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I'm pretty baffled by Barcelona's transfer strategy, and I follow Real Madrid closely

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that is funny because madrids transfer strategy has baffled me for years.

Kolo looking ecstatic to have signed with Celtic

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It restricted spending based upon bona fide income. It would only narrow the gap between teams if teams made similar amounts

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yeah FFP is a way to keep the status quo of big clubs who make lots of $ to spend and restrict everyone else

although the new EPL deal does create a weird variable in terms of world soccer

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yeah FFP is a way to keep the status quo of big clubs who make lots of $ to spend and restrict everyone else

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that's not why it was created

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Here we go again, right?

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I ant got time for this shite

slow day on transfer rumors

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that's not why it was created

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i don't care about intentions. that's the end result

Bayern can`t sell Lewandowski right now - they don`t have valuable attackers

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i don't care about intentions. that's the end result

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Yeah, to what degree FFP was intended to separate superpowers from clubs just below them is really beside the point. Like you say, the reality is that it has, just like all the critics said it would.


The problem with FFP is that it protects clubs from "bad owners" but at the same time inhibits "good owners" from investing extra when that's the only realistic means of closing the gap on Juve, Bayern etc.

StraightCash mentions Southampton and that's an excellent example, even if EPL is kind of a world of it's own. They are absolutely the ideal success story under FFP: Stable, pretty good but with an absolute glass ceiling preventing them from becoming much better than they are. Due to FFP, they can not even choose to match salaries of talented players who are leaving if the chose to really make a serious run one season.

There are tons of other Southampton-type examples too: like Sassoulo, Celta Vigo, Torino etc etc etc.



The Southamptons and Sassoulos are nice but the bottom line is that they're just well operated "farm teams" who punch slightly higher than their history. They can't really touch the top tier clubs and are really more of a farm club for those clubs.


The real issue is any club being able to join the current "superleage".

Dortmund, Roma, Napoli, Sevilla have also been run very well during FFP and are better than Southampton and Sassuolo but are still being warned and fined by FFP in merely trying to stay withing shouting distance of the super powers.


The FFP problem for clubs just below the elite level is simple: It takes money to make money.


For example, the most realistic way a Roma or Napoli could compete with Juve long term is by building revenue. They are already building stadiums, investing in youth programs, social media etc etc but a staggering proportion of the revenue separating those clubs is from two sources: sponsors and TV revenue (Serie A + CL).

The only real way for Roma or Napoli to increase their sponsorship or TV revenue is to beat Juve on the field, go deep in CL, sign and keep the star players everyone wants to watch.

You know, the same way Chelsea, Man City and PSG went from being smaller clubs than Roma or Napoli to having tons of fans in Asia, the USA etc.

This isn't to say that it would have to be billionaire oligarchs and shieks immediately pouring in billions. However, when the clubs are right on the doorstep of a Scudetto or CL run, to invest extra to keep star players and maybe add a difference maker could have a massive smowball effect in terms of increasing revenue (which is what FFP is supposedly trying to entice clubs to do).

It could certainly be risky. However, without that risk, we're seeing that the reward is to be a success story like Southampton.

I read Moyes was trying to get Januzaj at Sunderland.

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Daily Mail says

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You know better

They have literally ran conflicting stories back to back days multiple times since Jose arrived about who is leaving.