A £50m Joke

Article by e-Chelsea Correspondent Lee Beevor

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Regular readers may think I am set for another blast at my club’s “spearhead”, a certain Fernando Torres. Whilst the headline fits perfectly with my oft-vented opinion of the misfiring Spaniard, on this occasion, he is to be spared my ire. The joke to which I refer is the supposedly harsh punishment facing Manchester City for breaching the UEFA Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations. For whilst £50 million seems a large sum of money, to the clubs that FFP was implemented to curtail, it is pocket change.

I do not want to get into specifics, as most people find economics dull and the details are largely irrelevant to the principle in any case. However, I understand City will pay their fine over 3 years, reducing it to a paltry £17 million or in player terms, a Rodwell or Sinclair type transfer. If you had forgotten City signed these players you are forgiven, given the lack of minutes they spent on the Etihad pitch. But worry not, as I’m sure City will continue to avail themselves of such under-utilised reserves in the future. There will always be a completely unconnected company from the Middle East ready to sponsor their corner flags to make up any shortfall.

By completely ignoring FFP, City has benefited immeasurably. Is there anyone reading this that seriously thinks they would have won this season’s Premier League without Negredo, Fernandinho, Demichelis, Navas and Jovetic? Okay, Jovetic has not done a great deal, but he is after all the fourth choice striker. To spend £23m on a player that will not play is exactly what FFP was designed to prevent. Squad depth of this level is anti-competitive and stifles youth development in the process. How many players need to be injured before an academy forward is promoted to City’s starting line-up?

So Manchester City won the English league and Paris Saint-Germain are the champions of France. Well done. Both gambled that UEFA would do nothing to enforce their regulations and both have been rewarded. But wait I hear you say, what about squad restrictions? Oh yes, I nearly forgot, City must make do with a squad of a mere 21 players in their 2014/15 Champions League campaign. Well Real Madrid made the final by utilising 22 of their personnel, so this is hardly a hindrance. Besides, if your group is so strong and so deep, then it hardly matters, as you still possess a top quality first eleven, plus ten back-up full internationals.

It may come across that I am picking on City and if so, I apologise. As a Chelsea fan, I obviously cannot lecture on the evils of high spending! However, when my club makes the effort to conform to FFP and suffers a disadvantage as a result, I have a right to be angry. Does this mean Roman can buy Cavani and Costa this summer, with perhaps Falcoa ready for when he recovers from injury? Let’s just write UEFA a cheque for £100m now and be done with it.

This was a chance for UEFA to do something to make football more competitive and they have blown it. Now Bayern will sign more of Dortmund’s players and win the league by Christmas. Is this good for football? If Chelsea and City spend £200m each in the summer, we will be deprived of the fun given to us initially by Arsenal and laterally Liverpool, as they will not be able to keep pace. I don’t want this to happen, but if the sheikhs and oligarchs are left unchecked to spend at will, it is inevitable it will.

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