“A few things happened in the meantime,” says Vasilyev. “The most important of them was that this is the first year of the financial fair play rules … Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain received quite severe sanctions, including fines, limits on recruitment and salary caps. I discussed this with my president and basically he said: ‘Look, I’m already investing big money and if the club has to pay fines over and on top of that, this is something that is really not on. This really goes against any common sense.’ We had hoped that the sanctions would not be so severe and that clubs would be given a few years to adjust but it happened in a different way. I’m not saying whether that’s right or wrong, just that these are the rules and we have no other way but to comply with them.”
Another factor was the reaction of other French clubs to Monaco’s extravagance, which, arriving at a time when most other clubs in Ligue 1 were locked in austerity drives, intensified resentment about Monaco’s tax haven status. Ligue 1 threatened to kick the club out unless they moved their headquarters into the same tax jurisdiction as all the other clubs. Monaco, members of the French league since 1933 and never before the target of such threats, felt this was no moral stance, merely an opportunistic stick-up. After court disputes and mediation, the club eventuallyagreed to pay the league €50m over two years to resolve the matter. But they were not happy about it and Vasilyev says that his employer might not have bought the club if he had known such a scenario would unfold.
“This expenditure was not foreseen in our budget and was again on top of our investment,” says Vasilyev. “When the club was bottom of the second league and fighting relegation to the third, no one was saying that this was a possibility, there was not a single hint of it. It was only after we were very close to going back to the top [that clubs began agitating]. Had this been known to [Rybolovlev] at the time he was taking over the club, he might have thought differently. He came in good faith, he started investing, which is not only good for the team, it is also good for French football. And then he is being punished.”
[continued]
None of that turned Rybolovlev off French football, insists Vasilyev, but it did contribute to the change of policy, the decision to swiftly switch the focus to cultivating young talent. “We have a historic academy, this is where Thierry Henry, Emmanuel Petit, David Trezeguet and Lilian Thuram came from. Now we have eight academy players in our professional squad and that is really good. We really have a lot of talent and we now have a coach [Leonardo Jardim] who is really good at developing young talent. Just look at the things he has done in Sporting Lisbon with a team with no real stars and a lot of young boys.”
Jardim, who inspired Sporting to a second-place finish in Portugal last season, was hired in the summer after Claudio Ranieri left Monaco. The former Chelsea manager was frustrated with the club’s new policy. Vasilyev says it is “rubbish” that many players now feel likewise, though admits that the 28-year-old Falcao was an exception. “I love my club and I think we have a great project but we have to admit that we are not yet on the level of Manchester United or Real Madrid,” says Vasilyev. “We still need more time to develop and obviously a player like Falcao wants to have a project now and not tomorrow. I would presume that he didn’t really have the time to wait. I would have liked him to stay but I can understand at his age.”
[continued]
The new policy has also enraged some supporters, with a group this week demanding that their tickets be refunded in the wake of the departures and media claims about Rybolovlev’s motivations. Vasilyev says such dissenters form a minority. “We deny strongly what was said by those few supporters,” says Vasilyev. “The supporters are fully behind the club … They are very happy that President Rybolovlev arrived at a very difficult moment has taken them back to the top. It is not a matter of two or three players, it is a project and they believe in it.” Vasilyev says Rybolovlev will not bankroll the recruitment of another Falcao “in the foreseeable future” but he does not accept that any plan to grow Monaco more organically is doomed to failure because of the club’s small fan base. An average home gate of around 10,000 does not seem like especially fertile ground. “You say we don’t have many fans but this is a country of 35,000 people so having 10,000 in Monaco is like having maybe 300,000 in a stadium in Manchester if we take it proportionally, as we should. To always fill our stadium we would need everyone in the country to come, including new-borns and the elderly, so we have to be realistic. But the passion in there and the atmosphere is much better than it was before. This is a prestigious club with seven French titles and was in the Champions League final just 10 years ago.”
If Monaco had continued on Rybolovlev’s initial policy, they might have been among the favourites to challenge for the Champions League this season. Instead they face a struggle getting out of a group that includes Benfica, Zenit St Petersburg and Bayer Leverkusen. Finishing in the top three of Ligue 1 to qualify for the tournament again next term also looks a stern challenge, as they lie 15th after winning one of their first four matches. The club’s goal is still to become a major international force on the back of being “an upscale, luxury brand”.
