how can poorer teams hope to comprete?

[Wile E Coyote]

I know many clubs have long been able to afford the pick of the crop from anywhere in the world when it comes to buying top class players, but when did all this begin? There must always have been *bigger" set ups to lure the talent, but it feels wrong somehow for this modern trend of foreign buyers suddenly stepping in and effectively creating a super team (potentially) virtually within months.

Whilst money doesn't ensure success, it certainly helps. Burnley are lauded nationwide as a club necessarily prudent with finances, and we can compete in a fashion and on merit. But it seems hugely unfair for all that to be undermined by having rich investors deciding to acquire yet another British team just because they can.

Villa now have the Egyptian and American backers with assets reportedly in the region of £7 billion. Is it now just a case of hoping for the best and accepting this is football for the forseeable future.?

Rovers managed an ill deserved title with walkers millions, but that's a drop in the ocean nowadays compared to the status of city or chelsea.

Doesn't sit right with me, fans pay small fortunes to follow their teams, and on a whim sheer hard work and building from grass roots is irrelevant when
a business deal is struck elsewhere and a club can simply buy their way to the top.

[Vegas Claret]

the prize will be promotion from the Championship for a one season stay the way it's going.

[Chester Perry]

It goes back to the leagues origins https://spartacus-educational.com/Fwages.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[TVC15]

Agreed - but unfortunately there is no will from the powers that be to do anything about it.
And the one single biggest reason for this apathy or for token gestures like FFP is that the people who run and work for the powers that be are on the same gravy train.

There will be people who are far worse and greedier than Gordon Taylor who have made ridiculous amounts of money out of football in the last 20 years but I’ll use Taylor as an example because he is an ex *******, he’s arrogant and ugly....and I once had to sit across from his ugly mug on a train for 3 hours all the way back from London !!
Taylor is a union leader. 10 years ago he was on £450k a year - not bad at all for someone who had already been in his cosy job for 27 years up to that point. In 2018 he was on a reported £2.2m....but said it wasn’t him who decided on his 400% increase in salary during the period of austerity when most peoples wages were frozen.
As I said there are worse than him no doubt - and these are the ones who are happy to allow any greedy f-ucker they want to pass their “fit and proper” test to take over the clubs....setting the precedent a number of years ago by allowing a young Russian billionaire who had illegally took ownership of state owned shares from the working class by mafia style protectionism to take over Chelsea.

Nothing like a rant to let it all out !

[tim_noone]

You could have moved to another carriage...

[TVC15]

You could have moved to another carriage...

It was first class (obviously !) and full.
I had to watch / listen to him eat - they should have served it in a trough the way he went through it !

[Chester Perry]

Excellent example TVC15 - that parasite has a salary paid for by all professional footballers yet their are whole squads - I am thinking Accy Stanley whose squad jointly earn close to what he does, possibly a bit more

[Burnley Ace]

Excellent example TVC15 - that parasite has a salary paid for by all professional footballers yet their are whole squads - I am thinking Accy Stanley whose squad jointly earn close to what he does, possibly a bit more

His salary isn’t paid by any professional footballers, his salary is a percentage of the TV deal.

[Chester Perry]

only makes it worse that he takes it all given what clubs in the lower leagues get as solidarity payments

[LoveCurryPies]

In life, there are those born to privilege (or in football terms, have wealthier owners). But sometimes, poverty, hunger, leads to determination, hard work, and a desire to not accept failure.

Sean Dyche refers to strong chins. Probably a reference to the type of fighter who no matter how many punches they have taken, picks himself up back off the floor.

So, if you are born to a poorer family, don’t let that define you. Work harder, be smarter. Same with clubs. Bring by them on!

[Wile E Coyote]

i like the theory curry, but in reality we are comparitve paupers, and for all the work ethic, we will eventually succumb to the filthy foreign dollars and fade away. its as if those with the cash are lining up to buy another crappy rival club and push us further down the ladder despite out best, and most honest efforts.

[Erasmus]

The question I ask myself is whether or not I wished that Abu Dhabi mark 2 was taking over Burnley rather than Newcastle. It would pretty much guarantee us a long stay in the Premier League and perhaps even the chance to challenge for Champions League, whereas without that type of backing we will almost certainly be relegated in the next few years. For me, I would prefer relegation to Abu Dhabi, but I would be interested to hear what others would prefer if ever such a possibility arose?

[Pstotto]

AC Milan and Real Madrid in the 80s.

How many good footballers can there be? There are 3000 million men. Lionel Messis should be ten a penny.

