FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH . . . . .

[ENSKIED]

Hello lads.

This is one of those posts you're not sure whether you should write or not but there is a compelling urge to do so; rather like an itch that can't be scratched and thus niggles away at your thoughts and since this itch concerns the game [now business] we all love I find myself at the keyboard. I'm a Liverpool fan and have been attending Anfield since I was 7 - it is what you did. We resided close to the ground itself and literally lived and breathed the game, in "common" with all the other kids in the back-to-back streets dreaming of one day playing on that hallowed turf, in many ways it was all we had. I played football to a fair level making it one time to Liverpool books before 'failing' . . . . . . . so this is just to let you know that a lot of grass root Liverpool fans are not happy at what's happened to the Saints, some are gutted, since what has happened is a symptom of the prevailing disease itself which is now blighting the game - in that it is becoming a mere billionaires plaything - and doesn't it show? Money was once important in football - but now it's become everything.

 

Man City haven't so much won their titles as bought them and so on - good luck to them we must suppose. For me this latest, shall we call it a travesty? Anyway this latest travesty has raised matters to another level. What is happening to your Great Club cannot be for the betterment of the game but rather its detriment? One time you could have built on last season and with the team and manager you had in place in the next season or two have been challenging for the title itself, no doubt in my mind about that nor in many other minds such as Brendan Rodgers and our Americano owners, who incidentally know next to nothing about football at all. Anyway building teams was the way it used to be! Now your potentially great team is all but stripped to its bare bones. After all these years I'm beginning to fall out of love with the game I loved so much. Something has to be done in order to preclude this sort of dismantling of a major team ever again. Athletico seem another that will succumb to the vultures, how sad is that? How much HEALTHIER would it be for the game all round if Southampton [The same happened to West Ham when they had a potentially great team] had been allowed to continue on to build and take the title? The game NEEDS THAT, it constitutes a breath of fresh air; after all that was the magic of the FA Cup, it could be won by less fancied teams with the bigger teams often turned over.

 

Where then do we go from here, can we place our hopes in the EUFA FFP rules or will they in turn become just another game for the Billionaires in terms of circumvention? It seems to be shaping up that way as I write. I hope and pray Southampton really do work a miracle this year, concomitant with somebody somewhere in authority realising this stripping of a team to the bones cannot be allowed, since it cannot be good for the game we are all supposed to love. The Liverpool v Southampton game won't happen for me because it will hurt and I think some other Liverpool fans feel the same.

 

This isn't just about "my team or your team" this is shaping up to become a battle for the VERY SOUL of the game we all love itself.

 

GOOD LUCK TO SOUTHAMPTON!

[Whitey Grandad]

Thanks for the kind thoughts and for taking the time to come on here and let us know your feelings. Can you tell us something about Liverpool's academy and what happens to all your promising youngsters?

[Greenridge]

Nice sentiment. Good luck with your season.

[Foxstone]

Thanks for the genuine sentiments Enskied - Appreciated.

[shurlock]

Wonder what the OP makes of some of the comments posted on the City, discussing the same subject.

 

The silence from the media in respect of this systematic dismantling of this squad of players is deafening.

 

Liverpool and Arsenal managers have both, in recent times, been at great pains to differentiate what they claim is their morally superior way of doing business over the likes of City and Chelsea. By implication, a model that provides a route for other, what they would describe as 'well run clubs', like Southampton, to grow organically. This was always a lie. A lie they were instrumental in creating. united are a slightly different case in point, preferring instead to take pot shots at City via the spineless MO of utilising ex-players in plain sight, providing them with plausible deniability. The narrative, however, is the same.

 

They don't care about what's right, or what is fair. They don't actually give a flying **** about doing things 'the right way'. Just self-enrichment and self-interest.

 

Their hypocrisy is nauseating. The media's failure to report it as such, cowardly and dishonest.

 

Cockroaches.

 

Thank god Southampton is being completely destroyed by the 'good' kind of money and not our evil money. I mean it would of been amazing if someone could of taken them over and invested around the amazing talent they had, but again that would be evil and against the football gods so I guess this is a good thing? They should really thank Liverpool, Arsenal and the scum for blessing them

 

http://forums.bluemoon-mcfc.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=258733&start=570

 

Still I respect your sentiment - nothing against you personally.

