Time for realism in Football
It's been two frantic weeks with more happening at the Ricoh in the last couple of weeks than all season. A manager sacked, a chairman resigned and a new chairman in place.
Maybe its time to take stock.
SISU are not very popular at present and they only have themselves to blame for that. Very poor communications between the board and fans along with getting rid of local board members and replacing them with people the average fans has never heard off.
We are told SISU are committed to the club while looking for new investors. Reading between the lines they are looking for an exit strategy.
We are also told that next season we should break even.
This should be easier to achieve with a number of top earning players out of contract. Westwood, Gunnar, King, Doyle (gone already) and Carsley to name but a few. Add to this the increase in TV revenue of around £1 million, if we stay up, and they could well balance the books.
However if they do, and do not invest any money, then I can't see how we will be able to compete next season
Maybe its time the Football League and the FA acted to ensure the future of football.
Introduction of rules that clubs can only pay wages that represent a maximum of 65% of a clubs total income would help for a start. This could be phased in over a couple of seasons to allow existing contracts to run down.
This will certainly change the balance of power from players and agents to the clubs themselves.
In this age of austerity with cut backs and job losses all around, maybe it's time football woke to its responsibilities to the fans and got its house in order before clubs start going to the wall!
Older/Newer
« SISU or not SISU that is the question | Latest Coventry City news from the Coventry Telegraph »
4 Comments
Latest Football League video
sisu out asap
Funnily enough I've been saying this for years, and in my view it's the real source of CCFC's problems â even had we been promoted 3 or 4 years ago, we'd still face the same sort of problems that have led to the demise of other big clubs like Leeds and Portsmouth.
The distribution curve for wealth in English football effectively safeguards the positions of the top 5 or 6 clubs, and in order to even begin to compete with them any ânormalâ club has to over-speculate. Out of control player salaries combined with the perilous risks of relegation from the Premier League means that existing Premier League clubs have no choice but to continue their death race â as the Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland said, you have to run as fast as you can just to stay where you are.
Where does that leave sides outside the Premier League? A handful of clubs with relatively stable finances have found that they can exist bouncing back and forth (Wolves, West Brom) â presumably because parachute payments are enough to keep what is by Championship standards a decent squad in employment, even if it's not really good enough for the Premier League.
After that you have a half dozen or so teams who have better than average squads who are investing in them to try and make it into the Premier League. But this doesn't come without a price â clubs like Sheffield United and Cardiff City have both had the threat of administration looming over them, and others have actually ended up slipping out of the league as a result. When you look at it that way, it's almost surprising that CCFC haven't yet succumbed to the same fate.
How can this situation be fixed? Two things are needed: a squad salary and average-salary cap (to prevent both wealthy clubs assembling large, âgalacticoâ-style squads, and smaller teams over-investing in a smaller squad) and more equitable distribution of TV rights funds. The former is something a lot more chairmen are likely to support than the latter, but in a few years time it'll seem like the only sensible option.
Football in this country comes from the grass roots up, but the situation right now mirrors the concentration of wealth and class division we're seeing in the nation at large. There's only so long that situation can be sustained before there is effectively a peasant's revolt (or a splinter league is formed).
As far as SISU are concerned, I don't share most of my fellow supportersâ hatred for them â in order to keep CCFC a going concern they need income. If that isn't coming from the turnstiles or sponsors, then selling top players is about the only source of income left to them. Yes, it's a great idea to try and assemble squad capable of competing for promotion, but that's the gamble mentioned above again â either it pays off and you get promotion, or you don't and you have a bankrupt club.
After three years and three different managers it's not hard to see that competing for promotion hasn't even been close to realisation, and we should probably be glad the club hasn't already gone into administration (and let's not forget where we were when SISU took over).
What would be great for football fans in general, and Coventry City fans in particular, is for this current energy and anger about the state of our club to be directed where it needs to be: at the Football Association of England. We're not alone in having worries about the longterm plight of our club, and whilst a government commissioned report underlined the deep problems with the finances of the English game, the FA remain adamant that the problems are non-existent. If enough fans make enough noise, perhaps we can show them otherwise.
Fans like to talk about how they pay footballersâ wages, but this is particularly true once you widen the scope to the entire league â every TV licensee and Sky subscriber contributes to the Football League economy, and collectively we have the power to make them listen.
SISU plant?
A very well thoughtout comment.
Coventry City are typical of a number of clubs as you say. The only way the problem will be addressed is if the FA&FL introduce rules on salaries and expenditure.
Unfortunatley i don't think anything will happen until a couple of clubs go to the wall when it will be too late.
Every other business is there to make money, football, with a few exceptions, seems to run on debt. It is an unsustainable business model that will end in tears soon!