Rummenigge: Wants new restrictions
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Clubs to learn salary restrictions
The European Clubs' Association will on Tuesday decide whether clubs in the Champions League should have their spending on wages restricted.
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The ECA are meeting in Geneva where they are expected to come up with proposals to limit the proportion of a club's income that they can spend on salaries.
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, the chairman of Bayern Munich who heads the new clubs' body, is pushing for a 50 per cent limit of turnover going on wages.
Among English clubs, Chelsea would have the most to fear from such a ruling - they spend 71 per cent of their turnover on salaries. Liverpool, according to the most recent figures available from 2006, would also be affected with 57 oer cent of turnover going on salaries.
Manchester United would have least to fear - they have made a policy of prudent spending on wages, and their current level is 43.6 per cent. Arsenal's proportion is also comparatively low at 45.4 per cent, although this rises to 49 per cent if the income from property sales at the old Highbury stadium is discounted.
Rummenigge said of his plan: "The 32 participants [in the Champions League] would have to meet certain conditions. Only 50 per cent of the club's total revenues could be invested in wages."
Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon is on the ECA board, as is his Liverpool counterpart Rick Parry, and they are likely to argue for a less drastic limit such as 60 per cent or even an initial 70 per cent with clubs being given several years to cut their wage bills.
A 50% ruling would not trouble the Old Firm in Scotland too much - Rangers only spend 43 per cent of turnover on wages, while Celtic's figure is a less comfortable but still acceptable 50 per cent.
Rangers vice-chairman John McClelland is also on the ECA board.
UEFA president Michel Platini is keen on imposing limits and he has already met with Rummenigge for talks on action.
Speaking in London last week, Platini used Manchester City's £100million bid to sign Kaka as an example of why some restraints were needed.
Platini said: "Clubs have to operate within their income.
"How one guy can cost 150million euro is ridiculous from a social, football and financial point of view.
"It's why we have to do something to have a transparency and a fairness in football. It's not good for the popularity of football."
mcgoo : "...think it just goes to show how good a manager calderwood is, killie couldnt buy a goal never mind a win with jeffries, calderwood has been in a few weeks, scored 8 goals in the last 3 matches and beaten celtic, i think m..." view full comment
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Your Comments
the truth (Newcastle United fan)
"before all the scum start celebrating, i would like to point out the e.u law on restriction of trade. Platini also said he wanted teams in debt to be banned from major european competitions so with united 700m debt that the scum out as well."
slabbi (Liverpool fan)
"Roy...hehe..how can it prevent teams from buying the league? ALl it means is that the teams with the biggest turnover will be able to offer more. Good for you boys of course...Man utd being the club with the biggest turnover annually. All it means is that The bigger your turnover is the more you can spend on wages...hence in my opinion having a very NEGATIVE effect on the idea of a level playing field!"
beasled (Walsall fan)
"anyone wanna play for walsall? Tenner a week!"
Roy the Boy (Manchester United fan)
"Great idea in theory as it eliminates teams like Chelsea and Man City from buying the CL. But it also strenghtens teams like man utd, madrid, Barca as these are the richest clubs in the world and they are the teams that players want to play for. If their turnover is more they will be able to offer higher wages which means they have even more of an advantage in tempting top players. So while it is good in theory, teams like Liverpool, Villa, Everton who are all competing at the top of the table for CL spots don't earn enough in revenue to pay the high salaries to attract better players"
Goonerooner (Arsenal fan)
"It's what everyone has been banging on about for a while. The sooner the sugar dadies get put off football the better."
sebatom (Manchester United fan)
"jazza0707 - I wouldn't be too quick to commend the ECA over this matter especially concerning your club Aston Villa. It would seriously dent your long-term plans to become a serious champion¿s League club. In Gabrielle Marcotti's article for The Times he highlights the massive problems this potential legislation could cause. He even uses Aston Villa as a prime example.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/columnists/gabriele_marcotti/article5587342.ece
All this proposal would do is reaffirm and greatly strengthen the hegemony of the elite clubs in Europe. It is interesting to note that the President of Barca, R. Madrid and B. Munich have all given their support to the proposal. All three are in the top 8 richest clubs in the world and this proposal would have absolutely no effect on them. You can see why the top clubs would want a closed shop situation. Ensures all those large Champions League revenues for their balance sheets, you see. However, it will also destroy any shred of competition that is left in the modern game for aspirational clubs lower in the top leagues of Europe hoping to break into Champions League places. The same will be true in smaller leagues where competition will become even scarcer with the one or two clubs who gain spots bank rolling their huge champions league bonus and further widening the gap in leagues already with a dearth of money to spread around. In my opinion it would be a tragedy for the game. I can't say I love Chelsea or Man City but know one can deny the new dimension and excitement brought to the league through their rich sugar daddies. In the game we see today based on free markets. The share goes to the elites and sadly reality is, only strong investment from an outside source can achieve results. As the article above highlights this also includes clubs such as Villa, Tottenham and Everton too not just city and Chelsea."
sebatom (Manchester United fan)
"Surfjunkie - what you on about? Wes Brown over 60k a week!? You can't just create figures out of knowhere to support an argument. Facts are usually quite important when debating. Wes Brown is reported to be earning somewhere between £45-50,000 a week mate.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/2297698/Wes-Brown-commits-rest-of-career-to-United.html and http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/apr/18/newsstory.sport4
Gosh darn it don't you just hate facts?"
surfjunkie (Liverpool fan)
"You'll find this rule will favour the likes of Bayern Munich, AC Milan, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Man United. They have large stadia and therefore a higher turnover. I think ECA have their backs up about these billionaire owners coming in, buying a squad and then challenging for the CL. Chelsea were the first and now Man City are heading the same way. It's sad to see Liverpool's name mentioned, as I believe our wage bill is quite low in comparison to the likes of Man U and Chelsea. Any one who pays Wes Brown over 60 thousand pounds a week must have a huge wage bill!!!!"
o-canio (Celtic fan)
"I think it would be better to have a set figure as this only propagates the big clubs with big stadia and more tv bargaining power staying as they are.."
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