Financial Fair Play - Latest News

Novel punishment proposed for FFP breaches

April 15, 2012

Novel punishment proposed for FFP breaches 26 November 2011

With a UEFA committee due to meet in January to determine the punishment tariff for FFP breaches, an interesting suggestion has been proposed by a blogger at http://www.maracanazo.com/ .  UEFA's previous plan to impose a transfer ban for certain FFP breaches seems to have hit the buffers (due to restraint-of-trade issues and the fact that control of player registrations rests with FIFA and national associations, rather than UEFA).  The enterprising blogger proposes that teams who enter the Group Stage of the Champions League (and Europa League) would be docked points based on the level of FFP overspend. The devil is always in the detail, but with UEFA seemingly having few tools in at their disposal to punish transgressors, we might not have heard the last of this idea.

Posted by Ed Thompson.

 

UEFA shelves Transfer Ban punishment

April 15, 2012

UEFA shelves Transfer Ban punishment 24 November 2011

The Telegraph published a significant FFP article which maintains that UEFA have had to withdraw one of the proposed punishments for exceeding the Break Even deficit. The use of a transfer ban was put forward as a favoured punishment at the ECA in September (see article below). However it appears such a ban would fail the EC's restraint-of-trade rules.  This seemingly leaves UEFA with only three options:

  1. Levy fines as a punishment (however t...

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Posted by Ed Thompson.

 

Media confusion over first Monitoring Period

April 15, 2012

 Media confusion over first Monitoring Period20 November 2011

In the rush to comment on City's recently announced £195m loss, a number of columnists have submitted incorrect copy regarding the duration of the current Monitoring Period.  The error seems to have started in a Press Association article on 18 November and has been included in a number of separate articles, including those in the Guardian, Telegraph and Mail.  To clarify, the current Monitoring Period lasts for TWO years (not three...

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Posted by Ed Thompson.

 

City downbeat over meeting FFP criteria

April 15, 2012
Article published 18 November 2011
Man City today announces losses of £195m for 2010/11 season. Significantly they have taken a distinctly downbeat tone over whether they can meet the FFP criteria for the first Monitoring Period.  The club announced:

"As we undertake the club's commercial transformation, we are cognisant of the incoming Uefa financial fair play regulations and consequently we continue to maintain positive and ongoing dialogue with all appropriate football authorities."

Being 'c...

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Posted by Ed Thompson.

 

Platini discusses watered down punishments

April 15, 2012
Platini discusses watered down punishments 15 Oct 2011
Although the UEFA rules on Financial Fair Play, quite clearly spell out the punishments for clubs which overspend (non-compliance=no licence to compete), Platini has this week discussed imposing lesser punishments for rogue clubs (see link below).  In the Der Spiegel interview Platini discussed 'a range of possible sanctions' with exclusion being one of them.  Interestingly, the concept of reduced punishments such as fining clubs and/or im...

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Posted by Ed Thompson.

 

Chelsea outline their plan for Financial Fair Play compliance

April 15, 2012
Chelsea outline their plan for Financial Fair Play compliance 9 Oct 2011
Steve Tongue in the Independent on Sunday pulled together an excellent article on the challenges faced by Chelsea in order to comply with the Financial Fair Play rules.  Bruce Buck (Chelsea's Chairman) outlined the 4 actions the club will be taking:
  1. Reduced spend on transfer fees for new players
  2. Reduced spend on wages
  3. Increased sponsorship income (possibly including selling stadium naming rights)
  4. Increased match-day incomes
Of...

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Posted by Ed Thompson.

 

FFP catches Sunderland Short

April 15, 2012
FFP catches Sunderland Short 5 Oct 2011
It was interesting to see that Sunderland used 'Financial Fair Play requirements' as part of the justification for Niall Quinn's change of roles. In a move that signalled the increasing frustration of club owner Ellis Short, Quinn was this week replaced as club Chairman. In an unusual move, Ellis Short now becomes club Chairman.  Quinn will now focus on "developing Sunderland's profile and business interest overseas". Clearly,
all is not well at Sunderlan...

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Posted by Ed Thompson.

 

Chelsea decision long overdue

April 15, 2012
Chelsea decision long overdue 4 Oct 2011
Stamford Bridge have known for some time that they need to improve the income generated from their Stamford Bridge stadium.  With a capacity of 42,000 and generating around £82m of match-day income each season, the stadium compares particularly poorly to Arsenal who are able to generated around £122m over the same period.  Of course Arsenal have the benefit of a shiny new stadium and wisely decided to build extensive corporate facilities in a successf...

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Posted by Ed Thompson.

 

Owners asked to dig deep

April 15, 2012
Owners asked to dig deep 2 Oct 2011
With the financial reporting season upon us, the impact of FFP is starting to hit home with club owners.  Although clubs are able to report a deficit of up to E45m during the current two-year Monitoring Period, clubs are only able to record this level of loss if the owners are willing to put their hands in their pocket and inject Equity that will cover all any deficit amount over E5m.  Where the owners are not willing to subsidise the club in this way, the m...
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Posted by Ed Thompson.

 

Arsenal can only break even

April 15, 2012
Article published 1 Oct 2011
Arsenal are viewed by UEFA as a role model - they play nice football, are not owned by a 'Sugar Daddy', they have built a lovely new stadium and operate on financial model that will seemingly ensure FFP compliance. UEFA will therefore have been pleased to read Arsenal's recent financial results (their last ones to be produced before the first Monitoring Period).  Although Arsenal announced a profit of £15m before tax, they recorded a profit of just £2.2m once tra...

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Posted by Ed Thompson.

 
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