Beginning of the end for how many clubs?

[onceknownasrab]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21238173

Just how many clubs must be in fear of legislation making their existence impossible? Nice bit;

Greater representation for supporters and tackling issues that concern them such as ownership and effective financial regulation is an issue critics hope can now be tackled.
"The involvement of fans is essential for the future vitality of the game and there is a worrying trend as financial interests take hold that the game is becoming remote from the communities from which the clubs originated," said Labour's shadow minister for sport, Clive Efford MP.
With many clubs facing perilous financial predicaments in recent years the committee also says measures to safeguard their future have not gone far enough.
"The financial proposals were hugely disappointing: the financial risk-taking by clubs is a threat to the sustainability of football as a family and community orientated game, which it should be," said Whittingdale.

 

[Shrimperforlife]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21238173

Just how many clubs must be in fear of legislation making their existence impossible? Nice bit;

Greater representation for supporters and tackling issues that concern them such as ownership and effective financial regulation is an issue critics hope can now be tackled.
"The involvement of fans is essential for the future vitality of the game and there is a worrying trend as financial interests take hold that the game is becoming remote from the communities from which the clubs originated," said Labour's shadow minister for sport, Clive Efford MP.
With many clubs facing perilous financial predicaments in recent years the committee also says measures to safeguard their future have not gone far enough.
"The financial proposals were hugely disappointing: the financial risk-taking by clubs is a threat to the sustainability of football as a family and community orientated game, which it should be," said Whittingdale.

That's us dead in the water then......

 

[turkishm]

That's us dead in the water then......

Cashflow is our problem, i dont see us as risk takers. Crawley, and the likes of Fleetwood, should be the clubs to worry.

 

[Cockle43]

Could also be the end for the national team's involvement in any future FIFA competitions; IIRC isn't there some clause about all national FA's have to be completely free of any Government control? I'm sure I remember this cropping up a little while ago with a country being threatened with being thrown out of a World Cup for this.

 

[Beefy]

I think if legislation is brought in then the first step towards doing that is to be absolutely clear on identifying the specific problem that you're trying to resolve. The article on the BBC site just seems an opportunity to gripe about football in general. It talks about "financial interests" taking control of the game and then complains about ticket prices. The implication being that people are coming into football, milking the fans dry and then running off with the money, but that isn't happening. High tickets prices are not an example of financial mismanagement. If anything then they're the opposite of that,

 

[SS3]

I think that; whilst it may look bad on the face of it for clubs that are not in a very good financial position, that in actual fact clubs could benefit, as reforms could mean a bigger slice of the pie to lower league clubs. With tighter financial regulation it will be harder for clubs to take Risks and get in to uncontrollable levels of debt, thus ensuing that clubs remain solvent and the "Community Game of Football" is not threatened.. This can only be a positive thing.

I would like to see some detailed proposals on these reforms, and as the government feel it is important for Supporters to be involved, and that we are important to the future of football-that as supporters we should have the opportunity to be able to make an informed vote on what is introduced. This would mean that it would be 'US' the people in the community for which football is so important, making the decisions which would be right for OUR Sport in OUR Communities.

 

[Jam_Man]

Politicians jumping on the bash football bandwagon to get on the side of the voter during a ticker price rebellion shocker.

Clubs do lose money but with financial fair play (which actually enourage clubs to maximise revenue and increase ticket prices) and salary caps what else can the government actually achieve?

If they did anything that killed clubs it would be political suicide. Imagine if legislation killed Col U, thats literally hundreds of loss votes....

 

[Firestorm]

To be honest I would imagine that any legislation will be limited to fiscal prudency and taxation, and may well be applied to other sports . Which would certainly get round and FIFA rules about state intervention.

They do have a rather large carrot for compliance , as things currently stand , football debts are ringfenced in the event of administration and are paid first , thus the other Football clubs have less concern about another club against the wall than HMRC for example.
Were this practice to be stopped, the it would be in the interest of Football as an organisation to police all of the clubs finances more rigourously and clubs buying when they can't really afford it may well find themselves having no credit terms or even clubs not selling too them.

 

[McNasty]

I think if legislation is brought in then the first step towards doing that is to be absolutely clear on identifying the specific problem that you're trying to resolve. The article on the BBC site just seems an opportunity to gripe about football in general. It talks about "financial interests" taking control of the game and then complains about ticket prices. The implication being that people are coming into football, milking the fans dry and then running off with the money, but that isn't happening. High tickets prices are not an example of financial mismanagement. If anything then they're the opposite of that,

What about the players ?

 

[MK Shrimper]

What about the players ?

and their agents.

 

[fredheim_holm]

Was quite happy with the sentiment of the article when I read it earlier. It basically states that the government aren't behind a sugar daddy leadership in the Premierleague (and FL) and that grass roots football needs to be valued. As Beefy states it's all very general but I'd hope there's some brains behind it more than simply 'stop doing that'. The game needs to become financially viable, both in this country and worldwide.

 

[Beefy]

What about the players ?

Player wages are massively out of control, but fans want the best players. Even at our level - people are complaining that we've not signed Paul Benson when Cheltenham seem to have been able to cover what he's on at Swindon. Their fans are happy that they've signed a top striker at this level. Our fans are unhappy that he has not come here.

Legislation which limits the spending power of clubs doesn't harm the top clubs. It protects those clubs by entrenching clubs in the position that they are currently in in the pyramid. Stopping clubs from spending what they can't afford to attract better players is a pragmatic idea in principle. In reality I think it could kill the game.