Edited 29 July, 2014 by shurlock

[Ohio Saint]

Thanks for the sentiment. Much appreciated at this time.

[Viking Warrior]

Excellent summary with what is wrong in the game Enskied

 

Not sure what you and I can do when the billionaires and the premier league bosses are so hell bent of jumping to the tune of the top 5 at the cost of the rest of us

 

Thank you for your refreshing post

[The Cat]

Football is fu.cked and there's little the common, match going fan can do about it.

 

The problem is the top clubs, with the blessing of the authorities, call the shots and clubs like Saints will never be able to compete in the league without massive, unsustainable spending.

 

The FFP rules actually work against a club such as ours being able to compete at a higher level. But as long as people in the Far East are ploughing money into our top clubs through sponsorship, merchandise sales and tv revenue the rest of us will just have to lump it.

 

So the winners are your fans from around the world who manically watch our league without any links to the local areas the clubs come from. And the losers are us, those whose only purpose now is to make an atmosphere in the ground for the billions watching on tv.

[Asaint4ever]

Great post and well written.

[angelman]

so this is just to let you know that a lot of grass root Liverpool fans are not happy at what's happened to the Saints, some are gutted, since what has happened is a symptom of the prevailing disease itself which is now blighting the game - in that it is becoming a mere billionaires plaything - and doesn't it show? Money was once important in football - but now it's become everything.

 

 

 

 

Where then do we go from here, can we place our hopes in the EUFA FFP rules or will they in turn become just another game for the Billionaires in terms of circumvention? It seems to be shaping up that way as I write. I hope and pray Southampton really do work a miracle this year, concomitant with somebody somewhere in authority realising this stripping of a team to the bones cannot be allowed, since it cannot be good for the game we are all supposed to love. The Liverpool v Southampton game won't happen for me because it will hurt and I think some other Liverpool fans feel the same.

 

This isn't just about "my team or your team" this is shaping up to become a battle for the VERY SOUL of the game we all love itself.

 

GOOD LUCK TO SOUTHAMPTON!

 

 

 

Intersting - I thought that fans of those at the top really didn't care about the "prevailing disease" as they weren't so badly affected by it. Sure they are when the big boys like Barca/Real/ManU () come calling but there aren't too many who will out muscle them. That they are protected at the top by FFP could and does invoke a lot of arrogance in supporters, so it is nice to hear that there are those at the top who realise that all is not rosy. To be honest, there are some on Red Cafe who realise things aren't great as well.

 

Where do we go from here? There is only one solution - wage caps. It would do wonders for the game on so many levels, although the players might not agree. And I don't mean wage caps of £100k a week. £20k a week is more than enough for anyone to earn. But can anyone honestly see it ever being introduced? I honestly can't and I honestly cannot think of any other way that football can be brought back from the brink. At the risk of being repetitive, I hate football, hate the PL, hate the CL but my love of Saints keeps me going to the games and following them through thick and thin.

 

I wish you hadn't come on and posted, as then I could have mopped around grumbling at Liverpool and wishing them to crash and burn this coming season. But as I say, it's nice to know that there are some feeding at the top table who look down and acknowledge the reality elsewhere.

[ENSKIED]

Thanks for the kind thoughts and for taking the time to come on here and let us know your feelings. Can you tell us something about Liverpool's academy and what happens to all your promising youngsters?

 

No problem . . . . . I love football as much as I do my team indeed my team needs other teams in order to exist - think about it! So there is a very pronounced concept now that Liverpool must continue to "up" the Academy i.e. invest heavily in it, in order for us to truly compete. FSG are all for this. Pep Guardiola not long ago praised the academy in the press. It's a known fact, however, that the Saints Academy is the model to be followed, in that it has been and is a production line for REAL talent. One of the problems worth mentioning though for players coming through at Anfield is the Presssssssure! It's not so much "expectations" placed upon them as "demands"., in someways that is where the Saints Academy may have ours beat in that the lads coming through perhaps don't feel like they have to aspire to a form of Nescafe, namely instantly producing a major trophy and thus can develop at a more natural pace?

