Why doesn't the Premier League...

[StonehamPark]

...have a wage and transfer cap?

Might just be me, but I'd take much more interest in the Premier League if each team were on a level playing field with the same wage and transfer budget at the start of the season.

1. Could this ever happen?
2. Would this make the Premier League better (for supporters/viewers)?
3. Why aren't these rules currently in place?

 

[Dorset Seagull]

Because they would all just go and play somewhere where there wasn't a wage cap

 

[seagully]

Because they would all just go and play somewhere where there wasn't a wage cap

This. It would have to be a FIFA directive for all leagues which I can never see happening.

 

[Cheeky Monkey]

As I always say, some form of the American draft system across all four divisions would be a great leveller. Would never happen, but it would be great to think that Man Utd etc. could one day end up in the bottom division while Bury et al hit the Premiership heights.

 

[beorhthelm]

As I always say, some form of the American draft system across all four divisions would be a great leveller.

but unlike American sports, we don't have anything to "draft" from and English football doesn't exist in a bubble. it would be a leveller, to the lowest quality players as anyone decent would leave to Europe.

 

[GT49er]

The players, their agents and the PFA would successfully challenge the legality any wage cap in the courts in Brussels.

 

[Lawson]

you would need unilateral action on the part of all football leagues otherwise La Liga, Bundesliga and Seria A would quickly overtake the Premier league where they could earn more money and play top football. in america it only works because their most prominent sports have no international competitors, basketball, baseball and american football, the only one that does have some lesser competitors is ice hockey and the wage cap led to the cancellation of the league one year as the players association went on strike and all the players went to Europe for a year.

 

[MattBackHome]

Doesn't the Prem version of FFP limit the overall wagebill to a proportion of turnover? Which is a sort of limit. Unless I'm talking total bollocks.

 

[TomandJerry]

Because its the BEST league in the world

 

[Surrey_Albion]

Because it is a corrupt, money making, commercial, media endorsed, rip off of a league.

 

[Guy Fawkes]

A better question would be why do clubs agree to pay players so much?

If they are running at a loss then why agree to wage demands that will endanger they future? It's really only the top 6 or so that are challenging for European football and can afford the better players, so why do teams who are aiming for say 9th to 14th spend so much just to stay in the division without having a relegation battle to fight or a top 6 to worry about.

The teams fighting relegation should also be more sensible as the prospect of relegation should mean that they have one eye on that when signing new players and therefore be wary of paying players some of the sums being quoted in the past (Ben Haim at Pompey £80kk pw.)

There is too much greed shown by too many clubs trying to achieve sometime they can't really afford in the way they approach it, should all those clubs take a more sensible approach to wages, then costs will come down (and possibly make it more affordable to fans again)

Do lower top flight teams in Europe really play as much as say a Newcastle or Stoke for the same standard of player?

 

[bn1&bn3 Albion]

It would need be a world wide cap set by FIFA, otherwise players will just move elsewhere..

 

[slartibartfast]

A better question would be why do clubs agree to pay players so much?

If they are running at a loss then why agree to wage demands that will endanger they future? It's really only the top 6 or so that are challenging for European football and can afford the better players, so why do teams who are aiming for say 9th to 14th spend so much just to stay in the division without having a relegation battle to fight or a top 6 to worry about.

The teams fighting relegation should also be more sensible as the prospect of relegation should mean that they have one eye on that when signing new players and therefore be wary of paying players some of the sums being quoted in the past (Ben Haim at Pompey £80kk pw.)

There is too much greed shown by too many clubs trying to achieve sometime they can't really afford in the way they approach it, should all those clubs take a more sensible approach to wages, then costs will come down (and possibly make it more affordable to fans again)

Do lower top flight teams in Europe really play as much as say a Newcastle or Stoke for the same standard of player?

Why do they indeed? However, when they do refuse, many vocal fans complain about lack of signings, lack of "investment", poor transfer negotiations etc ... you only have to look at the Albion boards of a few weeks back to see this very phenomenon.

 

[drew]

...have a wage and transfer cap?

Might just be me, but I'd take much more interest in the Premier League if each team were on a level playing field with the same wage and transfer budget at the start of the season.

1. Could this ever happen?
2. Would this make the Premier League better (for supporters/viewers)?
3. Why aren't these rules currently in place?

Why do they need to attract your interest? No disrespect but the PL is a very successful league in terms of finance so they don't need you or me to buy into it. Also, since the abolition of the maximum wage, the top flight has never been a level playing field. Have you never had any interest in the Premier League or the old first division?

 

[El Presidente]

...have a wage and transfer cap?

Might just be me, but I'd take much more interest in the Premier League if each team were on a level playing field with the same wage and transfer budget at the start of the season.

1. Could this ever happen?
2. Would this make the Premier League better (for supporters/viewers)?
3. Why aren't these rules currently in place?

Clubs are privately owned companies, why should they care about someone on the internet?

 

[sir albion]

Because its the BEST league in the world

According go sky naturally...most prem matches are as boring as fack,prefer the bundesliga myself.

 

[nwgull]

Why do they indeed? However, when they do refuse, many vocal fans complain about lack of signings, lack of "investment", poor transfer negotiations etc ... you only have to look at the Albion boards of a few weeks back to see this very phenomenon.

Great point. Some fans were demanding that we pay top whack for average players just to have them signed and in the squad by the first game of the season.

 

[dejavuatbtn]

Because its the BEST league in the world

It may be for the armchair fan who just want entertainment. For fans of most clubs it is somewhere they will never aspire or get to without going broke in the process.
Whilst I would never sanction a return to the pre 1960s when players and fans were taken to the cleaners by unscrupulous directors who treated the whole thing as an old boys' club that made them loads of money, it did at least represent the local population, and supported the British national teams with top class players. The way British football has changed over the past 50 years has, in my overall opinion, not been for the better. I don't expect younger people to comprehend this as they cpuld have no idea of just what it was like in those days.