This summer provides a new opportunity for football's elite clubs to cement their status for years to come

[davieG]

https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/premier-league-summer-transfers-financial-fair-play-elite-clubs-power-coronavirus-covid

 

By Seb Stafford-Bloor an hour ago

The financial hit of coronavirus and the relaxing of Financial Fair Play is good news for the Premier League's big sides. The next 10 weeks could shape the next decade of football

 
 
2020 will be spoken of for a long time and for all sorts of reasons. How the world adjusted to the coronavirus and how it was then changed as the pandemic spread across borders and seas will, in time, be its own history and studied in schools alongside the plagues and wars and famines

Football isn’t part of that topic. It’s just one among many, many victims, most of them affected to a far greater – and even tragic – degree.

But it too will be altered, and not just aesthetically in the absence of crowds and atmosphere, but maybe in the nature of competition itself. The circumstances created by the disruption threaten to create a trend which will survive long after the masks have been put away and the plastic screens have been returned to the storage cupboard.

There now exists a great opportunity for the game’s gilded few. While clubs that are revenue dependent will have to retract their budgets to compensate for lost matchday income, others will carry on regardless, secure in the depth of their owners’ pockets.

It will be an advantage accentuated by UEFA’s response to the crisis, and their decision in mid-June to relax the Financial Fair Play regulations. 2020 will now be assessed as part of the 2021 period, with clubs allowed made to make losses exceeding £30m over three-years. There is a caveat, in that such deficits must be shown to be the result of lost income, but that would presumably be just another rope for Europe’s more nimble clubs to skip.

And, on the basis of the early movement in the market, it hardly seems prohibitive. In fact, elite clubs are busy throwing punches that they know their rivals won’t be able to counter. Chelsea will soon add to the £80m they’ve already spent on Hakim Ziyech and Timo Werner by striking a deal for Bayer Leverkusen’s Kai Havertz. At the time of writing, Manchester City have moves pending for Bournemouth’s Nathan Ake and Valencia’s Ferran Torres. In the coming weeks, Manchester United should also make the first of a number of attempts to sign Borussia Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho.

 

Ultimately, these clubs are behaving as they should. They’re being smart. In an economic sense, they’re making big budget acquisitions at a time when the market is underheated. There is far less demand for these players because so few teams can afford them; even Florentino Perez is pleading poverty at Real Madrid. As a result, generational talent can be acquired for a price that wouldn’t normally exist and while someone like Sancho might still go for £100m, that fee would be at least 25% higher under normal circumstances.

In addition to which, the plan to allow five substitutes permanently is another measure in favour of clubs that can afford to trade aggressively. They have the greater resources, but they’re also now able to credibly promise more minutes to new players. In other words, the perfect conditions exist for hoarding – for the kind of buy-to-stockpile mentality which has characterised the Premier League at different points in its past.

To pick an example at random, in previous years Nathan Ake might have chosen to move to Arsenal rather than Manchester City, reasoning that he would have more opportunity to start in north London. Now, not only does his chance of establishing himself at the Etihad seem more realistic, but Arsenal’s lost revenue and lack of Champions League football prevents that choice from even existing.

There have always been haves and have nots in English football, so this isn’t a new problem. What makes it seems unusually dangerous, though, is this sense that what happens over the next 10 weeks could feasibly have such a long-term effect. If talent is marched into these clubs in the anticipated volumes and everyone else behaves with the expected reticence, then the glass ceiling could soon become ironclad.

A fine collection of talent, remember, is not just a sporting asset, but a barrier to entry. What this swirl of circumstances has inadvertently created, with the help of UEFA’s trademark myopia, is a chance for the game’s cartels to entrench their positions for good.

[davieG]

Will the 2019/20 Season be viewed as a lost opportunity that will be extremely hard to overcome or does it actually reflect the real current status of LCFC?

[SheppyFox]

Yeah they can spend spend spend, what’s new? They always have, well still be there as a thorn in their side, this whole 5 subs thing is a joke though  🙂

[UniFox21]

No big shock here, the big clubs get challenged and the spend big to push away. 

[Ric Flair]

32 minutes ago, davieG said:

Will the 2019/20 Season be viewed as a lost opportunity that will be extremely hard to overcome or does it actually reflect the real current status of LCFC?

I think so, it probably would have been even without the pandemic but even more likely now. I still think financially we are OK, but we'll not close the gap any more than we nearly did this season. Gutting.

[That_Dude]

How clubs outside of the top 6 agreed to this absurd 5 subs rule is beyond me, it will just widen the gap.

[coolhandfox]

It could also be seen as out on opportunity to find new talent for ourselves, it's a buyer's market. 

 

However a lot of that will stem form the owners thinking. 

