Impossible to Compete With?

Figures released this week show that Manchester City have spent £930.4million to get to the top of the Premier League!

This highlights the real dilemma within football, started by Chelsea in 2003 onwards (and yes certain Spanish clubs too) and now City.

Firstly I will say that if City do win the league, their fans will deserve it because they have turned out to support their team even in their darkest days in the third tier of league football. How many clubs would get regular crowds well into the 30,000's if they were in League 2??

However, how on earth do other clubs begin to compete when City can spend nearly a £billion in a few years to achieve success.

This is not a rant against either Chelsea or City but about a problem that is waiting to implode the game sometime soon. City & Chelsea are just symptoms of a far greater problem.

Their largesse has made other clubs live way beyond their means in striving to acquire success by whatever route is necessary. We fans too have played a part in this, urging our clubs to spend in the hope we get the next Messi or such like and in turn win trophies or qualify for the current Holy Grail of the Champion's League.

It is not a question of if financial armaggedon happens but when!

Its amazing really the similarities between the sub prime markets and football currently, both living way beyond their financial capabilities to repay monies outstanding.

Now we all know what happened once the sub prime market collapsed, it brought down the whole financial market and plunged the world into crisis......................................................................all except football which seems to be totally immune to what is happening in the rest of the world. Its actually astounding and frightening in reality.

So what can be done about it? Well the FFP rules due to come in need to be rigorously enforced and be seen as open and transparent to all.

I also think that teams should be limited to the number of players they can loan out in a given season. This would prevent clubs from just buying anyone they think a rival might want just so the opposition have trouble improving their team.

It would also ensure that clubs only buy players they need, having too many players on high salaries not playing would impact on the FFP Rules.

I would be interested to see how other fans feel about this, please keep it constructive, this is not a City or Chelsea bashing post. They were just the two clubs which were dramatically changed by huge injections of cash and their profligacy has changed the face and economy of English football along with Sky.