“I’m sure it’s possible but it will be a longer process,” he says. “We are lucky to be in Monaco and have everything that this country stands for. It will be a longer journey than we thought but I am confident we will get there. We are evaluating how long but obviously it will take at least five years.”
...so it's not conclusive but looks like a combination of woes for the owner contributed to the change in policy: the surprising sight of FFP actually being enforced; the hostility of French clubs to Monaco's tax advantages; a stupendous divorce settlement.
But Monaco was the club he supported as a boy!
Clearly signs that the Monaco project has failed before even getting going fully. Owners obviously looking to get their money back before selling up.
FFP clearly is working
That divorce settlement is riidiculous considering she probably did very little apart from sit on her rear all day long.
Clearly signs that the Monaco project has failed before even getting going fully. Owners obviously looking to get their money back before selling up.
FFP clearly is working
================
I would suggest losing 2.5 billion to his ex has far more to do with it.
Also if he does sell up, it willl be similar to the malaga situation, doesnt mean another sugar daddy wont come along and make another club succesful/
Whatever was driving the change of policy at Monaco, FFP seems to have taken effect more than most of us expected. The fines against PSG and City were pretty severe considering that was a first offence. And a lot of the clubs whose relative spending power exceeds their relative size have shifted towards more sustainable spending.
Agent Gill doing a superb job in UEFA.
The divorce settlement is ridiculous. This is why if I had that kind of money I would either not marry or have a cast iron pre-nup
You only have to look at the spending by City and Chelsea to appreciate how FFP is influencing clubs.
comment by M.U.D.D - Luke Shaw makes me throb with desire (U9612)
posted 25 minutes ago
Agent Gill doing a superb job in UEFA.
The divorce settlement is ridiculous. This is why if I had that kind of money I would either not marry or have a cast iron pre-nup
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Or find your ex-wife's Tensin Norgay.
His ex should buy a club too.
Comment deleted by Site Moderator
Comment deleted by Site Moderator
You have to feel a little sorry for the fans for me.
Project or no project, it looks to me like they won't be at the top table for long
FFP is right in some ways. but definitely wrong in some ways too. I still can't understand why an owner can't invest money into his own club for one off payments (player purchases) providing the ongoing costs (wages etc) can be covered by the annual revenue of the club
I would imagine though that match day revenue barely covered the cost of Falcao and Rodriguez's wages
When did France do a volte-face?
It's true, you do have to feel for the 5000 Monaco fans.
Then again, if FFP benefits clubs with greater organic revenues (i.e. clubs with more fans), you could say it is bringing success (therefore happiness) to more people. One can conclude from this deduction that the system which ensures that the club with the most supporters and global followers (i.e. Manchester United) is the best and most virtuous of all systems for football administration.
comment by UnitedRedMacca - Sharerojindfalaria (U2024)
posted 7 minutes ago
You have to feel a little sorry for the fans for me.
Project or no project, it looks to me like they won't be at the top table for long
FFP is right in some ways. but definitely wrong in some ways too. I still can't understand why an owner can't invest money into his own club for one off payments (player purchases) providing the ongoing costs (wages etc) can be covered by the annual revenue of the club
I would imagine though that match day revenue barely covered the cost of Falcao and Rodriguez's wages
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Good point Maca - you have to weigh up things like that when considering investment. They get 10,000 gate p/w which is 1/3 of their country! Yes, it's proportionally high but it isn't going to bring you enough revenue to maintain.
Only at a set particular point in time though.
Comment deleted by Site Moderator
comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 8 minutes ago
It's true, you do have to feel for the 5000 Monaco fans.
-----------------
Have you read the article RR
It says they get 10,000 fans, nearly a third of their population
I may have been exaggerating for effect, Macca. One of the many cheap tricks in my bag. The point remains that more people will find happiness if the authorities further tilt the playing field in our favour.
"I may have been exaggerating for effect, Macca. One of the many cheap tricks in my bag. The point remains that more people will find happiness if the authorities further tilt the playing field in our favour."
That's a never ending cycle though surely. The global support is there because of your success at the time the premier league and football in general exported itself to the rest of the world.
Sign in if you want to comment
Why Monaco let Falcao leave
Page 1 of 2
posted on 5/9/14
“A few things happened in the meantime,” says Vasilyev. “The most important of them was that this is the first year of the financial fair play rules … Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain received quite severe sanctions, including fines, limits on recruitment and salary caps. I discussed this with my president and basically he said: ‘Look, I’m already investing big money and if the club has to pay fines over and on top of that, this is something that is really not on. This really goes against any common sense.’ We had hoped that the sanctions would not be so severe and that clubs would be given a few years to adjust but it happened in a different way. I’m not saying whether that’s right or wrong, just that these are the rules and we have no other way but to comply with them.”
