If there was ever a football club that should challenge UEFA and the Premier League over their financial rules, it’s Aston Villa. Not because we’re looking for special treatment. But because someone has to ask a very simple question…
Who decided that a successful business should be prevented from investing their own money?
Football talks about protecting the game, yet the current financial regulations do exactly the opposite. They protect the established elite while making it increasingly difficult for ambitious clubs to challenge them.
That doesn’t sound like competition to me. If Aston Villa’s owners want to invest hundreds of millions of pounds into the football club they own, why should UEFA or the Premier League have the power to stop us?
Nobody forces an owner to buy a football club. Nobody forces them to spend money. And if an owner makes terrible decisions that eventually send the club into administration, then that should be the owner’s fault and the club has to deal with it. That’s how free markets work. Businesses succeed. Businesses fail. Football shouldn’t be any different.
Instead, we now have a system where clubs are effectively told they cannot spend their own money because bad business decisions might force the club into administration or liquidation.
Where was that concern when Manchester United were dominating English football? Where was it when Chelsea transformed themselves through Roman Abramovich’s money? Where was it when Manchester City spent years building one of the most expensive squads football has ever seen?
Supposedly PSR is there to save clubs from themselves. I’m not convinced. It looks like something that preserves the existing hierarchy.
The richest commercial clubs remain the richest commercial clubs. Those trying to catch them are told to wait patiently and growth might follow. That isn’t competition. It feels unlawful.
We’ve already seen football’s governing bodies challenged in the courts before. The Bosman ruling completely changed the transfer market because football’s rules were found to be breaking European laws.
Perhaps it’s time someone asked another difficult question: Are financial rules that prevent owners from investing their own money in their own clubs an unreasonable restraint on competition?
I think it is a restraint on competition. So that’s exactly why somebody should ask the question. And the club that should ask that question, is Aston Villa F.C.
Aston Villa have very wealthy owners. A well thought out legal attack on UEFA and the Premier League financial rules, might benefit other ambitious football club that wants to compete at the very top.
So I’m calling on Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens, to stop accepting these rules and start fighting them. I want you to launch a legal challenge against both the Premier League’s PSR regulations and UEFA’s financial rules.
I believe Aston Villa are being prevented from competing on a level playing field, so take the argument out of the boardroom and into the courts. Force the football authorities to justify why private owners should be restricted from investing their own money into the businesses they own.
Don’t negotiate. Don’t compromise. Challenge the system head-on and let the law decide whether these rules are breaking any laws. UTV
We can’t even get a “English” 17 year old clearance to play what’s the point?
At last someone is saying publicly what we are saying privately
The clubs with the biggest debts/revenue and objectively are at most risk of bankruptcy are the big 6. They tried the super league. This is just the next attempt at building barriers to protect their dominance. It does nothing to prevent clubs failing but it prevents any investment from owners that could disrupt the status quo. It rewards Chelsea for sustained cheating but kills the ambition of every other club.
Oh btw, the best way to increase revenue to compete – increase ticket prices. Active incentives to screw the customer.
Very sensible article and I couldn’t agree more the situation is un fair rediculous and completely unfair, has to be well worth taking them to court I don’t see how they can offer any justification.
I believe you’re ignoring the EPL which votes for its own rules . AVFC have participated in the votes which established and agreed these rules. It would be hard to take legal action against rules legally agreed under the EPL framework. Only the EPL Framework could be subject to legal action and that would destroy it.
My club and the other Premier League clubs did vote for these rules, but voting for a rule doesn’t automatically make it lawful. Football’s governing bodies have had regulations successfully challenged before, like the Bosman ruling. Football continues to evolve, and when there arr grounds to believe that existing rules have become anti-competitive, they should be tested in court
I have been saying for a few years now that the premier league and UEFA are as crooked as the krays. How can they stop fair competition with there petty rules, Man utd are around 3.6bn in debt, Chelsea are around 900+m in debt yet cas spend freely, it’s all crooked to keep the top six at the top.
This article is absolute tosh! The top six clubs don’t dictate the rules. Every team in the premier league has a vote and Villa voted FOR the SCR rules.
The rules are favoured by both the top clubs AND the lower clubs to try and keep things fair. only Villa and Newcastle don’t like the rules. Every other team is in favour. Both top and bottom clubs.
Those are the rules and if you don’t like it then you can opt out and form your own league
A legal consortium of clubs, including the likes of Villa, Newcastle, Everton and Leeds perhaps, might stand a better chance in court. They would have more resources and represent a larger concern.