QUOTE (morgoth @ Jun 26 2008, 03:42 PM)
This a good idea, but I can't see it happening unless ...
Kurt, there's debt and debt! A 500M€ debt and a 10M€ debt is quite different, don't you think? Of course if this scheme goes though the EPL is going to crush simple as ... but this hole stupid crazy money in football has to reach it's limits, so I'm all for it!
The reason it will never happen is because UEFA can't really say how much teams are allowed to spend. Unless they were to put some sort of salary cap in football and a transfer maximum, but then the league would be too even, the likes of Liverpool, madrid and even Milan would just become no bigger than the likes of Fulham, Betis and Empoli, it would create equality.
Yes, it would hurt the EPL, which is why it doesn't surprise me that Platini is the one that's come up with it. I don't care either way. If it doesn't go through, great, I'll get to see some of the greatest players in the World play at Villa Park. If it does go through, well, I can assure you Villa's debts are minimal at best, so we'd be fine.
But I don't think anybody
really knows the finances of a club. I'm still of the opinion that most teams are in 'debt'. Any incoming transfers made through means other than income generated by the club itself can be considered 'debt' as the club hasn't actually paid for it themself, they're using money it from another source. Like Chelsea with Abramovich, United with the Glazers and Milan with Silvio, it's very difficult to define and would certainly put too many teams in danger in my opinion. So I believe there would be very few major European clubs remaining.