Another factor was the reaction of other French clubs to Monaco’s extravagance, which, arriving at a time when most other clubs in Ligue 1 were locked in austerity drives, intensified resentment about Monaco’s tax haven status. Ligue 1 threatened to kick the club out unless they moved their headquarters into the same tax jurisdiction as all the other clubs. Monaco, members of the French league since 1933 and never before the target of such threats, felt this was no moral stance, merely an opportunistic stick-up. After court disputes and mediation, the club eventuallyagreed to pay the league €50m over two years to resolve the matter. But they were not happy about it and Vasilyev says that his employer might not have bought the club if he had known such a scenario would unfold.
“This expenditure was not foreseen in our budget and was again on top of our investment,” says Vasilyev. “When the club was bottom of the second league and fighting relegation to the third, no one was saying that this was a possibility, there was not a single hint of it. It was only after we were very close to going back to the top [that clubs began agitating]. Had this been known to [Rybolovlev] at the time he was taking over the club, he might have thought differently. He came in good faith, he started investing, which is not only good for the team, it is also good for French football. And then he is being punished.”
posted on 5/9/14
[continued]
None of that turned Rybolovlev off French football, insists Vasilyev, but it did contribute to the change of policy, the decision to swiftly switch the focus to cultivating young talent. “We have a historic academy, this is where Thierry Henry, Emmanuel Petit, David Trezeguet and Lilian Thuram came from. Now we have eight academy players in our professional squad and that is really good. We really have a lot of talent and we now have a coach [Leonardo Jardim] who is really good at developing young talent. Just look at the things he has done in Sporting Lisbon with a team with no real stars and a lot of young boys.”
Jardim, who inspired Sporting to a second-place finish in Portugal last season, was hired in the summer after Claudio Ranieri left Monaco. The former Chelsea manager was frustrated with the club’s new policy. Vasilyev says it is “rubbish” that many players now feel likewise, though admits that the 28-year-old Falcao was an exception. “I love my club and I think we have a great project but we have to admit that we are not yet on the level of Manchester United or Real Madrid,” says Vasilyev. “We still need more time to develop and obviously a player like Falcao wants to have a project now and not tomorrow. I would presume that he didn’t really have the time to wait. I would have liked him to stay but I can understand at his age.”
posted on 5/9/14
[continued]
The new policy has also enraged some supporters, with a group this week demanding that their tickets be refunded in the wake of the departures and media claims about Rybolovlev’s motivations. Vasilyev says such dissenters form a minority. “We deny strongly what was said by those few supporters,” says Vasilyev. “The supporters are fully behind the club … They are very happy that President Rybolovlev arrived at a very difficult moment has taken them back to the top. It is not a matter of two or three players, it is a project and they believe in it.” Vasilyev says Rybolovlev will not bankroll the recruitment of another Falcao “in the foreseeable future” but he does not accept that any plan to grow Monaco more organically is doomed to failure because of the club’s small fan base. An average home gate of around 10,000 does not seem like especially fertile ground. “You say we don’t have many fans but this is a country of 35,000 people so having 10,000 in Monaco is like having maybe 300,000 in a stadium in Manchester if we take it proportionally, as we should. To always fill our stadium we would need everyone in the country to come, including new-borns and the elderly, so we have to be realistic. But the passion in there and the atmosphere is much better than it was before. This is a prestigious club with seven French titles and was in the Champions League final just 10 years ago.”
If Monaco had continued on Rybolovlev’s initial policy, they might have been among the favourites to challenge for the Champions League this season. Instead they face a struggle getting out of a group that includes Benfica, Zenit St Petersburg and Bayer Leverkusen. Finishing in the top three of Ligue 1 to qualify for the tournament again next term also looks a stern challenge, as they lie 15th after winning one of their first four matches. The club’s goal is still to become a major international force on the back of being “an upscale, luxury brand”.
