By Ian Grant
In American football, they wouldn’t allow Roman Abramovich to do what he has done. They see the value of competitive sport too keenly.
They know if they let him do a Chelsea, the league would be on the way to being destroyed – commercially, morally, and virtually every other way.
So they keep some kind of equilibrium. After all the teams are in a league – and the word league has a legal meaning – that the members have some commonality. There are salary caps and the teams at the bottom of the league get the pick of the best college students. An element of competition is thereby fostered.
In the Premiership, Wolves v Chelsea was televised on Sky TV earlier this season – a shameful apology for a competitive football match. Here we had teams in the same league, but one had spent more than £100m on players than the other. A clever lawyer should surely come up with a legal argument to demolish the legal standing of the Premiership – as a league.
If games like this continue to be televised, Sky viewing figures will decline, and advertisers will pull out.
Viwers and fans aren’t mugs. We are being asked, by some willing suspension of disbelief that a competitive football match is on offer.
UEFA’s Gerhart Ainger earlier this season, said that Chelsea should not be allowed to do what they are doing ie basically destroying grass roots football. He objects to a team coming from nowhere, and potentially being able to buy the Champions League. His statements give football some hope – if the authorities can act on them.
Lower division teams are docked ten points if they get into financial difficulties and go into administration. This disregards any valuation of social capital vested in them by the local community.
Why not dock a top team points if they overspend?
As it stands, a Russian emigre has, for ultimately political reasons, been allowed to turn our national game, away from a competitive sport, into a financial business operation.
And already Monopoly Commission and Office Fair Trading percentage values have been breached by Chelsea’s spending vis a vis other Premiership and European clubs.
The only way to make the Premiership fairer would be to introduce a stipulation of a minimum number of players of the 11, fostered by the home club. There could also be a maximum transfer pot of say £30m a season, over and above existing players traded.
Rules for the Champions League could be different, allowing a higher transfer pot and a different percentage of home-grown players.
The chances of the authorities acting will increase if Chelsea win the “league” or another artificial crown.