Wenger on money

[wigginhall]

I don't usually read stuff about money in football, but I thought Wenger's points are interesting.   Obviously, transfer fees and salaries are going through the roof, and the number of clubs who can win trophies seems to be shrinking.   I think six have won the Premiership title in 25 years.

I know there is still some unpredictability in games, for example, Swansea have just beaten Arsenal and Liverpool.   

However, I can't see any solution.  If rich people want to buy a club, who is going to stop them?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/42916936

[Rhiannon]

Wenger is correct. Anomalies such as the Leicester win aside, the money boys have it sewn up. The Neymar deal took things to another level and the financial fair play rules are regularly got round.

My guess is that the Champions’ League will be replaced by some exclusive elite league within five years. How that will affect the domestic leagues remains to be seen.

[wigginhall]

I still enjoy watching it on TV, and I like the foreign players.   But the little clubs get battered - for example, my local club, Fulham have a brilliant kid at the moment, Sessegnon, and everybody knows that he will be gone very soon to a bigger club.   Well, that always happened, of course, but now the big clubs are like hoovers, sucking up any talent.   Actually, there are two Sessegnons, I think I am talking about Ryan. 

[Rhiannon]

Yes, the divide is getting bigger.

Talking today with the kids about the erasure of history, White Hart Lane will be called The Whatever Stadium according to who can pay the most. The connection between Hotspur and the white hart emblem goes back to medieval times, but there’s no money in that.

[jeremyp]

I don't usually read stuff about money in football, but I thought Wenger's points are interesting.   Obviously, transfer fees and salaries are going through the roof, and the number of clubs who can win trophies seems to be shrinking.   I think six have won the Premiership title in 25 years.

I know there is still some unpredictability in games, for example, Swansea have just beaten Arsenal and Liverpool.   

However, I can't see any solution.  If rich people want to buy a club, who is going to stop them?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/42916936

There are probably only three teams in the EPL capable of putting up a serious challenge to win it more than once (maybe two if Abramovich has lost interest) and it all comes down to money. Even if a lesser club does well - as Leicester did - all it means is that their talented players get noticed and then bought by larger clubs. The main reason Leicester crashed so badly after their title winning year was that several of their key players were enticed away. Only Jamie Vardy put his club before money.

[Rhiannon]

There are probably only three teams in the EPL capable of putting up a serious challenge to win it more than once (maybe two if Abramovich has lost interest) and it all comes down to money. Even if a lesser club does well - as Leicester did - all it means is that their talented players get noticed and then bought by larger clubs. The main reason Leicester crashed so badly after their title winning year was that several of their key players were enticed away. Only Jamie Vardy put his club before money.

And Mahrez, surely?