“I’m sure it’s possible but it will be a longer process,” he says. “We are lucky to be in Monaco and have everything that this country stands for. It will be a longer journey than we thought but I am confident we will get there. We are evaluating how long but obviously it will take at least five years.”
posted on 5/9/14
...so it's not conclusive but looks like a combination of woes for the owner contributed to the change in policy: the surprising sight of FFP actually being enforced; the hostility of French clubs to Monaco's tax advantages; a stupendous divorce settlement.
posted on 5/9/14
But Monaco was the club he supported as a boy!
posted on 5/9/14
Clearly signs that the Monaco project has failed before even getting going fully. Owners obviously looking to get their money back before selling up.
FFP clearly is working
posted on 5/9/14
That divorce settlement is riidiculous considering she probably did very little apart from sit on her rear all day long.
posted on 5/9/14
Clearly signs that the Monaco project has failed before even getting going fully. Owners obviously looking to get their money back before selling up.
FFP clearly is working
================
I would suggest losing 2.5 billion to his ex has far more to do with it.
Also if he does sell up, it willl be similar to the malaga situation, doesnt mean another sugar daddy wont come along and make another club succesful/
posted on 5/9/14
Whatever was driving the change of policy at Monaco, FFP seems to have taken effect more than most of us expected. The fines against PSG and City were pretty severe considering that was a first offence. And a lot of the clubs whose relative spending power exceeds their relative size have shifted towards more sustainable spending.
posted on 5/9/14
Agent Gill doing a superb job in UEFA.
The divorce settlement is ridiculous. This is why if I had that kind of money I would either not marry or have a cast iron pre-nup
posted on 5/9/14
You only have to look at the spending by City and Chelsea to appreciate how FFP is influencing clubs.
posted on 5/9/14
comment by M.U.D.D - Luke Shaw makes me throb with desire (U9612)
posted 25 minutes ago
Agent Gill doing a superb job in UEFA.
The divorce settlement is ridiculous. This is why if I had that kind of money I would either not marry or have a cast iron pre-nup
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Or find your ex-wife's Tensin Norgay.
posted on 5/9/14
Thanks RR, good read
posted on 5/9/14
His ex should buy a club too.
posted on 5/9/14
Comment deleted by Site Moderator
posted on 5/9/14
Comment deleted by Site Moderator
posted on 5/9/14
You have to feel a little sorry for the fans for me.
Project or no project, it looks to me like they won't be at the top table for long
FFP is right in some ways. but definitely wrong in some ways too. I still can't understand why an owner can't invest money into his own club for one off payments (player purchases) providing the ongoing costs (wages etc) can be covered by the annual revenue of the club
I would imagine though that match day revenue barely covered the cost of Falcao and Rodriguez's wages
posted on 5/9/14
When did France do a volte-face?
posted on 5/9/14
It's true, you do have to feel for the 5000 Monaco fans.
Then again, if FFP benefits clubs with greater organic revenues (i.e. clubs with more fans), you could say it is bringing success (therefore happiness) to more people. One can conclude from this deduction that the system which ensures that the club with the most supporters and global followers (i.e. Manchester United) is the best and most virtuous of all systems for football administration.
posted on 5/9/14
comment by UnitedRedMacca - Sharerojindfalaria (U2024)
posted 7 minutes ago
You have to feel a little sorry for the fans for me.
Project or no project, it looks to me like they won't be at the top table for long
FFP is right in some ways. but definitely wrong in some ways too. I still can't understand why an owner can't invest money into his own club for one off payments (player purchases) providing the ongoing costs (wages etc) can be covered by the annual revenue of the club
I would imagine though that match day revenue barely covered the cost of Falcao and Rodriguez's wages
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Good point Maca - you have to weigh up things like that when considering investment. They get 10,000 gate p/w which is 1/3 of their country! Yes, it's proportionally high but it isn't going to bring you enough revenue to maintain.
posted on 5/9/14
Only at a set particular point in time though.
posted on 5/9/14
Comment deleted by Site Moderator
posted on 5/9/14
comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 8 minutes ago
It's true, you do have to feel for the 5000 Monaco fans.
-----------------
Have you read the article RR
It says they get 10,000 fans, nearly a third of their population
posted on 5/9/14
I may have been exaggerating for effect, Macca. One of the many cheap tricks in my bag. The point remains that more people will find happiness if the authorities further tilt the playing field in our favour.
posted on 5/9/14
"I may have been exaggerating for effect, Macca. One of the many cheap tricks in my bag. The point remains that more people will find happiness if the authorities further tilt the playing field in our favour."
That's a never ending cycle though surely. The global support is there because of your success at the time the premier league and football in general exported itself to the rest of the world.
Page 1 of 2