Turmoil is not just an American phenomena

by Dave Clark on Oct 11, 2009 9:55 AM PDT in Other Professional Soccer (non-Sound)

While I have been focusing on the issues that are facing the lower tiers of the American soccer system recently, please let's all remember that our issues here are not as bad as in other places.

In Scotland the Old Firm are constantly making noise about leaving the SPL and SFA for the supposedly greener patches in England. This is both an attempt to find more money (remember that the SPL lost its major TV money) and to woo more talent so that they can again compete in Europe effectively. It is notable though that there are no suggestions within the EPL that they are wanted. Not as members of the full EPL, nor as part of a newly created EPL2 at least not for several months.

But the Premier League itself also has issues. Most revolving around massive debts that its clubs have taken on in efforts to win Cups both on the island and the continent. These debts are so big that Portsmouth is eating up owners like the drunk targets Moons Over My Hammie at Denny's early Sunday morning. And yet they are still threatened with Administration on an already awful club. When two different Arab owners can't save the club things are certainly problematic.

Incredibly, eight of the Premier League's 20 clubs are vulnerable to takeovers or are in the process of being sold off.

Arsenal, Birmingham, Blackburn, Everton, Hull, Liverpool, Portsmouth and West Ham face uncertain futures.

In exchange for the prestige of owning a team at the top of football's pyramid, foreign owners take on a mountain of debt.

Premier League clubs are in hock to the tune of £2.8bn, with Manchester United servicing their £700m loans with annual interest payments of £60m.

It is for reasons like this that the mutterings about salary caps and roster limits are gaining popularity within European soccer, because outside of the Big Four (+City) in the EPL this is not a sustainable model, and eventually prospective owners will disappear. It no longer makes any business sense to own an EPL squad, which is why you see so many getting out of the ownership game.

Tottenham actually now has a self cap imposing that the highest paid players on their club will only make about 5.8M US$ annually. If that doesn't seem like much, that's because it isn't. In fact a certain MLS player is making that much right now, and it has been reported that TFC's de Guzman also passed that mark. With their self-imposed cap they have still finished in the top 10 of the EPL 4 of the last 5 years.

It is key to remember that while the CBA and roster rules are in flux for MLS, the financial climate has effected leagues at every level, in every nation. While MLS has become stronger during the crisis, they may be the "best" league to do so.

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Dave, what does that mean for a league like MLS? In college football their used to be no roster limits and teams like USC, Notre Dame, etc., used to stockpile talent and have hundreds of players on the roster. The 7th string tailback at USC was better than the 1st string back at other Pac 10 schools.

Now, of course, there is an 85 scholarship limit and talent is more spread out.
If there were a cap in European leagues, would this spread out players to a league such as MLS?

by Coug1990 on Oct 11, 2009 11:13 AM PDT reply actions

I think that a roster cap (max number of players per Senior/Reserve/Academy teams) is the most likely scenario and it should eventually find its way down to MLS, similar to how for college football it eventually found its way down to a Boise State.

MLS is in a unique position right now. They are a solid investment and I think we will find that many more teams turned a profit than most thought would, particularly when monies from SUM are included.

The BBC Football Blog has more on the Old Firm’s move idea.

by Dave Clark on Oct 11, 2009 11:19 AM PDT up reply actions

Making the MLS a better and more repected league is a good thing. With continued expansion, it does dilute the talent level somewhat or makes it tougher for the existing teams to go out and find talent.
If European teams did not raid the MLS as much or if MLS becomes a destination for the lower level European level player, MLS just gets more exciting. If that occurs, maybe it wins over more of the American football fans that only follow European leagues.

by Coug1990 on Oct 11, 2009 11:30 AM PDT reply actions

Coug, I don’t believe that MLS expansion has dilluted the talent level.

1 – there are dozens of unused international slots at this time
2 – there are still Americans and Canadian playing in insignificant leagues in Europe (B-2, League One, Norway, etc)
3 – top USL players are as good as middling MLS players
4 – the academies are starting to produce talent
5 – 3 of the next 4 expansion sides will be like Seattle leaning heavily on their USL sides.

by Dave Clark on Oct 11, 2009 11:33 AM PDT up reply actions

Let me qualify what I meant and I could be wrong here because I only started watching MLS this year, so correct me if I am wrong.
I think that expansion does dilute the existing MLS player pool in this way. There were 11 starting roster spots that weren’t there last year and there will be 11 next year and 22 the year after.
Now, there is more than enough talent worldwide if you go out and find it like SSFC has shown. But, in my limited knowledge of MLS history, there have been some teams that haven’t went out or put much effort in finding that talent.
So, instead of going out and finding an international like Leo Gonzalez or a USL player like Osvaldo Alonso like SSFC has done, other teams just haven’t for whatever reason.
For example, SJ lost James Riley to Seattle in the expansion draft. He has been an integral part of the leagues best defense here. Did SJ scour the earth to find a replacement that was better?

by Coug1990 on Oct 11, 2009 11:54 AM PDT reply actions

Sir Alex Ferguson is warning that a major club is about to go the way of WaMu or Lehman Brothers.

"That is exactly what was happening in the business world two years ago. There were warning signs and everyone knew there were, yet they carried on because it was so easy to access loans.

"In the football world you say to yourself the warning signs are there, but nobody seems to be bothering about it. You wonder where it’s going to go and what is going to happen if one major club are to go, to collapse."

He’s talking a G-14 club, or one of the upstarts (City). There are clubs that have debt loads that are unreal. Debt loads that if they weren’t in sports, they would not be allowed. If a Champions League quarterfinalist goes under, pulling a Leeds/Newcastle would that get UEFA and Platini the roster &/or salary cap that they want?

by Dave Clark on Oct 17, 2009 10:15 AM PDT reply actions