[KingdomCome]

Excellent post, sums up how a lot of fans feel.

Football is fu.cked and there's little the common, match going fan can do about it.

 

The problem is the top clubs, with the blessing of the authorities, call the shots and clubs like Saints will never be able to compete in the league without massive, unsustainable spending.

 

The FFP rules actually work against a club such as ours being able to compete at a higher level. But as long as people in the Far East are ploughing money into our top clubs through sponsorship, merchandise sales and tv revenue the rest of us will just have to lump it.

 

So the winners are your fans from around the world who manically watch our league without any links to the local areas the clubs come from. And the losers are us, those whose only purpose now is to make an atmosphere in the ground for the billions watching on tv.

The thing is the fans have ALL the power and can stop it in a moment. It would need to be a concerted effort though.

 

Refuse to buy tickets or merchandise. Refuse to pay for sky sports. Revenues stop, the runaway train stops.

 

As has been said FFP only serves to cement the problem. There is now no way to have the best team without a billionaire owner who's happy to pay the FFP fines. An actual wage cap is the only option I can see working. £10k a week is more than enough for anyone.

[saint si]

We were happy enough when our billionaire owner propelled us from league 1 to the prem, and we hoovered up talent from league one and the championship without any regard to the dreams or ambitions of the teams we bought from. Football is all about money these days and it sucks but there's no going back. The frustration is only exaggerated for us because we were getting so close to achieving something. If we were dogfighting relegation like the old days or yo-yoing we would never have noticed. People need to learn to appreciate the good times a bit more.

[The Cat]

The thing is the fans have ALL the power and can stop it in a moment. It would need to be a concerted effort though.

 

Refuse to buy tickets or merchandise. Refuse to pay for sky sports. Revenues stop, the runaway train stops.

 

As has been said FFP only serves to cement the problem. There is now no way to have the best team without a billionaire owner who's happy to pay the FFP fines. An actual wage cap is the only option I can see working. £10k a week is more than enough for anyone.

 

Empty grounds would be a real show of intent but it will never happen en masse as for every fan committed to a protest there will, for the better supported clubs at least, be someone willing to take their seat.

 

I would never pay for Sky Sports, but I bet plenty of the people moaning about how football has been screwed over are more than happy to blindly fork out money to the company that has all but ruined the game they profess to love. I also rarely buy merchandise, and have never paid full price for a Saints shirt - not even for my kids. But again it makes no difference for the big clubs who rake in obscene amounts of cash from people around the world who randomly profess to support a club they will never see play live unless it's on some money making pre season tour the club have whored their players out for.

 

It's a sad state of affairs, but sadly not one I can ever see being rectified.

[angelman]

We were happy enough when our billionaire owner propelled us from league 1 to the prem, and we hoovered up talent from league one and the championship without any regard to the dreams or ambitions of the teams we bought from. Football is all about money these days and it sucks but there's no going back. The frustration is only exaggerated for us because we were getting so close to achieving something. If we were dogfighting relegation like the old days or yo-yoing we would never have noticed. People need to learn to appreciate the good times a bit more.

 

Who did we hoover up from L1. In 2009/10 we paid for 3 players. Fonte from Palace (a league above us), Puncheon from Plymouth (also in the Championship and no doubt they were happy to get rid of) and Lambert from Bristol Rovers. Hardly hoovering up talent and ruining dreams.

[corsacar saint]

Enskied, Iam really pleased that a true scouser like yourself, realises that without clubs like ours, football is headed for oblivion. Out of our three departees, I hope that Rickie Lambert does the business for you, the other two, can do one.

[CanadaSaint]

Thanks, Enskied, for an excellent post and the thoughtfulness behind it.

 

As fans we tend to personalize everything as "them against us, so screw them", so it's great to read your reminder that you lot are really just like us lot. And we're all rapidly becoming the victims of the game rather than the fans of it.

 

I remember watching you at The Dell on a chilly evening in Division 2, not long before we signed Jimmy Melia and you went on to win everything in sight. Although we've both come a long way since then, I can't help but feel that a lot of the "soul" of the game from those days is now missing.

