Abramovich MUST Be Stopped

I know Fulham had its days of wild spending when Al Fayed first came to power but that was nothing as compared to what Chelsea is doing. For those interested in finding out why Chelsea and Abramovich are bad for football (soccer), please read the article below.

Cheers,
Mike

http://www.sportinglife.com/fanzine/sto ... mment.html

 

As we have all seen, money means nothing to Abramovich. The tapping up of Ashley Cole and now Spurs Sporting Director Frank Arnesen are just crazy! Something needs to be done to stop this guy. Points need to be deducted or something to get them to understnad the severity of what they are doing.

I just can't put into words how much I dislike this club. They can and will buy everything they want in order to build a club that is unbeatable in all competitions. The article is right when it says that all the English clubs need to come together to beat them and keep them down. If I was a player, I would never play for them. I know the wages being paid are out of this world at the Bridge, but I would never wear the Blue of Chelsea.

Chelsea is making it impossible for the likes of Arsenal, Manchester United, Real Madrid, AC Milan, etc to keep up with them in the transfer market. In my opinion, right now the above mentioned clubs are able to keep up with Chelsea because Abramovich has only been there a little more than 2 years. Once he gets all the players he wants, there will unfortunately be no stopping them.

Chelsea is a joke and they are a pain in the ass. I have never really been one to get excited when a team I hate loses, but next season and every season after that, I will thoroughly enjoy each and every match that Chelsea lose. It always put a smile on my face when they lose, but now I might consider throwing parties in the event of a Chelsea loss.

 

calling Pete Rozelle ...oops.. he's dead.

Dont blame Chelsea.. blame the FA. By the way, I'm with Kenyon on reducing the number of PRO clubs.. though 40 from 92 is a little drastic.

Seriously, dont be surprised if some NFL wonks pay a visit, on invitation, to the FA offices.

 

How is this much different from how we feel about the Yankees? As much as I despise anything to do with Steinbrenner, his attempts at domination have actually been good for the league... If you have too much parity, you end up like the NFL where you get 8-8 teams in the playoffs... at least if you have a team to put a target on their backs it makes it interesting...

I will agree Chelsea is going about it with some underhanded tactics... but at least it makes it interesting...

I think it's a case of the sky is falling and Arsenal, Man U and the rest are just PO'd that their run atop the table isn't so sure anymore.

 

I too, was tempted to cite the Yankees... but remember that they operate more in the mode of ManUre (as signified by their joint marketing agreements) and at least attempt to get SOME value for money.

As to the NFL, the playoff set-up has nought to do with it, the KEY factor is the restraint of the the league against any individual owner BUYING the league.

Note: The current NFL setup prevented the Cowboys and Kansas City (and, maybe, Forty-Niners) from doing just that.

If you WANT to use the Yankees and MLB as a talking point, remember the doss that Steinbrenner has to pay the other owners for being above his cap!

I'm NOT saying that the FA will adopt the whole NFL program... but they MUST be interested!

The REAL cream, e.g; New England, can STILL rise to the top without being penalized for their superior management.

 

The only way to stop that kind of free spending would be some kind of salary cap. A lone association like the FA wouldn't do that unless the whole of UEFA did likewise, since they are still competing with those teams for the Champions League money. Maybe a luxury tax like Major League Baseball has would be a good idea. Chelsea can still spend as much as they want, but if they go over X pounds they have to pay a penalty into a pot to be divided up among the other teams. It is much easier to implement that kind of system in American sports where the entry of players into the leagues and movement of players between teams are more rigidly controlled.

How much power do they players have in stuff like this? Is there a players' association or union in the UK like we have in American sports? The players will fight tooth and nail against any kind of proposal that potentially limits their salaries.

And the whole player-agent-club relationship seems really shady in European football. All of those dealings need to be above board and all parties need to respect the rules. The FA has to have the backbone to penalize cheaters in meaningful ways. A few hundred thousand pounds is chump change to Chelsea. Docking points, suspensions from cup competitions, suspensions of players and managers, and on-the-field stuff like that would have more of an impact.

