UEFA president Michel Platini has vowed that any club
which does not break even in the next three years will be kicked
out of European competitions. And he is being spurred on by
Chelsea's billionaire owner Abramovich, who has spent £700m on the
Blues in six years but no longer wants to pour his fortune into the
club.
And he does not want anyone to forge ahead of Chelsea
either. City have spent £120m in this transfer window alone in a
bid to gatecrash Europe's top table compared to Chelsea's £23m.
But UEFA has adopted the mantra of 'financial
fair-play' in a bid to make the European game a more level playing
field.
Platini is proposing clubs can only spend what they
earn in football revenues. He said: "It's mainly the owners that
asked us to do something. Roman Abramovich, Silvio Berlusconi at AC
Milan and Massimo Moratti at Inter. They do not want to fork out
any more.
"Manchester City can spend £300m if they want to but if
they are not breaking even in three years then they cannot play in
European competition. "I have met with Abramovich, who is a
football person and passionate about the game. He said that we must
do something about this.
"It doesn't matter if one team doesn't agree, because
this is what the clubs want. "Under the new system, you will get
more investors in the future because they will be able to make
money. At the moment you don't get these businessmen because clubs
are losing money.
"If a club can get loans from a bank to buy players and
is able to pay back bank loans, then it is not a problem. But if a
club gets a lot of money or subsidies from a big backer and is
still in deficit in two years, then it is a problem and we don't
like that."
UEFA deputy general secretary Gianni Infantino
insisted: "A rich sugar daddy coming in and throwing money around
is unhealthy in the medium and long-term.
"For the club to be healthy it has to live on its own
means and generate income. Clubs have generated revenues by
investing in things like stadiums, otherwise it is an artificial
bubble which inflates the system and is unhealthy and
unsustainable."
Platini's bid to curb clubs' spending comes at a time
when Real Madrid and Manchester United are also coming under fire
for their mounting debts.
Real's deficit is over £550m and projected to rise to a
mind-boggling £900m. United's debt is expected to reach £600m by
2017 when it has to be repaid.
