I have been enraged by the continuing disrespectful way that the players of Barcelona are seeking to create a crisis at Arsenal over our contracted player. The latest attempt by the Catalans has failed and why Arsenal Football Club do not make an official complaint to UEFA over the manner in which players have been making comments which are clearly designed to coerce our Captain to demand a transfer to the Nou Camp. The Barcelona players are agents of the club and as such they should have received instructions from the Barcelona lawyers not to make statements to the media which may hold the club responsible for being found in breach of the rules. Unofficial contact with a player from another club under contract is punishable by a wide range of sanctions. Why Arsenal Football Club have not made an official complaint is bewildering from our point of view.
This kind of player coercion happens in our own Premier League, Arsenal have already been the victims of Steven Gerrard who allegedly managed to attract Joe Cole to Liverpool from under our noses whilst on England World Cup duty, despite there being a pre-contractual agreement with the player. They have been other cases where players of clubs have made comments at press conferences that would have placed their own managers in breach of the regulations had they themselves made the same comments. So when the likes of Xavi, Puyol, Messi, Iniesta have allegedly made comments which may have been intended to have the effect turning Cesc’s head, FC Barcelona should be fined and banned from the transfer market for at least four transfer windows as a sanction. I hope that Ivan Gazidis decides to act, given that he has recruited some high power legal help. It is not to be forgotten that Barcelona are a club in debt, and even if they have secured a 150 million euro loan to prevent them sliding towards administration and or bankruptcy, one wonders if the new scrutiny of clubs participating in the Champions League will be used to make an example of them in season 2012/13.
I cannot see how they will be able to extract themselves from this huge debt in time for that season. The licensing rules will oblige them to break even over a three year period. Barcelona’s wages to turnover ratio is currently 63% and once it exceeds 70%, it will be Buenos Nochos Amigo! Even if the Catalans technically break even in three seasons time, the deficit must not be more than 5 million euros over the thre preceding seasons. Given that their debt is well over 350 million euros they will have outstanding debts to tax authorities and outside clubs in the form of transfer payments which will come to bite them. These “payables” will affect many clubs who pay for the transfer of player registrations in small instalments. The regulations can be found in the UEFA document published in June, if you really want some heavy bedtime reading it can be accessed here
Within this mighty tome are really important clauses that should make the likes of Manchester City’s blood run cold, if it thinks that it can enter the Champions League with it’s current spending policy.
Article 50 states
The licence applicant must prove that as at 31 March preceding the licence season it has no overdue payables (as defined in Annex VIII) towards its employees or social and tax authorities as a result of contractual and legal
obligations towards its employees that arose prior to the previous 31 December.
Article 62 states
In addition, the Club Financial Control Panel reserves the right to ask the licensee to prepare and submit additional information at any time, in particular if the annual financial statements reflect that:
a) employee benefits expenses exceed 70% of total revenue; or b) net debt exceeds 100% of total revenue.
At my last look, Manchester City’s wage to turnover ratio was about 94%…lol Arsenal is comfortably below 53% and the exact figure will be known soon at the future AGM in several weeks time.
Barcelona is already having problems paying it’s players, so soon it will have to conduct a firesale of existing player assets or find a means of increasing club revenues. Neither seem attractive given the current economic climate affecting the Spanish banking system. Why then would Cesc Fabregas go to a club with such major financial problems on the horizon? Purely and simply because no-one in Spain believes that a club as mighty as FC Barcelona could ever be allowed to go bust. There is the view that some wealthy catalan billionaire benefactor will come riding Don Quixote style destroying the UEFA windmills which have been built to threaten the Spanish home of pure football. Frankly they are in denial and this bail out seems less probable given the way that ownership of Barcelona is currently organised.
So please do not fall into the trap of booing our captain this season He is no Adebayor, He is a young person who has been subject to incredible emotional blackmail from his future club, and yes he will join Barcelona, but at a time of Arsene Wenger’s choosing not before. He has also had to put up with the influence of his family, as well as the Barcelona fans. I am absolutely certain that Cesc Fabregas will be entirely professional and commit himself absolutely to Arsenal Football club. When he pulls on the captains armband he will give as ever 100%. I firmly believe that if you the fans demonstrate your support for Fabregas and prove that we want him to stay, then once the season starts, we will get the best from him. He remains a Gunner and will be an Arsenal player. Fabregas WE LOVE YOU!
Rant over!!!
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