[KingdomCome]

Empty grounds would be a real show of intent but it will never happen en masse as for every fan committed to a protest there will, for the better supported clubs at least, be someone willing to take their seat.

 

I would never pay for Sky Sports, but I bet plenty of the people moaning about how football has been screwed over are more than happy to blindly fork out money to the company that has all but ruined the game they profess to love. I also rarely buy merchandise, and have never paid full price for a Saints shirt - not even for my kids. But again it makes no difference for the big clubs who rake in obscene amounts of cash from people around the world who randomly profess to support a club they will never see play live unless it's on some money making pre season tour the club have whored their players out for.

 

It's a sad state of affairs, but sadly not one I can ever see being rectified.

Absolutely, it will not happen. The reason is fan apathy and acceptance rather than there being nothing they can do though.

 

Agree with sky sports as well, I'll never pay a penny to them.

[The Cat]

Especially for Enskied, from a time before the game lost it's soul

 

[ENSKIED]

Especially for Enskied, from a time before the game lost it's soul

 

 

Thank you! With appropriate apologies to the Bard, "Such Goals As Dreams Are Made Of!" From a shared football perspective how good was Keegan? And the sad thing which I hate to belabour is how would you keep that team together today? Indeed how could you build that team? That in itself remains a measure of the damage? BUT that said we must not forget what we once had and perhaps ultimately it will fall to fans in the end to fight for it to return once again . . . . .at least I can also dream of that. Thank you once again.

[Whitey Grandad]

No problem . . . . . I love football as much as I do my team indeed my team needs other teams in order to exist - think about it! So there is a very pronounced concept now that Liverpool must continue to "up" the Academy i.e. invest heavily in it, in order for us to truly compete. FSG are all for this. Pep Guardiola not long ago praised the academy in the press. It's a known fact, however, that the Saints Academy is the model to be followed, in that it has been and is a production line for REAL talent. One of the problems worth mentioning though for players coming through at Anfield is the Presssssssure! It's not so much "expectations" placed upon them as "demands"., in someways that is where the Saints Academy may have ours beat in that the lads coming through perhaps don't feel like they have to aspire to a form of Nescafe, namely instantly producing a major trophy and thus can develop at a more natural pace?

 

Thanks. That's an interesting point you make about pressure, everybody wants instant results these days and nobody is allowed to make any mistakes. If only we could all remember that it's only a game.

[SaintRobbie]

Hello lads.

This is one of those posts you're not sure whether you should write or not but there is a compelling urge to do so; rather like an itch that can't be scratched and thus niggles away at your thoughts and since this itch concerns the game [now business] we all love I find myself at the keyboard. I'm a Liverpool fan and have been attending Anfield since I was 7 - it is what you did. We resided close to the ground itself and literally lived and breathed the game, in "common" with all the other kids in the back-to-back streets dreaming of one day playing on that hallowed turf, in many ways it was all we had. I played football to a fair level making it one time to Liverpool books before 'failing' . . . . . . . so this is just to let you know that a lot of grass root Liverpool fans are not happy at what's happened to the Saints, some are gutted, since what has happened is a symptom of the prevailing disease itself which is now blighting the game - in that it is becoming a mere billionaires plaything - and doesn't it show? Money was once important in football - but now it's become everything.

 

Man City haven't so much won their titles as bought them and so on - good luck to them we must suppose. For me this latest, shall we call it a travesty? Anyway this latest travesty has raised matters to another level. What is happening to your Great Club cannot be for the betterment of the game but rather its detriment? One time you could have built on last season and with the team and manager you had in place in the next season or two have been challenging for the title itself, no doubt in my mind about that nor in many other minds such as Brendan Rodgers and our Americano owners, who incidentally know next to nothing about football at all. Anyway building teams was the way it used to be! Now your potentially great team is all but stripped to its bare bones. After all these years I'm beginning to fall out of love with the game I loved so much. Something has to be done in order to preclude this sort of dismantling of a major team ever again. Athletico seem another that will succumb to the vultures, how sad is that? How much HEALTHIER would it be for the game all round if Southampton [The same happened to West Ham when they had a potentially great team] had been allowed to continue on to build and take the title? The game NEEDS THAT, it constitutes a breath of fresh air; after all that was the magic of the FA Cup, it could be won by less fancied teams with the bigger teams often turned over.

