Arsene Wenger - “The huge financial power of some clubs is basically destroying the competition."

He's not wrong.

Supporters of the blue bloods will blame PSG and City for distorting an "otherwise perfect market", so nothing new to see.

I would enforce soft salary caps, severely restrict the loan system, and reduce CL participants to a maximum of 2 clubs per league. Amongst other things.
 
Wenger always great when it comes to moaning and complaining.

Real Madrid ruled Europe in the 1950s...
AJAX in the early 1970s...
Lyon won the French League for 7 consecutive times in the 2000s, generally very early in the season...
 
he has a point, but there are other teams with plenty of money who aren't hitting similar heights. Us being an example compared to city. In spain, Real have hit a cliff face but I wouldn't say Barca have more spending power than they do...they just got the windfall from Neymar.
This yr its a runaway in most leagues but City and PSG didn't win thir leagues last yr. so its not a SPL situation just yet.
 
Wenger always great when it comes to moaning and complaining.

Real Madrid ruled Europe in the 1950s...
AJAX in the early 1970s...
Lyon won the French League for 7 consecutive times in the 2000s, generally very early in the season...
No surprises seeing which side of the fence you're on, Ecstatic. ;)

But re your point, yeah, AW does like a good moan/excuse.
 
The only way to limit the big clubs is to reduce foreign players in the squad

It would force clubs to focus on homegrown players and youth players and only being allowed 3-5 foreigners in the 11 on the pitch

Wouldn't solve everything but i'm sure it would bring the prices of players down and limit the financial power of clubs
 
No surprises seeing which side of the fence you're on, Ecstatic. ;)

But re your point, yeah, AW does like a good moan/excuse.

Indeed, I'm very predictable :)
 
The only way to limit the big clubs is to reduce foreign players in the squad

It would force clubs to focus on homegrown players and youth players and only being allowed 3-5 foreigners in the 11 on the pitch

Wouldn't solve everything but i'm sure it would bring the prices of players down and limit the financial power of clubs

It would increase the fees of homegrown players.
 
He's not wrong. Serie A is the only one worth watching at the moment. The battle between Napoli and Juventus could go down to the wire.
 
Leicester agrees
Leicester, who funnily enough are owned by a Thai billionaire. The moment they won the league they weren't able to build on it because several players had their heads turned and the manager's position was precarious.

I don't see anything wrong with Wenger's comments. How is it a sport when certain clubs have unlimited resources?
 
It would increase the fees of homegrown players.
It would stop the monopoly of big clubs hoarding the world's best players

The spending would still decrease overall even if homegrown players prices increased
 
The only way to limit the big clubs is to reduce foreign players in the squad

It would force clubs to focus on homegrown players and youth players and only being allowed 3-5 foreigners in the 11 on the pitch

Wouldn't solve everything but i'm sure it would bring the prices of players down and limit the financial power of clubs
I think that might help the league but not the teams in England . France,Spain and Germany have more talented players atm.
 
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Clubs like City and PSG who are supported by sovereign wealth and spend without justification or sustainability deserve no respect or plaudits, no matter what they win. At least when us, Real, Barca and others spend we've earned that right due to our commercial success, sustainability and popularity.
 
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The only way to limit the big clubs is to reduce foreign players in the squad

It would force clubs to focus on homegrown players and youth players and only being allowed 3-5 foreigners in the 11 on the pitch

Wouldn't solve everything but i'm sure it would bring the prices of players down and limit the financial power of clubs

I like this.
 
Whilst I do agree with Wenger he simply making excuses for his own short comings.

Arsenal as a club are one of the most profitable in the world. Their tickets prices are the most expensive. They still have millions sat in the bank. The difference between Arsenal and the other clubs is they spent as much money as they can without causing financial worries. They get their best players on new contracts as early as possible and finally they strengthen their squad weaknesses. How many years have people been saying they need a Vieria type midfielder and a solid CB? 10 years later he's still buys £5m 20 year old that never make the cut. The sooner Arsenal get rid of him the better now.
 
It really depends on whether this is a one off season for City or the start of a bigger pattern of dominance.
 
Clubs like City and PSG who are supported by sovereign wealth and spend without justification or sustainability deserve no respect or plaudits, no matter what they win. At least when us, Real, Barca and others spend we've earned that right due to our commercial success, sustainability and popularity.

you need a history lesson on Real Madrid and the Spanish government
 
It would stop the monopoly of big clubs hoarding the world's best players

The spending would still decrease overall even if homegrown players prices increased

Not really, there is an example of that in France in the TOP 14 where you need to have 14 players out of 23 to be homegrown. The consequence, french players ask for ludicrous wage and foreign players now do the same, also french players get poached by big clubs at the first opportunity.
 
