In the world of football, there are many things that can begin to creep under your skin. The way that Sepp Blatter is still allowed to be out of his house…the way that Arsene Wenger and his side are never to blame for a loss or draw…the way that any Manchester City fan under the age of 25 can claim that they were a fan before the money infux…or the way that you hear clubs are millions and millions of dollars in debt and they can still make massive transfers. All of these may rub any fan the wrong way, but there is an ever-growing issue in the world of football that is starting to blossom (and the blossom seems to be covered in thorns).
While Jose Mourinho may merely be upset because of Manchester City’s recent snagging of Wilfried Bony, he made a point about something in world football that is growing out of hand. Despite being told for the past several that UEFA is enacting Financial Fair Play in order to ensure that clubs will not be able to play extremely fast and loose with their finances in order to climb to the top of the footballing summit, clubs are STILL playing fast and loose in this aspect. Over the last two seasons, multiple clubs have posted massive losses…meaning that, if they post a loss in this season, they will be hit with massive fines and penalties from Europe’s governing body.
But, if we haven’t seen any of the penalties from UEFA stick at this point, why are we to expect that they will actually fall in the summer of 2015?
The club heavyweights in Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester, London, and countless other major footballing cities have been spending well beyond the revenue that comes into their clubs for seasons. While we at the Center Circle are not for slapping a salary cap on Europe’s elite leagues, making a rule about how clubs can function and then not putting any firepower behind it is a mistake. Clubs have started creating fake revenue influxes to supposedly fix the bottom line and creating clever ways of bringing in players. While the EPL would not have half the drama it does without clubs like Manchester City, this recent Frank Lampard/NYFC situation has a stink about it (and City certainly is not the only club making moves like this).
If Financial Fair Play finds its way into the 2015/16 season without (at the very least) making an example out of ONE of the big spenders in Europe, then there is no way to believe that it will ever be anything other than a phrase people throw out to make people feel better about possible parity in Europe. With the joke that Blatter and FIFA continue to be, all these failings with soccer’s governing bodies only seem to add to a growing list of issues…when will we actually feel like world football is in decent hands? It’s only a matter of time before “Platini” and “Blatter” turn into verbs that we use to describe when anyone does anything negative or stupid…or, maybe that has already happened…
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