[SalisburyClaret]

Do we want to be a rich man’s plaything or stay as a financially sound club who’ll still be around when the rich man has moved on?
On the surface, it’s a no-brainer, but we will likely need some significant investment at some point. I’d rely on our current owners to ensure that we manage that input of investment without handing over the keys to Turf Moor

When Rovers won the PL they spent more money that any club in the world had ever spent before - where are they these days. OK they had their magic year but that’s now long gone. Best to be sustainable

[houseboy]

I personally would rather watch Burnley in League Two than succumbe to foreign investors who want to buy us trophies. Pride apart football is football and if you support a team and it's basic ethics then it doesn't (or shouldn't) matter what level you play at. I go to watch Stanley occasionally and I have probably as much fun there as I do at the Turf (sometimes more because they don't have to play the same safety first tactics that we do). I absolutely hate the money in football these days, which is why I sometimes (perhaps unfairly) have a rant at people on here when they go on about how much money we have and buying players with sell-on value like they are some sort of commodity, measuring success by how much money we have in the bank. The problem is of course is that this is the current way of things and it isn't going to change any time soon and I'm realistic enough to know that, but it doesn't stop me from hating it all the same. I am fairly ambivalent about our presence in the PL, yes it's a pride thing and in that sense I am glad we are in it, you always want to be as good as you can, but the football itself and the preening over-paid, fawned-on prima donnas that play for so many of the clubs, particular the so-called 'big six' I wouldn't miss at all if we were relegated.

Football died when clubs ceased to be sports clubs and started being businesses.

[Woodleyclaret]

As Parky famously said"Nostalgia aint what it used to be".Everton fans are winging that they cant compete financially When they had Moores millions and cherry picked our brightest stars I dont remember any moaning from them then

[Socrates]

Two things always come to mind for me :-

1. The Premier League could have 20 clubs in owned by the 20 wealthiest people in the world. They could all spend £300-£500 million each season on players. Despite all that, 3 still have to be relegated at the end of the season. So unless they change the rules and do away with relegation money is not the answer to all problems.

2. All this money flooding into the game ..... it doesn’t make the players any better. They are what they are, it just means that wages for average players go up and up. That, by any conceivable standard, is ludicrous.

[aggi]

The abolition of the maximum wage and the retain and transfer system was really where the power switched to the players and wages started moving on up.

As more money moves into the game it's inevitable that the wages would go up, although it's a shame that this has been coupled with screwing the fans over more and more.

The problem is only going to get worse. There's more discussions on this on the Magic Money Tree thread but basically the rich clubs are pushing for them to get even more money and the smaller clubs less. My prediction is that at some point in the future the individual clubs will start selling their own broadcast rights and then we really will end in a closed shop of the big clubs getting bigger at the expense of everyone else.

[jrgbfc]

It's difficult but certainly still possible. Ajax proved that this season. A good youth system, being good in the transfer market and willing to take a bit of a risk will still get you a long way.

[ClaretAL]

I think we will end up going down the franchise route of players can only be paid a set amount and then after that their only income top up is from advertisement/sponsorship contracts meaning good players will still get trillions no matter who the play for, and in fact like Rooney if your a good player in a poor team the advertisement/sponsorship will be knocking on your door even more.

[Dark Cloud]

I know it can be easy to say this and if/when we are scrambling around in the third tier some time in the next 15 years I would almost certainly think differently I guess, but I too am of the school whereby I'd far sooner we EARNED our success and even if because of our limitations the term "success" is all very relative and largely about staying in the PL, I feel very, very proud of anything and everything we achieve. Being taken over by one of the richest people on the planet, spending £zillions and then becoming one of the most successful clubs in Europe MUST feel rather hollow in the end.

[LordBob]

In the late 50s and early 60s we competed at the highest level because of our scouting network that found us the huge talent we nurtured then sold only to be replaced by another Claret hero. That was in the days of the maximum wage when you couldn't earn more at any of the big clubs than you could at Turf Moor and because we were successful the young talent jumped at the chance, alas that ended and the day it did our then chairmen said ' this could mean the end of Burnley FC. Well we have battled against the odds to get to where we are, This is a very good O/P with many posts that I'm in total agreement with, I would rather be in the lower leagues than sell our souls to the devil.

[turfytopper]

this year's FA Cup final was the day football died IMO.

They'll always be good teams, mediocre teams and struggling teams.... But if you're one of the latter playing one of the former you go with hope rather than expectation (to the game).

Hope has now faded.

[Wile E Coyote]

i would imagine man city fans feel delighted by their success, but it must feel hollow in a way knowing that rather than being something built locally and hewn from the social fabric in the north, it is instead just the result of untold wealth spewing into their coffers from fr, far away.
That has nothing whatsoever to do with tradition or the fans in that region. I don't know how there can be a true rivalry when both their clubs are backed by the kind of people they have behind them. fans are just tiny insignificant pawns really .

[Dark Cloud]

Turfytopper is right. This year's FA Cup final was an embarrassment. Not Watford's fault imo and they are actually a more than decent team and I suspect these Pozzo people have a bit of cash of their own tbh, but it simply wasn't football and it was a great example of how, if they aren't careful, the massive clubs will actually kill the game by putting too much artificially created distance between themselves and the "rest" because ultimately all sport HAS to be competitive and when it stops being so, the public (at the grounds and in their arm chairs) will quickly lose interest and the big clubs will have shot themselves in the foot. As it stands they look down (literally and metaphorically) on clubs like us and those in our bracket, but they need us every bit as much as they need their mates in the "big six" or whatever it is, I'm just not sure how much they realise it.