Jimmy Hill's sunday supplement.

[fuzz]

Did anyone see it today? I can't remember the name of the two panelists, but there was a chelsea fan and i think the other was a charlton supporter. Anyway it was good to see a chelsea fan brought down to earth. Basically they were talking about chelsea's losses and expenditure on players and as usual the stock arguments that most chelsea fans bring out were used such as: "Man united can pay £30 million for rio so why can't we" and "arsenal and man u and liverpool have dominated the transfer market so why can't we?". Anyway the charlton fan (ca't remember what paper writes for it think his first name was patrick) finally just gave the simplest knock out answer, which for some reason most pundits never mention, he said "all those clubs earned their money through football.......what chelsea are doing is a as a result of some geopolitical freak.....and the money were talking about is silly money etc.....".

That made me smile cause the chelsea fan just couldn't say anything to that. I mean the money we are talking about is stupid here chelsea's wage bill is £115 million (quadruple most premship teams and i think ours is only £70?). Anyway it was just good to see someone on tv finally have the guts or the brains to explain the difference between the success we at arsenal (and man u) have had, compared to that of chelsea.

 

[Ryanzinhhio]

yeah, I saw it today which is strange because I don't normally watch it. But it was very good and the Charlton supporter ( I don't remember his name either) made a lot of very good points about the scenario at Chelsea. It is so true that the Liverpool's, Man Utd and ourselfs got to the top through football and this Chelsea side has just been brought together all at once through the wealth of one person. I just hope it blows up and Chelsea suffer because the whole club rests on one mans shoulders and it has already been shown about their loss financially so hopefully it all goes flat sooner rather than later.

Another good point w\as the fact that he said that it was the worst thing in the history of football and I agree, just as there was some realism in the money spent on players in football and the reduction of wages this happens and it all goes out of the window.

 

[Gooner83]

I sky+ it, have to watch it now... hehe :mrgreen:

 

[chris66]

If Abramovich carries on like this we are going to see a salary cap coming in to the game sooner rather than later. It would probably tie salary expenditure to turn over to try and introduce some competitiveness back in to a game which seems to have less and less of it.

 

[awooga83]

I totally agree Chris66 i think there should be some sort of salary cap i don't think it should necessarily be too low or anything stupid but to ensure as you say the league is still competitve because its silly the way things are going with them having an advantage that no other team can match it isn't a level playing field and that what sport is suppossed to be based on.

 

[godfather]

I totally agree Chris66 i think there should be some sort of salary cap i don't think it should necessarily be too low or anything stupid but to ensure as you say the league is still competitve because its silly the way things are going with them having an advantage that no other team can match it isn't a level playing field and that what sport is suppossed to be based on.

but they can still pay more money from other diferent ways

 

[zodos]

Anyway it was just good to see someone on tv finally have the guts or the brains to explain the difference between the success we at arsenal (and man u) have had, compared to that of chelsea.

What success???
Lest we forget, they ain't won nothing yet!

I am for a salary cap, as long as it is Europe-wide, else we will lose the best players to other leagues.

 

[chris66]

Actually for a salary cap to be effective it would stop "other payments" from happening. They run this very effectively in the NFL, tying it to the market size and turnover of the teams.

It would have to be Europe wide to be effective - but I am sure that the owners on the whole would be up for it as the salaries are out of control and driving most clubs into dangerous financial territory. Let's not forget that if it wasn't for the Russian there is a very real chance that Chelsea wouldn't be around as such today. They were in Leeds' position with the debts they had run up. Similarly Real Madrid, if the Spanish governemnt hadn't bailed them out by misusing tax payers money to buy their training ground from them. Similarly with Parma in Italy.

The laissez-faire model isn't working as there is virtually no chance of any new teams challenging the elite, unless someone like the Russian joins in. Ironically, what is happening at Chelsea will probably speed the process up.