OK, its hardly a surprise that a paper like the Guardian would have a go at Chelsea and Abramovich. But this? http://football.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1761514,00.html "The fact is, Chelsea now stands for nothing but greed; the club has become a moral stain on the face of the sport. The more these injustices are tolerated, the more we are all corrupted." Wow. Does this guy post around here? It sounds eerily familiar..
What are the chances of implementing a salary cap similar to the NFL's model which would include revenue sharing between all the clubs. This could eventually enable some parity allowing smaller clubs to be able to afford some better talent and become more competitive thereby winning the Premiership.
salary cap would never happen. All the big name players would play on the continent. revenue sharing could work.
A salary cap would never work here. It works in the NFL as the NFL is only popular in USA and there are no big leauges outside of the USA. In real football a player won't come and play in England if he gets offered a certain amount and it can't be raised because of the salary cap here then he will bugger off to Spain or Italy. A salary cap also wouldn't work world wide because the economys of the big leagues in England and Spain are different to the economys of smaller countrys that aren't good at football but still get huge followings.
Its like he just suddenly woke and realised that a bunch of people got incredibly rich after the fall of the Soviet Union whilst teachers and doctors now have to sell hotdogs on the streets of Moscow. The money spent by Abramovich is miniscule to that of Moratti at Inter and so far the Russian has yielded more success. As much as he wants to make a point there is nothing in it that has been said before. Must of have been a slow work day...
They're just trying to build up the match this weekend, like the Makalele quote which may or may not have ever been said. With the title all but decided, they need to give neutral fans a reason to care about the game.
A few things: Chelski are no longer en vogue. That squad rotational policy is crap and it's showing up. Players will always want first team football; so when you have a club that's willing to pack their team with world-class players 3-deep at every position, something's got to give. Chelski should've learned from Real Madrid that galacticos don't bring you silverware. Jose Mourinho (of all people) should've understood that better than anyone. Instead, he does a 180 and goes Noah's Ark on everyone. Carvalho was the first to speak out, and surely he's not the only one within the club complaining about playing time. A salary cap of any kind would just bring back the post-Heysel days: euro players staying on the continent. Which in turn would make English teams in Europe vulnerable. The only way that Chelski is going to learn otherwise is what's happening right now: seeing teams like Arsenal, like Villareal, etc. go without the benefit of all-stars at every position. Teams like a Barca who depends on the chemistry of the team benefiting them as well as having great players at key positions. Chelski can spend all they like, but they'll only start achieving success in Europe when they figure out they need to have stability to win and not keep outspending everyone in order to win.
A salary cap might not send the best players abroad if it was based on the whole squad rather than per player. Teams would still be able to pay 100k per week, but only for one or two players. This might see a more even spread of talent throughout the league rather than all the best players playing for the top few teams. I'm convinced this would increase competitiveness and increase attendances as even the small teams would have a chance to compete and would have their own star players to watch.
Yeah, but that's the problem. Teams will only be able to afford 2-3 superstar players, filling the rest out with journeymen & youngsters. What little idea of a one-team man still exists will be completely wiped out, and the reason all the biggest names will move to the continent is because they will be able to play in teams with 10+ superstars over there, thus giving them a better chance of success in Europe and refining their game by playing with more top-level players. As such, the Premiership would crumble.
I haven't posted in this thread because i haven't been thinking of Chelski too much lately. But it does seem to me that the Chavs are in an odd situation. Abramovich has created a club where anything less than a domestic double and advancement to the final stage of the Champions League seems like a disappointment. They are going to win the league this year, but i suspect that it will bring their fans only a modicum of satisfaction. And i think Mourinho knows that a repeat of this years results won't be enough next year. Its a bit strange.