We’ve seen clubs like Manchester City, PSG and recently QPR spend money like it’s going out of style, and the Financial Fair Play Rules (FFP) seem to be having little or no effect on some of the big spending European football clubs.
Michel Platini – UEFA President
And some clubs – notably PSG and Manchester City – are trying to find creative (but illegal) ways to beat the system – with City’s deal with Etihad Airl;ines of £400M over 10 years being way above the fair market price of such deals, and the Airline is also closely linked to its Abu Dhabi-based owner – so there’s a conflict of interest there too.
And we hear that PSG have recently done a deal with the Qatar Tourism Authority, for £125M a year with the Qatar Tourist Authority over four years – to promote tourism in the country – give me a break – what’s this to do with football?
In business, these types of deals have to be at the “fair value” or market value of other sponsorship deals – basically it’s what the market will pay for the deals – and you cannot inflate these by up to ten times their value and expect to get away with it – well not in the real business world that is.
UEFA have just released their latest report, and losses have gone from €0.6B(£0.52B) in 2007 for European clubs to €1.7B in 2011, and 46 clubs would have failed the financial break-even test – and we’re certain Newcastle are not one of them.
UEFA’s General Secretary, Gianni Infantino had this to say about the losses:
“It is a hell of a lot of money and a very worrying situation that the clubs have the responsibility to take very seriously. It is not about just one club that might go bankrupt. The whole of football cares, because the consequences of a club going bankrupt are felt across the game,”
“Everyone, including PSG, know the rules and knows when they kick in. They know the rules are that they have to generate revenues to cover their costs without cheating know the rules and knows when they kick in.” “When we first discussed FFP it was Chelsea that attracted some questioning, then you have Manchester City, then it was PSG”
“Our responsibility is to have a system that works for more than 630 clubs and not look at one club and neglect the rest. Each individual situation will be assessed very carefully by these two panels.” “PSG have to respect the rules, they want to respect the rules.” “They are telling us they want to respect the rules.”
“The FFP rules are there to help the clubs. UEFA doesn’t want to sanction the clubs, we want to help them. But sometimes we have to sanction someone to help the clubs.” “We have a regulation which speaks about fair value of deals and the fact that a related party cannot just inject money into a club directly or indirectly.”
UEFA has a team of team of 15 accountants who will begin analyzing financial figures next spring for the years 2011-12 and 2012-13, and that is the first period to be looked at under the new break-even regime.
Clubs will be allowed an acceptable loss of up to €45M over those two years, as long as it is met by some benefactor – which are usually the club owners.
And news that PSG are donating David Beckham’s wages of £3M over five months to charity, hoping it will not be included in the FFP calculation – good try but what nonsense!
Finally. Infantino had this to say about FFP:
“It is healthy and much more sustainable than someone coming in, promising a lot and then the next day the club is bankrupt. Look at the situation with Rangers. Secondly, big clubs have always existed, this will not change.”
“In the past this was attendances, then commercial rights and TV rights.” “”We think this should be the case all over the world, certainly all over Europe. If FIFA will not do it, we will certainly do it as far as Europe is concerned,”
Mike Ashley has done a of things wrong since he took over the club in June of 2007, by his own admission, but one thing he has been very good at is to get Newcastle United on a solid financial footing, and yet still we have still been able to bring some top players in on fantastic bargains – the most recent one being the great Moussa Sissoko for just £2M.
And one last thought – have UEFA had a look at QPR’s books recently?
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234 comments so far
BOOM BOOM THE 1ST
Feb 5, 2013 at 4:37 PM
Comment #41At munster couldnt agree more. Hes ruined a few clubs lets hope he gets what he deserves this time round.
Ketsbaia9
Feb 5, 2013 at 4:41 PM
Comment #42Please see an interesting article regarding Liverpool and the jealously of not having Sissoko in their team:
http://www.liverpool-kop.com/2013/02/lfc-transfer-news-rodgers-negligence-moussa-sissoko-newcastle.html
Neil Crosby
Feb 5, 2013 at 4:44 PM
Comment #43There is no connection between Sheik Mansour and his family and Etihad Airways who sponsor Manchester City.
