Salary Cap or Monopoly Money?
Roman’s revolution at Chelsea was the start of big things at Stamford Bridge. Not only did it change the future of Chelsea Football Club but it would also change the future for the Premier League. Since then, the take-over at Manchester City has dwarfed any memory of the Russian revolution at Stamford Bridge but it has still highlighted a problem that has been the subject of much debate. Do we need financial restrictions in the Premier League?
The ‘sheikh’ up at Manchester City has opened the debate as to whether a salary cap, or something of similar nature, is necessary in the English game. There are most definitely two sides to this story.
On the positive side, the Premier League has been attracting some of the World’s best football players. Increased availability of transfer funds has meant that some of the top players in the World are looking to the Premier League over Italy and Spain. It has also meant that there is an increase in competition standard. The Premier League is widely regarded as the World’s best league and it might not be the same if financial restrictions were put in place.
Manchester City have now become realistic title challengers for future seasons and that will no doubt increase the entertainment of the league in the coming seasons. However, the worry is, if some clubs can afford seemingly limitless wages then what hope is there for the club’s lower down the league who have very restricted budgets?
One has to question why a player like Robinho would chose Manchester City over Chelsea at a time when they were merely a work in progress. How would a salary cap have affected his decision?
There would undoubtedly be positives if a salary cap was to be introduced.
Not only would we possibly see a decrease of clubs in debt, but it could also open up the league to a level playing field. Imagine the possibility of a league in which teams could bid for the same player, offer the same amount of wages and let the player decide which team he would prefer in terms of manager, club, or even kit colour. The idea that a player could be lured by a colour over double the amount of wages may seem silly, and for players it may be a nightmare but for fans it could prove revolutionary. The ‘top 4’ would remain as they were for now, but over the next few years the level of competition in the Premier League could increase to an unseen level. It could, potentially, provide each team with an equal chance of success without a bias towards those who are financially superior.
The worry for the Premier League would be if, in introducing such a system, other European leagues begin to attract the World’s best players and in doing so, the system has a negative effect on the global reputation of our league. It is something that could affect the league financially from loss of sponsor’s and television rights.
Although it may be easy to call on the league to create a level playing field, it is a problem that has a number of potential positive and negative effects. The job of the governing bodies is to decide whether the pros out-number the cons and, if so, what would be the best way of introducing the system.
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How come no-one talked about a salary cap when United were buying all and sundry and forcing the prices up for all the other teams. Average players started going for millions, all because United knew that they could outbid anyone.
My thoughts exactly, dave. How come noone cared about a salary cap when the likes of United lured players in for ridiculous amounts of money? Could it possibly be that the author of this article is a United fan bricking it at the thought of City gatecrashing the Top 4 party? Or are you just uninformed Sefa?
Neither actually but look at United now. City and Chelsea’s wealth means they are unlikely to be to worried about debt, hence why its more of an issue right now
Also Dave there was no salary cap mentioned when the Russian Arfur Dailey stepped into the Bridge to bring some of Europe’s waifs and straifs upon us. Some of them were a waste of time, Shevchenko being the obvious looking like a lost soul in the Gobi desert. Mind you some were a dream to watch but at first they all looked a bit mismatched as Man City are at the moment. But at the heart of Chelsea are some English players who make the other nationals gel. But this did not happen overnight. Ballack, at first, was very arrogant and has now mellowed to be a ‘British’ style player, Malouda looked ordinary as well, he has come on too. Drogba has adapted, Deco needs a bit longer, Ivanovic is still learning, Carvalho is clumsy still. It took them a few years to get the League title, so Man City will have to wait. Alex Ferguson has the Midas touch and will overcome Chelsea at the end, I’m sorry to disappoint you all. As far as Salary capping this does not actually affect Hull City so please yourselves really. The only problem with clubs like Man City where are all the British youngsters going to appear from. Years ago Burnley kept going by finding homegrown talent bringing them on and eventually selling them. This is how it should be, that is how we won the World Cup in 1966, by blooding homegrown talent onto the world. Plus, they would not be messing about with their lives, like John Terry and enjoying football to the full. Too much money and too much time on their hands. Terry would have had more sympathy if he had just owned up to it all and tended his resignation as England Captain. Capello might have been a bit more sympathetic to him. He still would have been stripped as captain but he might have had the chance of regaining it again. They never learn do they! I think as a forfeight Terry should share some of his monies with the lest fortunate players in the lower leagues or even help out with the wages at Portsmouth. Come on it’s only a game of football when all said and done.