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City pressure could get United into trouble
Manchester United could be the latest club facing sanctions relating to Financial Fair Play (FFP) because of their debt amount of £350 million. UEFA governing body confirmed that they could make debt reduction part of a change to the existing rules. The body is set to meet to discuss changes to FFP with pressure mounting from clubs like Manchester City to view debt accumulation on par with book-balancing.
City were fined for breaching FFP regulations with their squad strength for the UEFA Champions League campaign limited to 21. Club chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak has said the following in May:
“We have zero debt. We don’t pay a penny to service any debt. For me, that is a sustainable model. However, our friends at Uefa seem to believe otherwise. They have their view, we have ours.”
United, on the other hand spent over £150 million in the summer on the acquisition of six new players but are in no danger of going City’s way with a revenue of £433.2 million announced last month with a profit of £23.8 million for 2013-14. That, however is likely to fall next time around due to the transfer market expenditure.
The debt, however is a different story altogether. Bought by the Glazer family in 2005 with a loan of £790 million, the last 9 years has seen revenues being siphoned to pay the amount off. Fans have been protesting against the American owners for years with the Green and Gold being the symbol of the LUHG (Love United Hate Glazers) campaign.
City are likely to push for debt to be taken into account in any future amendments.
UEFA’s general secretary, Gianni Infantino said:
“We’re now focused on losses and to repay the debt is part of the loss that the club can make at the end of the season. But, certainly, the question of debt is something that can be put on the table.”
Change in Champions League seeding rules
UEFA recently announced a change in the Champions league seedings which will now give priority to individual league champions over consistency in the competitions.Arsenal, who had been benefiting from the old rules were placed in Pot 1 despite finishing fourth in the Premier League while champions Manchester City found themselves in a group with the Russian and German league winners.
According to the new rules, the title holders and the champions of the top 7 leagues – Spain, England, Germany, Portugal, Italy, Russia and France will be placed in Pot 1 thereby avoiding each other in the group stage.
