The Premier League will eat itself
Mornin'. It's Weds, June 5. Today, has football jumped the shark? Man City devouring the EPL, Watford's Shark Tank deal, and Roy Keane's dead-eye stare. All this, and the usual daily round-ups. Enjoy!
Man City have declared all-out war on Premier League – and their rivals screams the headline in today’s Telegraph ($), reacting to the news that the Abu Dhabi backed club are making a legal challenge to the Premier League’s rules on ‘associated-party transcactions’ APTs.
It’s a good piece from Sam Wallace, making the case that while City claim they are suffering under the ‘tyranny of the majority’, all they are being asked to do in reality is to abide by the rules set by the majority of clubs in the league. Those limits are designed to stop ultra-rich owners pouring in cash through sponsorship deals with firms they are ‘associated’ with in order to get around the spending limits on clubs which relate to revenue.
City supporters claim the club is under attack from the ‘established elite’ of clubs, namely the rest of the ‘Big Six’, who have pushed the rules over the years in order to cement their position at the top and limit the emergence of big-spending rivals – such as City and more recently Newcastle.
The fact that Newcastle haven’t been able to use their Saudi cash to buy loads of top international stars and really push into the elite, tends to give some credence to this defense. And, indeed, however laughable the ‘victim’ claim from City, a club which was spent heavily and won six of the last seven EPL titles may sound, there is a core truth in their self-serving defense.
The commitment to restricted spending, strict regulation and a version of parity, in the interests of relatively even competition, is relatively new for Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea, who were all perfectly happy in the past to embed themselves at the top of the table by outspending the rest of the league.
It is also laughable that the Premier League’s financial rules have seen a crack down on clubs such as Everton, Nottingham Forest and Leicester City. They may have broken the regulations on ‘Financial Fair Play’ or ‘Sustainability’ but they did so in order to merely try to survive in the top-flight. They weren’t a danger to the competitive balance in the league.
The whole thing is a complete mess.
The idea of having rules and regulations in place to limit extreme spending by a small number of clubs isn’t unique to the Premier League of course and America’s major leagues in all sports have some form of salary cap. They work because they are, essentially, very clear and simple rules. No clubs are heading to the courts to argue about them.
But, with few restrictions in place, the Premier League has been a rare case of a British product becoming a global success and the big-spending, free-market approach has been at the core of it. No-one tunes in to watch the EPL in Malaysia or Massachusetts because the regulations ensure a fair and balanced competition, the league enjoys worldwide interest because most of the best players in the world play there and they move to England because they can make more money there than they can elsewhere.
That is not to say that City are right and that there should be a free-for-all on spending. Of course not. But there needs to be a total rethink over what the purpose of financial regulations are and the creation of a simple and easily enforceable system – not the current hodgepodge or the next version which potentially adds new layers of confusion.
And coming soon there is yet another layer of regulation and potential confusion with the arrival of the UK government’s so-called ‘independent regulator’ for football. It was an idea which emerged after the moral panic over the collapse of Rochdale (perennial lower division strugglers) and issues around a handful of other lower league clubs. It was popularized by the likes of Gary Neville (and others unhappy with the Glazer ownership of Manchester United) and backed by the ‘great and good’ of football punditry and opinion forming.
Now, have a look at the state of modern Britain and ask yourself if the way to make a top class sporting business better is to involve more regulations, regulators and Westminster politicians? Whatever the formal limits on the regulator, once politicians get involved, the pressure for ‘mission creep’ is inevitable. It won’t be long before grandstanding MP’s are calling for nationwide price limits on pies.
All of which leads this writer to the conclusion that whether City win their legal case or not, the Premier League is heading in only one direction at the moment – binding itself up in red tape, deterring investment, making it harder for the big clubs to spend but also for the medium clubs to challenge them and the smaller clubs to establish themselves after promotion. The City case won’t be the last ‘big match’ in a courtroom.
The league is sleep-walking towards seriously weakening itself as a sporting and business product through years of constant battles over regulations and enforcement of them.
If that happens, the investment will eventually go elsewhere and so will the best players. It is what La Liga, Serie A and the Bundesliga have long hoped would happen – the juggernaut, which is the Premier League, no longer striding the global stage but hobbling towards its exit.
