Was made aware of this report from today's blog from A Cultered Left Foot.
http://www.aclfarsenal.co.uk/

The report is written by KEA - European Affairs, and CDES - The centre for the law and economics of sport. Basically, it is a report for the European Commission and it was published in January 2013. It is brand new in other words.
http://www.keanet.eu/docs/full_study_transferofplayers.pdf

This is a 345 page document and I was sure as hell never interested in reading the whole thing, but the Executive Summary is well worth a read for several reasons. What should catch everyone's attention is this bit, from the "Conclusions and Recommendations" part;

"Limit excesses in transfer fees after contract extension. Such limit aims to
avoid the possibility for clubs to extend the protected period with a view to trigger the payment of transfer fees. The system could provide for the transfer fee to be capped at 70% of the gross salary owed by the club to the player for the entire period of his contract."

A Cultured Left Foot put it into an Arsenal context;

"To put that into an Arsenal context, Robin van Persie would have cost Manchester United approximately £3.5m in the summer compared to the fee agreed between the two clubs."

Perhaps football is soon in for another change, and it could have every bit as much impact on the game as the Bosman ruling had.

Free market cannot be controlled this way.
All that will happen, is more money under the table.

It's not a free market though, is it?

@lorddulaarsenal wrote:

Hmmm huge wages

That is what I was thinking as well, BUT, doesn't the agreement the clubs have made in the PL prevent clubs from expanding their wage bills to a large extent?

Bold Tone wrote:

Free market cannot be controlled this way.
All that will happen, is more money under the table.

They have thought of this. This is another recommendation;

"4. Improve governance through transparency and fair dispute resolution mechanisms:
Five proposals are formulated: i) Extend the mission and impact of the TMS on three elements:
monitoring, transparency and domestic transfers; ii) Make compulsory the publication online for each national federation of a standardised annual report on transfers with minimum information including name of parties and agents; iii) Make compulsory the publication online of top European clubs’ dealings
on transfers."

And also as Klaus said - it isn't really a free market.

Interesting. Rex will have to read the 345 pages before we can actually discuss this.

Depressed Rex wrote:
Bold Tone wrote:

Free market cannot be controlled this way.
All that will happen, is more money under the table.

They have thought of this. This is another recommendation;

"4. Improve governance through transparency and fair dispute resolution mechanisms:
Five proposals are formulated: i) Extend the mission and impact of the TMS on three elements:
monitoring, transparency and domestic transfers; ii) Make compulsory the publication online for each national federation of a standardised annual report on transfers with minimum information including name of parties and agents; iii) Make compulsory the publication online of top European clubs’ dealings
on transfers."

And also as Klaus said - it isn't really a free market.

True, but as you pointed out they still have to work within legal boundaries to avoid falling foul of the courts as Bosman won despite it not being a free market.

General Mirth wrote:

Interesting. Rex will have to read the 345 pages before we can actually discuss this.

😆

Well, all I am saying is that despite what some would like to have you believe, read Biggus, the real world impacts football in a major way from time to time. The Bosman ruling certainly changed football in a major way.

What would the implications be if this proposal is actually passed? I think there is a great chance that it IS passed fwiw. Not necessarily with "the transfer fee to be capped at 70% of the gross salary owed by the club to the player for the entire period of his contract", but say 100 percent?


This is from the regulations the PL clubs just passed:

"Clubs whose total wage bill is more than £52m will only be allowed to increase their wages by £4m per season for the next three years, though that cap does not cover extra money coming in from increases in commercial or matchday income.

Any club breaching the rules will face tough sanctions and Scudamore told reporters that he would be pushing for points deduction."

If you take both these regulations into consideration, what does that mean? I take it as clubs despite having to pay considerably less on transfer fees still can't put that money "saved" directly into using wages as a pulling power on potential transfer targets since a club is only allowed to increase its expenditure on wages by £4m per year.
I also take it as being a huge competitive advantage, in this respect, to already have a high wage bill when the PL regulations kick in since it is of course easier to maintain a high wage bill if you don't have to pay very much on transfer fees.

From a European perspective I take it as PL clubs could be at a considerable disadvantage if the regulations on increase in wage bill is ONLY introduced in England while the regulations on transfers will be for all of Europe.

From an Arsenal perspective I am not sure what I feel. On the one hand it would no longer make sense to sell our star players since we would get considerably less money from them. However, it will be difficult for the club to hang on to those players when interest comes from bigger clubs. On the other hand we would be well placed competing for top class players in the transfer market like Cavanis, Falcaos and Götzes. This due to us still having one of the highest wage bills in Europe.

Depressed Rex wrote:

Well, all I am saying is that despite what some would like to have you believe, read Biggus, the real world impacts football in a major way from time to time. The Bosman ruling certainly changed football in a major way.

WTF are you on about Rex- I'm the one who has to keep reminding you lot that football exists in the real world where the laws of supply and demand have operated for 1,000's of years and will continue to operate for the foreseeable future.
You are the fantasists who continue to believe your mate Wenger and his little pixie friends at UEFA will be able to warp these fundamentals just so he can have the luxury to continue his nutty experiment with our club.........Thats up to you but lets get your facts straight. 😉

In the real world companies don't earn £100 and spend £300. You seem to think that is the case. Doesn't seem too real to me.

How about some input from you on what you think these regulations will bring? We already know what you feel about Wenger.

What do I think these regulations will bring?
The same as every regulation brings, as soon as they're written there will be armies of lawyers employed to find ways around them.
Even our beloved Arsenal have been involved in underhanded payments in the past, theres just too much money in the game and too much at stake.
The clubs that spend more than they make will go under (unless they're supported by an external source like Man City PSG Barcelona and Madrid) and others will take their place, thats the natural law of the jungle and life no amount of "artificial" law can change that.

Clubs will have to comply IMO, the same way clubs have had to comply with the Bosman ruling. Clubs WILL have to learn to live within their means, and that is fortunately how most clubs want it.

Neither of these changes look designed to level the playing field much though. Big clubs will benefit the most from these changes. Naturally, I don't count Chelsea, Man City and PSG as big clubs.

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