Simon Leyland
Unless you have been hiding under a rock or are a Millwall supporter, you would have not have failed to notice that Manchester City are at the centre of a huge developing story in all the newspapers this week.
The defending champions said on Monday they were “surprised” to have been charged by the Premier League with 101 alleged breaches of financial rules spanning from 2009/10 to 2017/18. Serious charges indeed – and I will be giving my two – penneth about all this in the weekend column
It is potentially catastrophic for the Citizens , for not only can they be chucked out of the Premier league but also barred from the English Football League. Somehow I can`t see them appearing in the Isthmian (or whatever it calls itself these days) League.
We too have a bit of “previous” with the Premier League. Cast your mind back to the Tevez affair, when we had to pay £20 million to Sheffield United.
But the allegations against Man City are far more serious. The world and its wife seems to be having their say on the issue and what the repercussions would ,and should be, if the Maine Road Etihad side are found guilty of the breaches.
Sky Sports claim Man City’s “big six” rivals want them ‘kicked out’ of the Premier League if guilty of the alleged financial breaches.
“The clubs who had been pressing hardest for action until Monday were some other members of the so-called ‘big six’ – which includes Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham,”
No change there then…
We on the other hand have adopted a far more grown up and dignified view by waiting for an independent panel to decide.
It’s a double edged sword, all the money floating around the EPL.
On one hand it has given us the greatest league in the world, with the world’s best and most exciting players.
On the other hand it has, in my opinion, killed the premier English league as a competition.
With the exception of Leicester’s win a few seasons back, we can pretty much predict the usual outcome at the top of the league.
The EPL is no longer about producing the best players from your acedemy, about managers matching wits with equally matched sides. Ostensibly what we see is those teams with the deepest pockets buying the best, persuading the best to play for them through inflated wages.
As looks likely, we will lose Declan Rice in the summer. I honestly don’t think this would have happened if we had Abramovich type investment in the team.
But what is the answer, a wage cap? A transfer cap? If you do this it would have to be Europe wide, not league specific. If you introduce a “cap” for the EPL only, the money will simply transfer to the next league, whether that be Seria A, the Bundesliga, Labor Liga etc.
Because the football package, the club owners, the TV rights, sponsorship etc. are only interested in the punters money.
If the game was about the punter, fixtures would be arranged around what’s best for bums on seats in the stadiums, not bums on couches around the world or bums on seats in the bookies.