 

There is a Players' Assoication in England and in all the leagues in Europe. I do not think Abramovich can be stopped and in fact there is no way a salary cap would ever go over in Europe. It is sad that Chelsea can do this, but that is the way it is.

A luxury tax might help a bit, but I think even that is crap in Baseball. Unless you have a luxury tax and then force the beneficiaries of the tax to spend it on the team, that will not work. I mean just because the Yankees and Red Sox ae paying luxury taxes to the smaller teams, it does not mean that the owner of the Brewers is obligated to spend that money.

It is like a transfer in soccer. Just because you sell someone and get a nice chunk of change for him does not necessarily mean the owner will turnaround and spend that money on new players.

The bottom line is this.....to Abramovich, this is just for fun. Whether he makes money or not, is not what he is after right now. He wants to win now and in the foreseeable future. To every other club....this is a business and profits and money do matter to each club. Until here are other owners to compete with Roman's money, this will always happen. I am just hoping he gets sick of it and pulls his cash out of the club in the enxt few years. That would put a smile on my face.

 

If you have a salary cap, you also need a salary base to prevent what's happening in baseball. People complain about the yanks, but pocket the luxury tax they make from them every year instead of investing it into young talent.

and if you think that the EPL teams are going to boycott chelsea and refuse to make trades and deals, you're out of your mind. In all sports, the idea of team loyalty is gone and players go to where the money is. So you'll get a situation like with Man U and Saha where he was going to refuse to play unless he got his big transfer deal.

there's really no way to stop chelsea if they continue on this road. The only thng you can hope for is that their managment realizes that this is terrible business wise. There is only so much money a team can bring in each year, no matter how many championships and games they win. If they continue to spend this way, there is no way the team will remain profitable.

either way f'em

 

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You really are bitter about Saha aren't you?!

I'm with you there...I just tend to ignore them and most of those glory hunting plastic fans they are acquired.

I had read somewhere that even if Chelsea won the championship 10 years in a row, they would still not turn a profit. Ridiculous I tell ya!

 

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This just proves my point....to any other owner this would mean something, but to Abramovich it means nothing. He has so much money he does not know what to do with it. Profits mean nothing to Chelsea.

 

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I'd hate to see everyone in England (or Europe) turn the business model upside down due to one guy. The Chelsea situation won't last forever because there are two characteristics that these super-rich guys seem to have in common:

1. They like to acquire playtoys (trophy wives, yachts, jets, sports teams, etc.) but they always get bored with them after a while.

2. They will lose money on a venture for a while to make a name for themselves but they won't do it indefinitely. Deep down, they don't like to lose money or they wouldn't be where they are.

So wait it out and eventually Chelsea will come back to pack. If they continue to cheat slam them with point deductions and that will put an end to it. I'd hate to see salary caps, luxury taxes or NFL-style oligarchy implemented.

 

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That is just wages!!! ?115m!!!

 

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Good thing is that we'll only play them twice a year. We're not Man United or Arsenal or Spurs, so although it sucks, and it sucks that its chelsea that's doing this. It really has little impact on Fulham in my opinion. We're not going to Europe anytime soon, and are certainly not going to be challenging them for the league.

we need to worry about the five clubs above and below us and try to keep working our way up the EPL ladder

 

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I would say that is the highest in all sports, AFTER the Yankees, then.

NFL cap $85M which is less than half.

Yankees is reported as of 2003 to be $164M

Yeah, that surprised even me... should have looked that up, before.

But how does George pay that? through MSG TV revenue. And which ALSO means that he isnt paying enough 'spendthrift' reparations to the rest of the league.

Which is what Glazer might have been thinking about.. but mis-fired in his scenarios.