 

Where then do we go from here, can we place our hopes in the EUFA FFP rules or will they in turn become just another game for the Billionaires in terms of circumvention? It seems to be shaping up that way as I write. I hope and pray Southampton really do work a miracle this year, concomitant with somebody somewhere in authority realising this stripping of a team to the bones cannot be allowed, since it cannot be good for the game we are all supposed to love. The Liverpool v Southampton game won't happen for me because it will hurt and I think some other Liverpool fans feel the same.

 

This isn't just about "my team or your team" this is shaping up to become a battle for the VERY SOUL of the game we all love itself.

 

GOOD LUCK TO SOUTHAMPTON!

 

Nice post and sentiment appreciated.

 

But I'm afraid Liverpool are largely to blame for our situation. From tapping up through to Woy Hodgsons England strategy Liverpool have behaved in a disgraceful manner this summer. No respect for Liverpool anymore. I do not wish Liverpool well.

[Rebel]

I don't wish Liverpool FC or Brendan Rodgers any luck whatsoever - or the plastic Liverpool fans that live down here - you know the ones that have never been to Anfield let alone a football match - who have been laughing at us since Lambert signed for his hometown club.

 

The plastic Man Utd fans are pretty much the same.

 

You know the ones - who watch Sky, read the Sun, subscribe to the club TV channel and buy the Club magazine.

 

For some reason the Cheslski and Citeh fans have been sympathetic - but maybe they just don't have so many plastics.

 

Maybe the proper Liverpool fans are different - like the OP

[Dark Munster]

Quick question for the OP: greatest British manager of all time, Paisley or Fergie?

[Cabrone]

If you don't like how it's going - and I don't - then the only thing you can do is withdraw your money and hope enough other people feel the same.

 

The plastic prem with it's 'set in concrete' top 4 has become a joke. Even the clubs that get relegated have a ridiculous advantage with their parachute payments, what a joke.

 

Nothing means anything anymore, cash and CL potential places are the only commodity considered.

 

I much preferred the champ and even league 1 to this, went to quite a lot of games and they felt more real to me than the plastic prem.

[Foxy]

Much like everyone else I despise the all pervading influence of money and the structures and rules that have been created to perpetuate the status quo. FFP being a prime case in point.

 

I wonder if we have now reached a stage where sporting merit only remains at an individual level when even those clubs which once pursued another route now simply assemble this year's roster of mercenaries with all the discernment of a child in a sweet shop?

[alpine_saint]

Nice sentiment, thanks.

 

I sincerely hope some of your fans are sparing us a thought, because your club clearly doesnt give a damn about the health of The Game.

 

If we go down because of what has happened, the FA need to take a really long hard look at the future of the "sport" in this country..

[Saint Fan CaM]

There is something that could be done to assist. A ban on all clubs home grown Academy sales before the player turns 21. Sets expectations for all parties, allows the player to develop with his team mates, allows the fans to actually see the player develop and assuming the lad is English will potentially provide more consistency for the National side. Of course the biggest benefit would be a much more even playing field for those clubs that invest in a top Academy. This one simple rule could make a huge difference in restoring sanity to football - add progressive salary caps in relation to player grades and the sport would be transformed entirely (and for the better).

[waggy]

Excellent post, well structured and empathetic to ours and others plight, very refreshing. Both my wife and her father are from the red half of 'pool and the feel the same way, the father in law having supported them for over 65 years.

[Foxy]

There is something that could be done to assist. A ban on all clubs home grown Academy sales before the player turns 21. Sets expectations for all parties, allows the player to develop with his team mates, allows the fans to actually see the player develop and assuming the lad is English will potentially provide more consistency for the National side. Of course the biggest benefit would be a much more even playing field for those clubs that invest in a top Academy. This one simple rule could make a huge difference in restoring sanity to football - add progressive salary caps in relation to player grades and the sport would be transformed entirely (and for the better).