It is impossible to make a comparison between City’s sponsorship deal and others because there isn’t one like it and therefore cannot be judged. The sponsorship is for the Etihad Campus comprising the stadium and the new training ground which will be the world’s best when completed in the summer of 2014. What are UEFA going to do? Go down the road to Rochdale and see how much that cost?
Ketsbaia9
Feb 5, 2013 at 5:03 PM
Comment #44Take note of this, Abeid is a decent player and will do well for us in the future:
http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/newcastle-united/nufc-news/2012/01/26/hatem-ben-arfa-hails-teammate-mehdi-abeid-72703-30202179/
89Norcal
Feb 5, 2013 at 5:06 PM
Comment #45Kets
I read elsewhere that pool had offers of 15m turned down by Toulouse for Sissoko a year or two ago, and we had our eyes on him even before that.
Our scouting and negotiations team really are golden.
Blaydon-Toon
Feb 5, 2013 at 5:07 PM
Comment #46Afternoon gents … Back in blighty after a weekend in Ireland ! Great game Sat and even better result ! Should have no fears playing Spurs now with our tails up 🙂 you never know we mag even break another duck by scoring from a corner to go with first away win at Villa and first win coming from behind against Chelsea …
Tsunki
Feb 5, 2013 at 5:10 PM
Comment #47I dont think FFP is anything more than the usual fudged cap-tipping towards a problem too complex for it to solve. In the end it will be the economic climate and the ultimate underachievement for their spent dollars that will put a damper on the likes of teams from PSG all the way through to QPR.
I really hope we are seeing the last part of the heyday of playboy clubs and greedy owners gambling for massive tv rights and the ensuing brand projection. As a business it will by definition have to aspire to make money, but the sport needs a real leveller, or a ‘tax’ on the most successful clubs to fund the academies and facilities of the lower league ones, maybe even a spreading out of the tv money across the leagues rather than paying the rich to become richer. Just throwing stuff out there.
Tsunki
Feb 5, 2013 at 5:11 PM
Comment #48Blaydon – havent you heard? our odds-on header from a corner scorer is Jonas. Strange days indeed! 🙂
Blaydon-Toon
Feb 5, 2013 at 5:14 PM
Comment #49500-1 good price 🙂
BOOM BOOM THE 1ST
Feb 5, 2013 at 5:14 PM
Comment #50Ketsbaia the funiest part of that article is where they say he could have been good coverforallen or lucas ha ha deranged shower of dastarbs
Tsunki
Feb 5, 2013 at 5:16 PM
Comment #51Ketsy ketsy ketsy……..
Aaaaahhhhhhhhhh………..
That was written a year ago and how well has he progressed? Lets ask when he comes back from wherever it was up in scotland he went to on loan.
Blaydon-Toon
Feb 5, 2013 at 5:16 PM
Comment #52We have some height in the side now with Taylor back obviously Sissoko and Gouffran is good in the air for his size but Guti is obviously clear fave !
BOOM BOOM THE 1ST
Feb 5, 2013 at 5:19 PM
Comment #53NUFC SHOCKER star player says club youngster has bright future.
JAMSHA
Feb 5, 2013 at 5:25 PM
Comment #54Ketsbaia9
Haha now they wana swap carrol for our scout
hatem786
Feb 5, 2013 at 5:29 PM
Comment #55While on international duty with Argentina in Sweden, Fabricio Coloccini has been interviewed yet again about his situation at Newcastle United.
What Colo had to say to Fox Sports in Argentina is almost all positive with regard to Newcastle, apart from the fact that he has confirmed that once this season is out of the way he still needs a permanent return to Argentina.
Website SportWitness were the first to bring reports of the Coloccini interview;
“I had found a home to live in to be with my family in Newcastle. I had already prepared everything so I could spend the four years I had left with Newcastle.
After this though the problems arose and I asked Newcastle to let me go as I needed to be in Argentina.
I’m not thinking about what happens in May/June because I want to totally concentrate on Newcastle. I owe them that for the trust they have placed in me for five years and I want to give my best on the pitch, then we’ll see later.