[jonthefox]

18 minutes ago, That_Dude said:

How clubs outside of the top 6 agreed to this absurd 5 subs rule is beyond me, it will just widen the gap.

Or if done correctly, a rule we can utilise to our benefit. 

[That_Dude]

Just now, jonthefox said:

Or if done correctly, a rule we can utilise to our benefit. 

You'd need decent squad players for that. We saw it against Chelsea.

[Nick]

I wouldn’t be surprised to see TOP go big. 
 

He’s a businessman with aspirations of narrowing the gap - I don’t think he’ll want that gap to get more polarised. 

[jonthefox]

4 minutes ago, That_Dude said:

You'd need decent squad players for that. We saw it against Chelsea.

That’s my point. Obviously we can’t do it at Chelsea or city’s level, but there’s well priced talent out there, especially abroad.

[Angus Scott]

40 minutes ago, That_Dude said:

How clubs outside of the top 6 agreed to this absurd 5 subs rule is beyond me, it will just widen the gap.

I may be wrong but I thought the decision on whether 5 subs are allowed had been deferred until the next meeting of the 20 clubs

[davieG]

There seems to be a reluctance by players to be back up players at clubs like LCFC where as they'll all jump at the chance to sit out most of the season on the bench at Man C, Man Utd, et al.

 

is it just about £££s or is there some kudos involved?

[fazzyfox]

2 minutes ago, Angus Scott said:

I may be wrong but I thought the decision on whether 5 subs are allowed had been deferred until the next meeting of the 20 clubs

Yes that's what I heard, either Fulham or Brentford will get a vote so it needs to wait until after the play off final before we know which is a Premier League club.

[foxinsocks]

21 minutes ago, Nick said:

I wouldn’t be surprised to see TOP go big. 
 

He’s a businessman with aspirations of narrowing the gap - I don’t think he’ll want that gap to get more polarised. 

he has to spend money in two ways. 1. Do not sell any of our player to other top six contenders. 2. follow what Brendan says (not that he may be right - but you have to back the manager)

[davieG]

3 minutes ago, foxinsocks said:

he has to spend money in two ways. 1. Do not sell any of our player to other top six contenders. 2. follow what Brendan says (not that he may be right - but you have to back the manager)

He should tell Chilwell if he wants to leave we'll only accept offers from abroad (probably illegal) 

[That_Dude]

13 minutes ago, Angus Scott said:

I may be wrong but I thought the decision on whether 5 subs are allowed had been deferred until the next meeting of the 20 clubs

I hope this to be true. I thought it was already adopted.

[HighPeakFox]

2 minutes ago, That_Dude said:

I hope this to be true. I thought it was already adopted.

I don't think so, fortunately.

 

By the way, I appreciated what you said the other day when someone implied I don't give a toss.

[That_Dude]

39 minutes ago, jonthefox said:

That’s my point. Obviously we can’t do it at Chelsea or city’s level, but there’s well priced talent out there, especially abroad.

That's a fair point, however how many gems do you think we will unearth per transfer window?

 

It's a tall order. You can have one maybe two (potential) game changers at your disposition during a game, while bigger clubs have 4-5 (or more) lined-up covering every position.

[That_Dude]

11 minutes ago, HighPeakFox said:

I don't think so, fortunately.

 

By the way, I appreciated what you said the other day when someone implied I don't give a toss.

Why?

 

No problem. I can disagree sometimes with someone without denying their overall contribution.

[That_Dude]

27 minutes ago, davieG said:

There seems to be a reluctance by players to be back up players at clubs like LCFC where as they'll all jump at the chance to sit out most of the season on the bench at Man C, Man Utd, et al.

 

is it just about £££s or is there some kudos involved?

That's exactly the problem imo. They'll be guaranteed more game time than before this idiotic rule, making the choice even easier.

[HighPeakFox]

13 minutes ago, That_Dude said:

Why?

 

No problem. I can disagree sometimes with someone without denying their overall contribution.

I meant I don't think the 5 subs thing is set in stone yet, fortunately. 

[foxes_rule1978]

26 minutes ago, HighPeakFox said:

I meant I don't think the 5 subs thing is set in stone yet, fortunately. 

I hope not, will just massively benefit the elite sides with millions to spend each summer 

[foxinsocks]

1 hour ago, davieG said:

He should tell Chilwell if he wants to leave we'll only accept offers from abroad (probably illegal) 

It us up to us who we sell to... manure dont sell to rivals

[Spudulike]

3 hours ago, foxes_rule1978 said:

I hope not, will just massively benefit the elite sides with millions to spend each summer 

That is the general opinion it seems. So no doubt the Premier League will opt to help what they see as their flagship clubs.