- - - - --

BUT.. bear in mind the Yankees pretty much had their way in the beginning of George buying the best... but such never holds over the long run.

He certainly isnt getting 'value for money spent'.. and the same will happen to Chelsea.

 

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yeah i think its time to move on

 

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In actuality, with the exchange rate the way it is, Chelsea now have the highest payroll in all of sports and it will be even higher next year (it looks as if they will spend another 40 million pounds on players this summer whose wages will be through the roof).

Yankees = 164 American Dollars
Chelsea = 214 American Dollars

Back to JohnnyCash's point (very nice interview by the way, he has a much better perspective on the team before the prem than I ever will), in a way he is right about the fact that it won't effect Fulham with regard to the league. We won't win the championship and Europe is a long shot.

But, where I disagree, is that with Chelsea spending as they are, they are effecting the entire market with regard to the worth of all the players in Europe. Because Chelsea is spending freely, it is causing teams to inflate the prices of all they possible 'outs'.

Take a look at the turn of the Millenium. Marlet (that name just really gets to me still), we bought him for 11 Million pounds and that was when the market was inflated to ridiculous levels. A couple of years later the market took a nose dive and overall, he was really only worth 6 mill if that. Things were good though because players were cheaper and things weren't getting out of hand. But greed is back and its Blue...

Now, due to Chelsea, we're on an upswing again and with Fulham not having the money to spend, spend, spend, we are screwed if the transfer market values gets inflated to turn of the millenium levels, where someone like Euell will cost 4 mill pounds. Pisht!!!

Sorry if this is long...just wanted to rant on this subject as its been on my mind.

 

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Naaa man. A big "F him" to that clown...talking crap about the team that made him and saying he wasn't going to play unless he got what he wanted...Waaaaa.

 

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As a Yankee fan and a NY Ranger fan (whats hockey?) I have a view from the spoiled end of relentless spending. I've seen the glory and the pain of such behavior and I have to tell you that more times than not its pain which prevails.

I love George Steinbrenner for his appreciation of accountability. Its certainly a good feeling to have a fan as an owner. I have to admit that rarely did George ever buy a team that won. In fact the more he spends the worst the Yankees get, and his solution is spending more money.

I cant find stats on 1996 thru 2000, but most of that talent was home grown with some good $$$ thrown in there. Yeah, i hate chelsea, but if it it were Fulham spending the money, not too many people in this forum would be complaining.

There has been many points thrown about here, such as some owners putting more in their pockets than back in the team. Its true, sports are businesses, based on competition. Owners want to win to put more people in the seats and sell concessions in extra games... but the bad thing about chelsea is that they arent balancing the books. Abromovich will stay in debt, well... he'll own money on operating costs... but Steinbrenner will turn a profit regardless... in fact, he can probably double the salary he has now and still make a few bucks. Thats the luck of the draw with a great market, great fans, and charging a few hundred dollars for a stadium dog.

Personally I think the Kansas City Royals are ruining baseball because they refuse to rise to competition... $75 million dollars yearly can build a pretty good team and 20 million in my pocket seems alot like 100 million.

The greed in sports isn't the hunger for winning so much, its the exploitation of the fans and not rewarding them for a lifetime of loyalty.

After all, the Yankees got stuck, the Rangers we awful, the Knicks are screwed, and Liverpool won Europe. So with a team like that, we expect them to go all the way, but when they dont we laugh. I dont pity them, its all or nothing now until the foreseeable future.

As a yanks fan I'm conditioned... A season without a championship is a failure... thats pathetic... some teams win a playoff spot and everyone in that town goes nuts.

Those were the days.

 

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Smokin, you're return is welcomed....

Also, I think I'm done with the boardy barn...its been fun...

 

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bonjour smokin'! I think that i'm starting to see the lure of the yankees, and i'm looking forward to catching a game out there.

yes, the boardy barn was certainly an experience....my suitcase stank of beer when i got home!!