Manchester City.

[Leicesterbaggie]

I may be old fashioned but why is everybody fawning over the fact that they have won the Premiership on four consecutive occasions? They are facing more than a hundred cases of financial irregularities going back years. Everton and Forest have been punished and Leicester are facing being docked points virtually straight away. Not Manchester City though. Why? They may be innocent but I doubt it as, if they were, they’d have brought it out into the open before now in order to clear their name.

Will they ever have to face defending themselves? I very much doubt it.

[Bombers right foot]

Man City, all the things I hate about the greed league and more.

[boingy]

It’s loathsome. All this “gulf in class” which is really a “gulf in money”. All the other teams are just sidekicks. Pointless.

[baggiematt]

There’s a much broader issue here around FFP.

There is no club other than City that have regularly and consecutively made Champions League outside the former ‘big 6’ since FFP came in. You have to break the rules to be successful if you weren’t a super team when it came in.

Those who were a big team when it came in can fail season on season but still spend multi millions. This is a theme in every single big league and there is no anomaly.

They have proven they were right with their intentions to become a stable club as their net spend last 5 years has been much lower than Chelsea, United and Liverpool.

Personally I wouldn’t vilify them, I would change FFP.

[Dubbag]

The EPL should just be auctioned off at Sotheby's on an afternoon in September on a live stream or free to air.
Then we can just concentrate on proper football in all the lower leagues and amateurs leagues.

[Leicesterbaggie]

There’s a much broader issue here around FFP.

There is no club other than City that have regularly and consecutively made Champions League outside the former ‘big 6’ since FFP came in. You have to break the rules to be successful if you weren’t a super team when it came in.

Those who were a big team when it came in can fail season on season but still spend multi millions. This is a theme in every single big league and there is no anomaly.

They have proven they were right with their intentions to become a stable club as their net spend last 5 years has been much lower than Chelsea, United and Liverpool.

Personally I wouldn’t vilify them, I would change FFP.

It doesn’t matter whether FFP should be changed; if they have broken the current regulations on so many occasions they should be severely punished for doing so. That’s my opinion.

[Omegstrat6]

IMHO it all really started to go wrong when Sky got involved. The Greed League may have some very talented footballers playing in it but it is also the greatest example of what is wrong in the game today.

The gulf between the Premiership and the Championship is now massive and primarily driven by money but then you look at all those recent stats showing the eye watering amount of debt these clubs have been allowed to get themselves into with Manure and the Vile being the worst. Man City fans joyfully point out that they are at the polar opposite end of these stats and actually make a profit. Really? I've no doubt that they make far more money than other clubs through sponsorships and associated marketing but with so much of their finances being tied up in the Middle East I'm sure we all believe that.

The FFP rules are shambolic and actively seem to protect the "top" clubs who -if action is taken-are more likely to get a fine to add to their substantial debts rather than be deducted points.

All those Man City fans running onto the pitch to celebrate? Celebrate what? Not at all doubting the quality or effort of the players but given the amount of talent their money has enabled them to purchase its hardly a surprise is it?

Doubtless their fans would just call such an attitude pure "envy" but the gulf between the top Premiership clubs and the Championship is like a Ford Fiesta trying to compete with a Ferrari. The moot questions in the analogy are 1) how the driver of a Ferrari has made their money to be able to afford to do so and 2) over inequality, by which I mean both owners not having had the same opportunities which obviously impacts on any real competitiveness.

We all know that the top 10% own over 50% of the UKs wealth and that the inequality gets worse when applied globally. It's always been like this and always will be but I just think it a great shame that this gulf has so increasingly been reflected in our national sport.

[mickd1961]

Regardless of the money they have you still have to pick the right players to play together in whatever system you.choose as manager.

Man United have bought 18 players costing more than £50m and they are an awful side, it’s not just about the money.

Guardiola held Foden back and limited his game time quite harshly even though it was obvious he was a world class talent and look at him now, possibly the best player in the league.

Having the money allows the advantage of not having to worry about an expensive mistake but I still admire the quality of Pep’s body of work.

Same with Arteta, he’s built a really exciting side without going totally mad on transfers.

Real Madrid and Barcelona have flouted financial rules for decades now and been allowed to get away with it and our clubs have to compete with them at the very top level so it’s only natural that our sides push their luck.

[Omegstrat6]

Regardless of the money they have you still have to pick the right players to play together in whatever system you.choose as manager.

Man United have bought 18 players costing more than £50m and they are an awful side, it’s not just about the money.

Guardiola held Foden back and limited his game time quite harshly even though it was obvious he was a world class talent and look at him now, possibly the best player in the league.

Having the money allows the advantage of not having to worry about an expensive mistake but I still admire the quality of Pep’s body of work.

Same with Arteta, he’s built a really exciting side without going totally mad on transfers.

Real Madrid and Barcelona have flouted financial rules for decades now and been allowed to get away with it and our clubs have to compete with them at the very top level so it’s only natural that our sides push their luck.

Agree with you that simply having the money to splash the cash does not guarantee results and I'm in no way questioning the quality of either the best players or managers-just saying that having that level of spending power helps considerably! Outside of the issue of breaking the financial rules, it's not the money in itself that bothers me so much Mick, it's the level of in-equality and consequent lack of competitiveness both within the Premiership itself and between it and the Championship.

[mickd1961]

Agree with you that simply having the money to splash the cash does not guarantee results and I'm in no way questioning the quality of either the best players or managers-just saying that having that level of spending power helps considerably! Outside of the issue of breaking the financial rules, it's not the money in itself that bothers me so much Mick, it's the level of in-equality and consequent lack of competitiveness both within the Premiership itself and between it and the Championship.

There’s almost no fans of the NFL on here Omeg but they have a system that works albeit there’s no transfer system involved.

Trades are done but involve giving up future draft capital as elite youngsters join the NFL sides.

They allow each team the same spending limit for annual wages with their salary cap, the only thing there’s no limit on is how much can be paid to the coaching staff.

This system means that a dominant side like New England Patriots can go from being the dominant side to being one of the worst and the Cincinnati Bengals and Detroit Lions go from being cannon fodder to become top sides within a season or two.

A salary cap in football will only work if every club in Europe and very possibly in the world has to work to the same rules.

English football is not going to sign up to anything that weakens them compared to European sides.