What a glorious morning!
I am feeling a bit tender from the best weekend of the year weather-wise. Two days spent out in the sunshine drinking quickly takes its toll at my age. A mixture of sunburn and over consumption (food and alcohol) is taking its toll this morning!
Just like we blogged last week, the transfer merry-go-round to circumnavigate PSR hit the headlines over the weekend.
I have no issue with clubs selling youth products at inflated prices, and then buying youth products at equally inflated prices to try and create a short term balance of the books. All this does is kick a huge amount of debt down the road.
These badly run clubs are struggling to make ends meet now. these sort of deals are short term and will just lead them to breach the rules further down the line.
I am laughing at the fans celebrating “getting one over” the Premier League, not realising that these deals merely paper over the cracks and increase the likelihood of issues for seasons to come. It is basically like taking out a loan because you are struggling to pay the mortgage.
If you support another club, are reading this blog and have spent your weekend on social media talking about these deals in a positive mind-set, please educate yourself. These deals are not a loophole, they are not something to be celebrated. They just move a problem from 2024 to 2025 or 2026.
At the weekend I also had a giggle over Everton fans welcoming a bid from Newcastle United for Dominic Calvert-Lewin. if it was Arsenal, Manchester United or Liverpool bidding for their star striker, they would be moaning about PSR forcing them to sell and the “Red Cartel”. But as it is their “friends” at Newcastle, they have no issue selling.
It just shows that everything is just posturing and the attack on “bigger” clubs is just a deflection tactic to take away the attention from their badly run clubs.
The narrative of PSR is always that “it stops clubs competing”. But this is not true. What it actually does is dramatically reduce the risk of clubs going into administration due to owners signing cheques they know they can not pay.
PSR is needed to protect the future of clubs. I am sure if the rules did not exist, Everton would have already entered administration. Aston Villa, meanwhile, with their 80% wages to turnover, would have quickly become the “new Leeds”, bankrupting the club for future generations in an attempt to spend their way up the league.
In the 10 years since PSR / FFP came in, just 6 English clubs have gone into administration. In the 13 years previous, 44 clubs went bust!
You get fans of Newcastle complaining that PSR stops their oil rich, sportswashing Sheikhs bank rolling them to success. But I would rather Newcastle’s spending being restricted and them forced to build naturally, then return to a situation where we were losing 3 or 4 clubs a year to administration.
The issue we arrive to is fans want their clubs to be able to spend what they want, regardless of the long term damage it might to do their club. And it is very short sighted.
What we have learned over the last few months is many fans do not care about the long term survival of their club. They are happy their owners bankrupting their future on the off chance of short term success.
And the irony is, if they got rid of PSR, it would not make the likes of Everton, Aston Villa or Nottingham Forest ore competitive. They would still be the paupers in comparison to Manchester City and Newcastle United who could spend even more! And then their fans will be moaning about an uncompetitive league with state sponsored clubs ruining things!
My final thought is be careful what you wish for.
I always remember Everton fans celebrating when Moshri became owner. About how he would be financed by Usmanov and Everton would become a force to be reckoned with again. A few years down the line and after overspending by hundreds of millions and run poorly, the club is on the brink of administration.
Fans need to stop wishing for short term solutions. The only way to sustain success in football is by having a long term plan.
Enjoy your Monday!
Keenos
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 