 

Sadly that would be likely to be construed as restraint of trade. It's not a law designed with millionaire footballers in mind but would certainly be tested in court first time a moneybags club wanted a young lad from lower down the pecking order

[Saint_clark]

Sadly that would be likely to be construed as restraint of trade. It's not a law designed with millionaire footballers in mind but would certainly be tested in court first time a moneybags club wanted a young lad from lower down the pecking order

 

I'm not so sure. When a player is transferred you're not actually buying the player - that would be slavery. You're buying his contract, and a contract is binding.

In the system suggested such a contract could be signed when a kid first enters the academy.

No transfers before 21 and a wage cap below 50k a week and the game would steadily improve.

[Boris Karloff]

There is something that could be done to assist. A ban on all clubs home grown Academy sales before the player turns 21. Sets expectations for all parties, allows the player to develop with his team mates, allows the fans to actually see the player develop and assuming the lad is English will potentially provide more consistency for the National side. Of course the biggest benefit would be a much more even playing field for those clubs that invest in a top Academy. This one simple rule could make a huge difference in restoring sanity to football - add progressive salary caps in relation to player grades and the sport would be transformed entirely (and for the better).

 

I've thought this would be a good idea for a long time. It would probably have to be coupled with a rising number of first team games they must have played the previous season, otherwise it would leave kids who aren't getting any games stuck. It would also probably have to be coupled with ruling that they could move to a team in a league above otherwise it would discourage kids from joining teams like Crewe.

[ENSKIED]

Excellent post, well structured and empathetic to ours and others plight, very refreshing. Both my wife and her father are from the red half of 'pool and the feel the same way, the father in law having supported them for over 65 years.

Hello Waggy - Yes my family feel the same, there is an essence in all of this that if Liverpool do anything at all this season it's going to have a sense of 'by default' attached to it and worse still if the Saints struggle it's not because of "footy" per se - lack of ability, lack of desire etc. but simply put because of greed. Something has to be done. This is destroying the very spirit of the game -your team against ours and may the best team win and we'll meet in the bar for a drink afterwards - simplistic I know but it seems now as though BIG business has finally hijacked the game we love. A close friend of my mine predicted this state of affairs a number of years ago now. I know the following sounds, well it sounds "something or other" but did abolishing the maximum wage eventually lead to this? Did the generation who instigated that ceiling understand more than we?

[angelman]

Not sure, whether abolishing the max wage brought this to where we are now, it certainly hasn't helped. Wage caps are funny things, and there are often ways around them so their effectiveness has to be questioned. But as the only way I can see any solution to the current situation is by bringing in a wage cap, then I guess the answer to your question has to be yes. I suppose image rights are the real circumnavigation to wage caps, but I am sure that there are other way. And unless the whole of Europe did it, you would get to a position like Rugby Union, where people want to play in France. I see that La Ligua want the best 500 players in the world to be in their teams, so if we introduced one in this country, then everyone would be off there.

 

Does it matter? No. The clubs are still here, and the competition would be better because everyone would be closer in ability. You might not get the best players, but does that matter? Certainly not on a domestic level to the supporter, but the PL money men wouldn't have it, and the CL competitiveness would be curtailed. As we aren't going to be in the CL if the current situation stays, then I don't care about competitiveness in that competition.

[ENSKIED]

I don't wish Liverpool FC or Brendan Rodgers any luck whatsoever - or the plastic Liverpool fans that live down here - you know the ones that have never been to Anfield let alone a football match - who have been laughing at us since Lambert signed for his hometown club.

 

The plastic Man Utd fans are pretty much the same.

 

You know the ones - who watch Sky, read the Sun, subscribe to the club TV channel and buy the Club magazine.

 

For some reason the Cheslski and Citeh fans have been sympathetic - but maybe they just don't have so many plastics.

