By Kris Gonzo | Senior West Ham Columnist (Follow on X)
Manchester City have reportedly been found guilty of 114 of the 115 charges relating to breaches of Premier League financial regulations.
City are expected to appeal and their punishment has yet to be decided, but the potential consequences could be enormous.
Plenty of football supporters will understandably be celebrating this as a victory for the game.
I’m not.
In fact, I think this could be terrible news for clubs like West Ham.
Financial Rules Are Killing Ambition
In this video, I explain why I believe football’s financial regulations are a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
We’re told these rules exist to protect clubs from reckless owners and prevent them from going bust. But if an owner has sufficient wealth to fund spending without putting the club at financial risk, why shouldn’t they be allowed to invest?
For me, the consequence is an ambition killer.
The established elite already have the enormous revenues and global commercial operations required to spend at levels clubs such as West Ham simply cannot match.
Rather than allowing ambitious clubs to close that gap, the regulations risk protecting the status quo and ring-fencing the advantages enjoyed by the traditional giants.
I completely understand why supporters of Arsenal, Liverpool or Manchester United might celebrate Manchester City’s punishment.
But West Ham?
I think celebrating regulations which could ultimately prevent us from ever reaching our full potential is a bit like turkeys voting for Christmas.
It’s long been known that a cartel exists within European footballing circles.
Disparity of epic proportion are clearly evident in all the top leagues, Spain, France, Germany and England along with Italy.
Over the past couple of decades three disruptor clubs emerged from the pack. CFC, MCFC, PSG and to a lesser extent RB Leipzig ( detested in Bundesliga).
The ” Establishment ” spat their dummies out as newly minted clubs ate into revenue streams which were their preserve, The ECA then lobbied for the system of governance that you refer to.
If you were understanding of why N17 were so aggressive in thwarting Hammers of being gifted the Queen Elizabeth Park, which meant a tangible asset of monumental proportions on our clubs balance sheet. Massive match day revenues from catering and hospitality, unprecedented sponsorship resources post Olympic games.
Clearly another club set to be benefiting from a legacy stadium was not tolerable.
Well now it’s plain to see why they piled in forcing a re written agreement with caveats limiting financial prowess.
Yes, seemingly, Citeh has flauted the system, as have CFC.
I guess we will have to wait for the penalties imposed before seeing if the punishment fits the crime(s).