Anyone remember a time when what mattered happened on the pitch and there was no talk of ‘spying’ or how much club’s had spent?
Happy Days...wouldn’t a simple salary cap be a much better way of doing things?
That is because Rugby League has been given an exemption under the Regional Development Directive C4682 of 1992 which seeks to promote minority sports such as pelota, garlic games, handball, skittles etc.
"Traditional sports and games are part of our intangible heritage and a symbol of the cultural diversity of our societies”.
However in a mainstream sport such as football, a salary cap would be illegal under restraint of trade and other anti abuse legislation.
See link here
https://ec.europa.eu/sport/news/2016...ports-games_en
Leave the EU, introduce a salary cap and all will be well with the world.............. all except for the PL who won't be allowed to pay excessive waages anymore and thus unable to compete in Europe as they do now.
RA salary cap is a good idea but it's not just the players who are to blame There are that many extra staff it's a joke All teams must have at least ten non playing staff in the technical area God knows what they all do must cost a fortune Why Shay Given has to be there I don't know Imagine away matches all those bodies to feed and hotels etc That's where we need to cut down
What I think would work better is the "luxury tax" concept that you see in MLB (baseball in USA) where there is a pre-defined spend allowed on salaries but if you want to spend more, you can, but you have to pay a progressive tax if you do. This can be as high as 50% of your excess spending. In the NBA there is a soft salary cap plus a luxury tax. In the CFL the luxury tax is both financial and also offenders lose draft picks - not something that would work here, but rather a neat way of preventing the biggest clubs getting all the best players.
This way if Mel were to wish to spend big, it would cost up to 50% more than the market price paid on the transfer. This penalty would then make the vagaries of FFP a thing of the past, by allowing heavy spending but at a supplemental cost. This can then be fed down to grassroots or lower league teams which would again help level the playing field.