 

Maybe the proper Liverpool fans are different - like the OP

 

Well you see Rebel it's the plastic fans that the likes of the owners of Liverpool [and other major clubs] wish to encourage and thus sell what? Let's say six sets of merchandise in the form of kits and other paraphernalia to them each season on average. It's rather like throwing a stone into a pond the very core is the game itself but the ripples stretch far away now and there is lots of dosh to be made away from the core point i.e the grass root match going fans. In a way we don't really count any more we just supply the soundtrack to the movie as it were - the TV and their billions of dollars are King of this situation now.

 

Taking the Liverpool Owners FSG they do not have a clue about the game itself - their number one sport consideration is still baseball, so why did they buy Liverpool at all? The money? The prestige? The glamour? To tap a global phenomena? Because they could? It's a mixture of all those aspects I believe. They are also in the process asset strippers? And the Saints are ripe for stripping? The core then is now a long way off and almost an incidental.

[Professor]

You have to wonder how marketable the game will be when its just the same six teams playing each other week in and week out. But at the moment the grounds are full and Sky gets so many viewers that they can dump millions into the trough for the snouts to gobble up. Can't see any prospect of things changing until genuine football fans wake up to the fact they are being taken for a ride.

[Foxy]

I'm not so sure. When a player is transferred you're not actually buying the player - that would be slavery. You're buying his contract, and a contract is binding.

In the system suggested such a contract could be signed when a kid first enters the academy.

No transfers before 21 and a wage cap below 50k a week and the game would steadily improve.

 

You're not really buying anything, you're compensating for him not fulfilling his contract. Back in the day there was an additional complexity around ownership of the player's registration, which continued post contract but Bosman ruling put that to bed.

 

I'm not sure exactly how the rules regarding fixed term contracts work but I am confident putting a rule in place that no one can change employer before the age of 21 or stating that all contracts must tie players in to that age would be unenforceable.

[angelman]

a wage cap below 50k a week and the game would steadily improve.

 

£50k! That's still £2.5m a year. I was thinking more £20k. If you were good then you would no doubt get £50k a week with the addition of endorsements, image right, advertising etc

[AussieDog]

I Don't think you would get away with salary capping individuals, but you might be able to salary cap a club? It would certainly level the playing field a little.

[angelman]

I Don't think you would get away with salary capping individuals, but you might be able to salary cap a club? It would certainly level the playing field a little.

 

Well the powers that be would say that they already have that in the form of FFP.

[hughieslastminutegoal]

I'm not so sure. When a player is transferred you're not actually buying the player - that would be slavery. You're buying his contract, and a contract is binding.

In the system suggested such a contract could be signed when a kid first enters the academy.

No transfers before 21 and a wage cap below 50k a week and the game would steadily improve.

If you were under 21 but getting no chances wouldn't you want a transfer?

Your system smacks of the kind of contracts Virgin etc. used to give budding rock groups who if they wanted to stand a chance of being heard had to accept unfair contract terms.

 

Do away with transfer fees and allow total freedom of movement within the closed season - if someone wanted away it would be so much easier to get a replacement. Players might even start getting some sense of loyalty to and appreciation of their employer. Free competition between players for jobs could excercise some downward pressure on wage demands (at most clubs).

 

Football is now just an extreme example of the economic system as a whole - the top is just getting an ever increasing share of the cake at the expense of the rest and there's probably little that can be done to curtail the top clubs, whatever the system.

 

However whilst smaller clubs may have to rely on transfer fees, they do so in an environment where players wages are too high because it is so hard to sign them.

I don't go along with the view that says if these clubs didn't have to pay transfer fees the money not spent on them will be spent on wages instead - because they would know that there will in turn be no transfer income coming in.

[Professor]

FFP is anything but fair play. It simply means that the wealthy clubs can use their financial muscle to create more off-the-field income and spend it on players. Some of it is fictitious income such as selling player's advertising values or the naming rights for a stadium, to subsidiary companies of the owners for inflated fees. A wage cap, a transfer limit and other regulations could make the game fair but too many vested interests will resist that as hard as possible.

[Bearsy]

Ok guise, we've got this scouse lad's fiver I think we can start with the backlash now!