Clubs like City and PSG who are supported by sovereign wealth and spend without justification or sustainability deserve no respect or plaudits, no matter what they win. At least when us, Real, Barca and others spend we've earned that right due to our commercial success, sustainability and popularity.

Sorry but Real Madrid and Barcelona are not exactly clean themselves. They have the monopoly on the Spanish TV money so the rest of league gets substantially less. As for Real, they're called Royal Madrid for a reason. They were investigated twice because of the Spanish government buying their training ground when they needed money and there were suggestions of Government gold bullion being loaned to the club when they purchased Bale.

Part of the Real story is here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/22037966
 
The only way to limit the big clubs is to reduce foreign players in the squad

It would force clubs to focus on homegrown players and youth players and only being allowed 3-5 foreigners in the 11 on the pitch

Wouldn't solve everything but i'm sure it would bring the prices of players down and limit the financial power of clubs
So we would have all teams having loads of average English players who have no high motivation, because players around them are of similar quality, who have grown up with all the shortcomings of the English youth football system. Don't think that will benefit English NT performances in competitions or benefit English team performances in CL/EL.
 
Sorry but Real Madrid and Barcelona are not exactly clean themselves. They have the monopoly on the Spanish TV money so the rest of league gets substantially less. As for Real, they're called Royal Madrid for a reason. They were investigated twice because of the Spanish government buying their training ground when they needed money and there were suggestions of Government gold bullion being loaned to the club when they purchased Bale.

Part of the Real story is here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/22037966

Would you use that argument for the PL, the league has a monopoly on TV broadcasting and the rest gets substantially less?

I'm not being facetious, I do wonder if people see the problem.
 
why don't they just forbid the transfers so we can see which club is actually doing the best work at coaching and producing players, and which club is just being lucky to be placed in capital city of rich european country? :)
 
Completely agree. They need to look at the amoung clubs can spend and also some kind of limit that clubs can only purchase maximum 3 players per season.
 
Leicester, who funnily enough are owned by a Thai billionaire. The moment they won the league they weren't able to build on it because several players had their heads turned and the manager's position was precarious.

I don't see anything wrong with Wenger's comments. How is it a sport when certain clubs have unlimited resources?

He is wrong.

All my opinions on this subject are summarized by this picture :angel:

_89546932_squad_value.png


_____________________________________2015/16 Season
 
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I agree with Wenger, & remember his comments during the Sanchez swap. He said we were a well run club & had no objection to us paying the colossal wages to Sanchez as we made the money to be able to do this. What he objected to were clubs who paid fortunes above what they were making, & paying for it with money from outside. He didn't mention names, but it was clear it was the likes of Man City & Chelsea.
 
The only way to limit the big clubs is to reduce foreign players in the squad

It would force clubs to focus on homegrown players and youth players and only being allowed 3-5 foreigners in the 11 on the pitch

Wouldn't solve everything but i'm sure it would bring the prices of players down and limit the financial power of clubs
Would never happen, the end product of the league - the entertainment to the viewers will decline, and the TV revenues would suffer.
 
He's not wrong.

Supporters of the blue bloods will blame PSG and City for distorting an "otherwise perfect market", so nothing new to see.

I would enforce soft salary caps, severely restrict the loan system, and reduce CL participants to a maximum of 2 clubs per league. Amongst other things.

I see your closet Bertie status is no longer a secret.
 
Ask teams like Burnley, Brighton and Bournemouth what it feels like to compete against teams like Arsenal and Spurs for transfers. Yes, there is a problem with transfer fees, but Wenger needs to stop b!tching at every opportunity and spend some of that cash reserve that they keep boasting about, and give some chances to his talented youth players. Apart from Pogba, Lukaku and Van Dijk, Arsenal could have competed for any players signed by the top 6 teams but he chose not to.
 
Is it really so impossible for you to just enjoy Football like it is?

City can be challenged by 5-6 clubs so what's your dream? A dream of seeing 20 clubs capable to be champions? Or, is it just an ever-lasting pleasure to put the blame on others? How many Champions Leagues trophies has City won since the UAE runs the club?

Also, City can't buy all the universe (they can't have more than 20 top players in theory) and can only field 11 players on the pitch. So, there are enough talents for every club.

In Spain, Atletico Madrid was capable to challenge Barcelona/RM.
In France, Montpellier and Monaco were champions since Qatar acquired PSG.
In Germany, Bayern is champion since the 11th century but Dortmund isn't so bad nowadays.
In Italy, the competive landscape is more open this season.

Last but not least, the richest clubs inject money in the market, which enables other clubs to be stronger financially.

Ok, Football can be unfair but Life is much much more unfair and cruel.

As far as I'm concerned, I think the most unhealthy thing in Football is not Money but the media circus that succeeded in making most of you eternal dissatisfied football fans...
 
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