yeah tight is the wrong word.  arbitrary works.  Or maybe cherry picked

[Rudy Can't Fail]

The Chelsea sale had an additional £150m built in to safeguard against any future wrongdoing exposed prior to the sale. £10m fine is just a tickle on the wrist. I'd have taken the lot and then some. The PL and UEFA really believe having the same clubs winning every single time makes their competitions more attractive to sponsors, advertisers and football customers. Look at how we received a smaller amount than the other clubs in the Champions League for reaching the quarter final. Man City didn't even reach the knock out stage last season but earned almost as much as us.  Why? Apparently because they're Man City.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

It’s helped UEFA stop a breakaway league which seems a big part of what the rules are as they are.

Somebody needs to remind UEFA that any thought is 100% dead in the water after Real Madrid recently dropped plan to be involved. In reality it died years ago.

[andyh]

We announce £17m profit but will be severely restricted in the transfer market.
Chelsea just announce the biggest loss in football history £262m and will be allowed to carry on spending.

It’s just corrupt. There is no other way to describe it.