By David Gold
August 13 – Liverpool owner John W Henry has cast doubt on whether UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rules will work.
The new rules, brought in last season by UEFA President Michel Platini, require clubs to break-even in the long term.
Under the rules clubs can, in the first two years of figures being analysed, lose as much as €45 million (£35 million/$55million).
Any club failing to meet the regulations can be censured by UEFA, including the possibility of losing their license to compete in major European competitions.
The effect of the rules so far appears to be mixed.
As the rules bite, Manchester City, who spent their way to the Premier League title, are the only team in the English top flight not to have bought any new players this summer.
They made a loss of almost €254 million (£200 million/$312 million) in their last published accounts.
Chelsea, on the other hand, has spent substantially on new players this summer, despite running consistently high losses over a number of years.
In France, Paris Saint Germain have overtaken City as Europe’s biggest spenders after splashing out close to €200 million (£157 million/$245 million) after being taken over by the Qatari Sports Investments group last summer.
In Spain, another Qatari owned side, Málaga (pictured below in blue and white strip) – despite qualifying for the Champions League for the first time last season – have been forced into a fire sale amid belt tightening caused, they claim, by financial fair play rules.
Liverpool has been among the most sceptical observers regarding the impact UEFA’s initiative might have.
Henry (pictured top) has previously criticised City for signing a €510 million (£400 million/$624 million) sponsorship deal with Etihad, whose owner is the half brother of the man running the Premier League champions.
“The mandate of financial fair play in Europe is for clubs to live within their means,” Henry told the Tomkin Times.
“Recently I was told that half of the clubs in the top divisions within Europe are losing money and 20 per cent are in straits of varying degrees.
“It’s up to Liverpool to invest properly in players going forward so that the club can not only be sustainable but a powerhouse.
“This club should be able to significantly increase its revenues.”
Henry’s comments come as reports emerge suggesting the Premier League could adopt a financial regulatory model that requires clubs to curb their losses.
“There are a lot of clubs within the league that support financial fair play,” Henry continued.
“We believe the league itself may have to adopt its own rules given that clubs seem to be ignoring UEFA’s rules, which may be porous enough to enable clubs to say that the trend of huge losses is positive and therefore be exempt from any meaningful sanctions.”
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