Maybe that isn’t such a bad thing for European football and the broader international game. It isn’t healthy for one league to have such a concentration of wealth and talent.
But it will be telling if those responsible for knocking the Premier League down a rung or two are the English themselves.
EURO 2024 Round-up
CROATIA: The Guardian’s Croatia guide from Aleksandar Holiga starts with this remarkable stat: “Croatia have never won a knockout round game at a European Championship. And if that sounds odd given that they always seem to be punching above their weight, then how about this: the last (and only) time they’ve beaten anyone in 90 minutes after the group stage at any major tournament was 26 years ago”
ALBANIA: Sports writer Ermal Kuka suggests Brazilian coach Sylvinho’s squad selections could come back to bite him. Suddenly leaving out regulars such as Sokol Cikalleshi, Myrto Uzuni and Keidi Bare and offering incohesive explanations of the reasons why, ranging from “my criteria for the list was not playing time with their teams” and “the squad was not based on what happened in qualification” to “I changed the list three days ago”. The selection has put pressure on the Brazilian that was not there before and he now needs to prove to everyone that he was right. Cikalleshi, who turns 34 later this summer, immediately quit international football after the omission.
- It’s an Albanian who has the highest pass completion rate in Seria A. Last season, Inter’s Kristjan Asllani saw 93% of his passes find a man - 1.4% of which look to be from short corners. (@OptaJoe)
There are pre-Euro friendly matches today with Spain, France and Belgium all in action and a Scandi-derby between Denmark and Sweden. TV listings.
COPA AMERICA 2024 Round-up
Mexico and Uruguay warm-up for the Copa with a friendly in Denver, Colorado tonight at 9pm ET. It’s on Univision and Fox will have English coverage on their apps and Foxsports.com. Bielsa v Jimmy, it could be a fun one. (Univision and Fox)
Doug McIntyre at Fox Sports asks which USMNT spots are up for grabs ahead of Copa?
Here the odds on the Golden Boot winners for Copa America - only Brazilians and Argentines feature in Fan Duel’s list?
The Athletic has a handy guide to the NFL stadiums venues hosting Copa games.
Your Daily Soccer Round-up….
Today’s Top Transfers:
USA defender Tim Ream could be leaving Fulham and returning home with Dean Smith’s Charlotte in ‘advanced talks’ says Tom Bogert of The Athletic.
Atlético Madrid are sniffing around Manchester City’s Julián Álvarez (ESPN)
Japhet Tanganga, Ryan Sessegnon, Eric Dier and Ivan Perisic have all left Spurs at the end of their contracts (@SpursOfficial)
Managerial Mayhem:
Antonio Conte has been ‘unveiled’ as Napoli coach and Gazzetta dello Sport has dared to use the ‘M word’: “As it happened 40 years ago with Maradona, Napoli fans followed and waited for the man of the footballing breakthrough” Football Italia. Managing expectations?
In Other Soccer News
MLS: Which young players stood out in the last two rounds? Good talent update from Charles Boehm at MLSSoccer.com
USWNT: Emma Hayes’ side won 3-0 against South Korea last night with a goal from 16-year-old debutante Lily Yohannes and as Jeff Kassouf notes - the auditions are over and now she must pick her 18-woman squad for the Olympics. That’s not going to be easy at all. (ESPN)
PREMIER LEAGUE: The FA want to ban West ham’s Luis Paqueta for life after more spot fixing allegations in relation to him betting on himself to get booked come to light. (The Sun)
BRITAIN: Watford are seeking $17.5M for a 10% stake in the club at a valuation of $175M allowing a maximum of four shares per individual. This is the worst season of Dragon’s Den / Shark Tank ever. (WATFORD FC)
PRESEASON: J.J. Watt has hands like cows’ tits, but a head like a traction engine. (Goal.com)
Roy Keane gives Wayne Rooney the silent hairdryer treatment. (@natashaeveritt7)
The Daily Soccer Quote of the Day
“As Barça fan, it’s not good news to see Mbappé to Real Madrid...But to be honest, I prefer our strategy to trust a project with players produced and made in La Masia..I respect our rivals but I keep our Philosophy” - Barça president Laporta