Debate: Should UEFA Regulate Club Spending?

By Jigar Shah

This question is always intriguing and contentious and has attracted hundreds of opinions from many football fans and pundits around the world. Whether the desire to achieve instant success is forcing various clubs to incur massive debt?

I would like to elucidate by stating some facts:

As per Deloitte Annual Review of Football Finance 2009 report gross transfer spending across the 92 top professional clubs grew to £779m in 2007/08, up 35% from 2006/07, the vast majority was spent by Premier League clubs – £664m (2006/07: £492m)

A recent example is cash rich English club Manchester City, who has spent over £220 million in last 12 months, on signing new players. The debate of excessive spending has drawn special attention in the opinions of the managers and owners across the world. Is the takeover of clubs by foreign business tycoon, wants to achieve quick success, disturbing the game? Yes, I believe the commercial aspect and business minded people running these clubs is affecting the game. Due to large chuck of money infused into the game, the ‘Beautiful Game’ is hounded by issues like tapping up. It is a known fact that a manager admires a player, and later he tries to persuade the player via his agent without the knowledge of his current team. Take an example of Ashley Cole saga or most recent alleged Joleon Lescott suggest that it is a phenomenon in high profile leagues across Europe.

UEFA president Michel Platini announced that owner of Chelsea Football Club Roman Abramovich is backing UEFA’s spending cap plan. The plan prevents clubs from spending excessively on transfers, which will help to reduce their huge debts. It is strange, as the man who spends over £700 million in past six years and having a debt of around £730 million, is interested in backing UEFA’s plan.

Should UEFA Regulate spending? Yes they should. Remember, Joga Bonito (Play Beautifully) movement initiated by Nike and Google, in order to prevent unfair and unsportsmanlike play from the football. The game would be affected if the large chunk of money will keep pouring in. The ‘Beautiful Game’ needs to be protected from excessive transaction, which endangers the clubs to incur heavy debts, further it affects the growth of young and talented players.

I admire Arsene Wenger’s philosophy of grooming young players and protect the development of new talents. If the club focuses on buying, then it would least be concentrate on development of young players, which comes through their academy. There is no shortcut to success, and most important you cannot compromise on the ethics and values of the ‘Beautiful Game’.

The new proposal of UEFA president Michel Platini states that clubs can only spend what they earn in revenue, and any club that doesn't balance the books within three years would face expulsion from European competitions. I believe current the plan is robust, which will help to regulate excessive spending and protect club from huge debts. It will help to eliminate the gap between ‘Big Clubs’ and others, which will benefit the game. The support from clubs across Europe is important and recent backings from high profile owners like Roman Abramovich (Chelsea), Silvio Berlusconi (Milan) and Massimo Moratti (Inter) will help to implement the plan.

This year Spanish Giants Real Madrid and English Club Manchester City has splashed a combined £300 million to strengthen their respective squads. These cash rich clubs are using every trick inorder to persuade a player away from their respective clubs. It is ridiculous to spend £80 million for a player or spending over £150 million during a transfer window, because in future it will affect the ‘Beautiful Game’.

It is not the responsibility of UEFA, but the FA should come forward to prevent such excessive spending via Salary Cap. Similar system works in Major League Baseball (MSB) where they have implemented Salary Cap Policy successfully, which helps to keep the lower cost and ensure parity between team. There might be various road blocks to implement this policy in football; a formula must be achieved to regulate such massive transaction.

You might call it ‘Financial Doping’ (Arsene Wenger) or ‘Excessive spending’, but the fact remains that we need to prevent in order to:

a. To protect young talent and ensure development of new talents

b. To protect clubs from running into huge debts

c. To help achieve parity between clubs

What do you think? Please share your thoughts