Newcastle have treat me in a great way and I am grateful to this day to the people, the fans and the club. The only situation was that I needed to return to Argentina for personal reasons.
That need though to return to Argentina, still remains”.
Transfer Sage
Feb 5, 2013 at 5:31 PM
Comment #56People would watch a European super league.
People watch a lot of champions league football even though their teams aren’t in it.
Also you would get a much larger world wide audience as more places would watch if you had top teams playing every week.
Sky sell a lot of packages based on prem league subscriptions but most people’s clubs are in the championship or lower. People just enjoy watching top level football.
Transfer Sage
Feb 5, 2013 at 5:35 PM
Comment #57on FFP
It’s a pointless ruling to keep the big boys happy.
It means teams like man utd who have been at the top for so long can continue to spend as they earn more but no team below them can spend as they don’t have the same incoming money, ultimately leading to the top teams spending more and in theory having the best team and remaining at the top.
UEFA Will ban small teams or teams which dont attract a bit audience but team like man utd or real madrid will never be banned as they bring too much in for sponsorship.
Transfer Sage
Feb 5, 2013 at 5:39 PM
Comment #58Tsunki
Football is like any business though.
If you want to move up a level you need to invest upfront. This is business is either somebodies savings or a bank loan.
In football its from a rich owner or a loan from the bank. It’s a gamble but its the same as the gamble in a business. The only problem in football is that only so many teams get champs league, there is a quota, this is where it is different in business.
Man Utd were just lucky that the time they were at the top coincided with when money from tv came into the league to allow them to stay up there.
Ketsbaia9
Feb 5, 2013 at 5:39 PM
Comment #59Still can’t believe they paid £35m for Carroll, £18m for Henderson, £20m for Downing, £9m for Adam, £12m for Borini, £15m for Allen. That club’s a complete joke. Sissoko is divisions ahead of Allen and he was £13.2m cheaper. The only players I’d take from Liverpool would be Agger, Suarez and maybe Sturridge. The rest aren’t good enough for us.
Ketsbaia9
Feb 5, 2013 at 5:40 PM
Comment #60Gerrard’s playing better now, but we don’t need him as we have Sissoko.
pedro
Feb 5, 2013 at 5:40 PM
Comment #61Coloccini has been speaking again about the transfer saga. He said that he now only wants to focus on Newcastle but still wants to return to Argentina sometime because he “needs” it. His version of the events is that he was very happy to sign the new contract etc and was looking for houses then he had a personal problem (this is still not explained) so he went to speak to the club and tell them he wanted to return to Argentina. At no stage did San Lorenzo speak to him first etc. (this seems a bit strange seen as his Dad is involved..but he doesnt mention this) It was his dream to go to San Lorenzo because he is a fan but Newcastle would not allow this. There is also a strange part that Coloccini says is not true that Newcastle owe him money and he tried to use this to move. Anyway, he finishes by saying now his only focus is Newcastle and getting as many points as possible.
I think he will be off in the summer and M’biwa will be the replacement. I just hope we get some money for him!
If you want to keep up to date with Argentine football check out my blog http://golazoargentino.wordpress.com/
Transfer Sage
Feb 5, 2013 at 5:41 PM
Comment #62kets
Thats what happens when you don’t have a proper scouting system and a manager in place who doesn’t have much knowledge of the game outside of England.
Tsunki
Feb 5, 2013 at 5:42 PM
Comment #63The bit about the house is true – its well known he has bought a house in a nice part of the Toon and is doing it up at this moment. I suppose whatever it is that has happened is a very recent event, but I am not sure about the rumours of playing away because his missus is still going back and forth from the UK apparently. Could be an illness in the family, I think if he’d been naughty the papers aren’t stupid and would have been all over this by now not to mention twittingbury and the like.
Ketsbaia9
Feb 5, 2013 at 5:43 PM
Comment #64Even from Man Utd, the only players I’d take would be Valencia, Van Persie and Rooney. They spent £17m on Kagawa and £20 on D’Gea who haven’t stood out.
With a few key additions (i.e. Benteke, Alderweireld, Sulejmani), there’s no reason why we can’t challenge for the title next season.