 

What a load of disingenuous guff that op was! This guy ain't really bothered bout the mega-bucks preventing Southampton winning the league (lol) he's just aching for the long-forgotten time when Liverpool could win it! That's one of the best things Sky TV and Abramovich & Arabs have done for English football, that they've relegated Liverpool to also-rans

[ENSKIED]

Ok guise, we've got this scouse lad's fiver I think we can start with the backlash now!

 

What a load of disingenuous guff that op was! This guy ain't really bothered bout the mega-bucks preventing Southampton winning the league (lol) he's just aching for the long-forgotten time when Liverpool could win it! That's one of the best things Sky TV and Abramovich & Arabs have done for English football, that they've relegated Liverpool to also-rans

 

Well then lar that's a bit bear-faced I have t'say! So then cat's out ter'bag all well an'good! Well then . . . . I well and truly nailed you mate! You see I was actually born in Portsmouth down by the docks, then of course I wanted to ride on the glory train and so became a Man U fan, pure plastic variety of course, I can assure you I have all the Man U shirts other credentials and tattoos even talk like Citeh folk now. I actually came on here after borrowing the fiver off my mate who is a Saint's fan and was easily conned into lending me it believing I was indeed sympathetic to the real cause of footy - how stupid can you get? The only caveat is that being a true Saint's fan the bastard wants £20 quid back for a job worth a fiver at most, citing Lovren and other notable sails, that's sails, as in sails away - gerrit? So who conned who then? Shouted in another funny accent, "Come On The Pimpey!" Or is it Pompey? Eeee lad I can never remember these days!

 

Anyway call yerself a bear? Pusseycat more like! Off now to wind those slum ridden thieving Scouse gits up on their Forums! But don't worry I'll be back yer thieving bastard!

[Dalek2003]

I know people who have stopped watching league football and started supporting and watching non league football. Cheaper, good atmosphere and enjoyable to see teams built from the start and rise up the leagues. I have to say I can see where they are coming from.

[buctootim]

I know people who have stopped watching league football and started supporting and watching non league football. Cheaper, good atmosphere and enjoyable to see teams built from the start and rise up the leagues. I have to say I can see where they are coming from.

 

I know you're trolling but I did actually enjoy almost everything about lg1 and Championship more than the PL. Everything apart from the quality of the football.

[Wes Tender]

Well then lar that's a bit bear-faced I have t'say! So then cat's out ter'bag all well an'good! Well then . . . . I well and truly nailed you mate! You see I was actually born in Portsmouth down by the docks, then of course I wanted to ride on the glory train and so became a Man U fan, pure plastic variety of course, I can assure you I have all the Man U shirts other credentials and tattoos even talk like Citeh folk now. I actually came on here after borrowing the fiver off my mate who is a Saint's fan and was easily conned into lending me it believing I was indeed sympathetic to the real cause of footy - how stupid can you get? The only caveat is that being a true Saint's fan the bastard wants £20 quid back for a job worth a fiver at most, citing Lovren and other notable sails, that's sails, as in sails away - gerrit? So who conned who then? Shouted in another funny accent, "Come On The Pimpey!" Or is it Pompey? Eeee lad I can never remember these days!

 

Anyway call yerself a bear? Pusseycat more like! Off now to wind those slum ridden thieving Scouse gits up on their Forums! But don't worry I'll be back yer thieving bastard!

:lol: The Bear bitten.

[hypochondriac]

I'm loving the fact we have a new scouser on here. Haven't had one of those since the Don who used to have a godfather avatar.

[angelman]

I know you're trolling but I did actually enjoy almost everything about lg1 and Championship more than the PL. Everything apart from the quality of the football.

 

The quality of the football and the quality of the competition are not mutually inclusive.

[Depressed of Shirley]

On top of the team based salary cap, and the restrictions on signing U21's, there are two other things that have brought us to where we are now. The first was the obligation to pay the visiting team a proportion of the gate money. It was this that allowed many sides such as us, Watford, Derby, Forest etc to compete with Liverpool and Man U. This will never be undone now, but it was the catalyst for the big five and the PL.

 

The second is to ban the loan system for all players over the age of 21. This would encourage players to think about who they are signing for, and whether they would actually get any game time. It is ridiculous for clubs to loan players out to different clubs for season after season, whilst continuing to buy other first team players.