Stoke chairman outlines ‘Financial Fair Play’ concerns 01/06/2010 |
|
| |
| |
Stoke chairman Peter Coates has “reservations” about Uefa’s new ‘Financial Fair Play’ rules and believes they will make it harder for clubs to break into the Premier League top four.
The new regulations, which were passed by European football’s governing body last week and will be phased in over the next few years, will force clubs to operate within their means.
But Coates told BBC Radio Five: "I have a reservation about these new rules, in that it will affect clubs who want to get into Europe because it is going to reinforce what I call a ‘quadopoly’.
"It has been great this year with Spurs doing so well but Liverpool [which finished seventh this year] could find it enormously difficult with these new rules to get back into the Champions League, which causes the biggest distortion in football.
"What [Uefa president] Michel Platini is recommending on the whole seems sensible and good but it means up to £50m for playing in the Champions League and it will reinforce those top clubs and make it very difficult for anyone to break into that."
Liverpool is understood to be comfortable about the prospect of complying with Uefa's new rules and having the financial clout to get back in to the Champions League – especially as its commercial revenue has grown significantly over the last three years.
According to figures published by Deloitte, last year Liverpool earned £67.7m from commercial activities – second only to Manchester United (£70m) and well ahead of Chelsea (£52.8m) and Arsenal (£48.1m).
However, Liverpool’s matchday takings do lag behind the other three clubs – at £42.5m it is less than half of both Arsenal's and United's.
|
| Back |
| |
| |
|
|
 |
Advertisement
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