Ketsbaia9
Feb 5, 2013 at 5:44 PM
Comment #65I hate it when managers sign players from their former clubs. They always turn out to be poor buys. I’d like to see us snap up a few South American’s in the summer.
Transfer Sage
Feb 5, 2013 at 5:45 PM
Comment #66tsunki
Yeh I think you could be right there.
I would say that it could be an illness. He will have enough money to pay for top of the range treatment back home where his wife (or whoever is ill) would also have the support of the family.
Ketsbaia9
Feb 5, 2013 at 5:46 PM
Comment #67Wigan seem to target the North American market. Figueroa, Palacios etc were good signings. Rate Bearsejour. Great player.
Troy Stavers
Feb 5, 2013 at 5:46 PM
Comment #68I can’t believe the poor profit we make on commercial side of business. It’s very poor to the likes of Spurs. Our shirt deal is poor as well, even compared to the Mackems.
Still, we are heading in th right direction.
Ketsbaia9
Feb 5, 2013 at 5:49 PM
Comment #69Arsenal gain a lot of match day revenue. We’re going in the right direction. We made a big mistake last summer not signing the players we needed. We’re still short, but players like Sissoko, Mbiwa etc have given us a boost.
Super Magpie
Feb 5, 2013 at 5:52 PM
Comment #70Challenge for the title…
You never fail to come up with some outrageous quote do you? 😆
Wandering Geordie
Feb 5, 2013 at 6:04 PM
Comment #71Here’s a link to Yoan Gouffran’s sublime finishing.Watch out for the back heel
Wandering Geordie
Feb 5, 2013 at 6:04 PM
Comment #72http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oL9V4f6x8bw
donkeypunch
Feb 5, 2013 at 6:08 PM
Comment #73when clubs are paying out such huge sums for player nowerdays dont get why there cant imploy a top scout to do all the research before hand. it seems now with footballers your paying 10 million more on the club there from its like a fashion labay with the players they go for look at hazard 35 million and compare him to HBA FOR 5 million and i honestly beleive hba is a much better player. so funny to see these clubs spunk 200 grand a week on players with a 50 million tranfer fee and he was shit for whole year before they payed that much so it wasent like it was a big surprise he failed and liverpool omg they will just never learn tom ince let him go now they want to sighn him back for 6- 9 million
Tsunki
Feb 5, 2013 at 6:18 PM
Comment #74Troy – the problem is that the NUFC brand doesn’t generate terrific revenue because our image see-saws wildly from month to month. Our image will continue to sway from being fashionable underachiever to just plain risible northern clowns until we see some stability in the business and in the league standings. A cup or two wouldnt hurt.
I am sick of it but it is still true, we often provide the likes of SSN with plenty of fuel to cast us in a less than glamorous light.
Tsunki
Feb 5, 2013 at 6:28 PM
Comment #75Super Mag – Come on lad, dont you realise we should be beating teams like Man Utd every day of the week? They are very average you know 😉
Ketsbaia9
Feb 5, 2013 at 6:29 PM
Comment #76It’s not a quote. I think we have better players than Man Utd. Arseanl, City and Chelsea will be our main competitors next season. They have the strongest squads in the league. If spurs sign a couple of striker, they’ll be up there next season.
Ketsbaia9
Feb 5, 2013 at 6:33 PM
Comment #77We should’ve beat Man Utd 2 months ago. They were very poor against us. We hit the bar as well.
mattnufc
Feb 5, 2013 at 6:44 PM
Comment #78@Troy and Tsunski
Our commercial revenue would be a lot greater if a certain Sports Direct wasn’t our main sponsor. However, we are still significantly far from teams such as Liverpool, Chelsea etc.
yo-yo
Feb 5, 2013 at 6:48 PM
Comment #79http://healthlifee.com/health-a-fitness/nutrition/13492-the-english-premier-league-amazing-club-s-debt.html
Your best rants for a long time Beattie 🙂
Troy Stavers
Feb 5, 2013 at 6:57 PM
Comment #80@Mattnufc / Tsunki
I could be wrong but I’m sure the Mackems shirt deal is twice the value as ours. That can’t be right!