Financial Fair Play

[FulhamStu]

The fun is about to start down the road.
The Hahas are pretty much done now, there is
no way they will win 3/3 and even that is unlikely
to keep them up.

The football league v QPR will be very interesting.

What do you think the outcome will be ?

[chiefo]

Looking forward to this with great interest. Wasn't there talks of a 50 mill+ fine?

[westcliff white]

nearer 70 i thought

[grandad]

Bang goes their parachute money. They will fill their squad with loanees.

[westcliff white]

parachute still leaves them way short

[Oakeshott]

I hope QPR manage to bust the whole FFP thing apart as an unwarranted restraint on trade. Because of it promoted Championship sides have to be very circumspect about investment and have an even more difficult time estabishing themselves there than we did all those years ago.

The QPR owner strikes me as being sufficiently ballsy to take the football establishment on in this matter and he's well able to afford the legal costs it will involve.

In the medium term success for QPR here may be very much in our interest.

[westcliff white]

persoanlly (for the season it relates too only) i cant see he can win as he signed up and agreed to the conditions, however if he disputes it before hand and takes action as a restraint of trade he maybe able to pull that off.

Someone some where will challenge it at some stage

[Fulham76]

If there is a fine to be paid, no doubt they will appeal & appeal & appeal. They won't be demoted to the conference as some seem to think.

[Hammer Smith]

If QPR will need to rely on frees and loanees, I'm sure that we can help them out a lot here. They could then build the perfect relegation team for next season.

[H4usuallysitting]

If they are relegated - it will be interesting to see if the League accepts them or they could be in the conference.....if the League do nothing - they will open there selves to compensation claims from every club in the league that have played by the rules......the League may simply not accept there application until they settle amounts due - I can see it getting a bit messy

[Andy S]

But was it worth the risk?

I'm not a gambling man but if I had been a QPR supporter I probably would have been very happy to have gone up last season. But coming back down leaves a lot of questions to be answered. Like whose money was used to fund the extravagance.

[Bill2]

Everyone is talking about QPR, but I wonder how it will effect those teams going up especially if it includes Brentford. They and Bournemouth have small grounds with a small fan base, I know they will get bucket loads of TV money but that can be eaten up in higher salaries, that or lose their best players. I seem to recall that Brentford will have to move out of their ground for a season, so how much will that cost them as either QPR or us will no doubt charge them to use our grounds.

[One Martin Thomas]

I have no pleasure in seeing any club fined like this and it certainly does not make me feel any better about our club and the awful displays we've had to endure this season.  Where would we have been in FFP had come in 20 odd years ago ?  As long as clubs are not in silly debt, the league should leave private companies alone.... the only remit should be the ability to put 11 eligible players on the pitch.  Come on QPR... fight it and win for all our sakes.

[rogerpbackinMidEastUS]

The quality and high earners they had should be ashamed of themselves.
it's a pity the fines can't be deducted from their wages.

Controversial but I'd take Joey Barton, we need a bit of mouthy steel in midfield

[MJG]

I have no pleasure in seeing any club fined like this and it certainly does not make me feel any better about our club and the awful displays we've had to endure this season.  Where would we have been in FFP had come in 20 odd years ago ?  As long as clubs are not in silly debt, the league should leave private companies alone.... the only remit should be the ability to put 11 eligible players on the pitch.  Come on QPR... fight it and win for all our sakes.

But thats the point, what is silly debt? one clubs £173M in debt to another £173M in debt could destroy one club and give the other the championship.
Where do you draw the line? Bolton for example are £173m in debt and man Utd £275M

[Riversider]

If , as I suspect, Tony Fernandes clears off at the end of the season, you can bet your bottom dollar that a massive fine and massive problems are coming their way,
The QPR storey this summer will prove to be a much bigger storey than that witnessed at both Portsmouth and Leeds,
When Hughes was at QPR, Fernandes revealed grand plans for a state of the art training complex, to this day its never been started, and as for a 40,000 all seater stadium Hahahahahahahaha you can forget that !
If they are allowed into The Championship (which may not happen) they will do very well to stay up !

Couldnt happen to a nicer club.

[Oakeshott]

I don't see why the football authorities should be concerned with club debt at all, except perhaps to require a bond from each club at the start of each season which would be forfeited should the club be unable to complete its fixtures.

As with any business, competent suppliers only extend credit to football clubs to the extent that they regard as prudent, so there is a natural check on the level of debt that a club can run up. If a club is no longer able to service its debt, repay money when due, or pay its employees due to, for example, relegation, there are well established procedures for redress without the football authorities being involved in any way.

[MJG]

I don't see why the football authorities should be concerned with club debt at all, except perhaps to require a bond from each club at the start of each season which would be forfeited should the club be unable to complete its fixtures.

As with any business, competent suppliers only extend credit to football clubs to the extent that they regard as prudent, so there is a natural check on the level of debt that a club can run up. If a club is no longer able to service its debt, repay money when due, or pay its employees due to, for example, relegation, there are well established procedures for redress without the football authorities being involved in any way.

But clubs are different to say a high street shop. Its about being local, the fans, history. Checks and balances I would say need to be in place.

[Oakeshott]

But the "checks and balances" stiffle risk-taking. For every Portsmouth and Leeds who have had setbacks due in part to debt (and neither has gone out of business), there are success stories like us under MAF and Wigan for several years. The problem with FFP and/or football authorities' checks and balances on debt levels is that it will reduce the chance of success stories as well as setbacks. That is in part why both Watford and Bournemouth are already at very short prices to be relegated next season, and whoever joins them from the play-offs will be, too.

Apart from instances such as the Bradford fire and Hillsborough, which clearly belong to a quite different category, the only truly devastating impact on fans I can recall is Wimbledon, where a local club was literally uprooted and moved miles out of the area. By contrast, while they have had some dark years of late both Portsmouth and Leeds have had success, and remain local clubs.

[MJG]

But the "checks and balances" stiffle risk-taking. For every Portsmouth and Leeds who have had setbacks due in part to debt (and neither has gone out of business), there are success stories like us under MAF and Wigan for several years. The problem with FFP and/or football authorities' checks and balances on debt levels is that it will reduce the chance of success stories as well as setbacks. That is in part why both Watford and Bournemouth are already at very short prices to be relegated next season, and whoever joins them from the play-offs will be, too.

Apart from instances such as the Bradford fire and Hillsborough, which clearly belong to a quite different category, the only truly devastating impact on fans I can recall is Wimbledon, where a local club was literally uprooted and moved miles out of the area. By contrast, while they have had some dark years of late both Portsmouth and Leeds have had success, and remain local clubs.

Unless your are worried about europe there are no real FFP issues once you get promotion.

And would you say Portsmouth took the risk and it was a sucess?

The number of clubs going into admistration have reduced over the last few years and thats partly because of various FFP rules coming into force in the lower leagues.