The conundrum of football ..

[dubai camel]

And so the great conundrum of football financing faces BUFC.

Attendance down by 25% - due to economic situation & an average team = less budget.
(Though I suspect the economic situation applies less when a team is winning and more when is losing)

Less budget for 2012/13 = less than average team = attendance down further?

This is the conundrum of football, there is no right and wrong in many ways.
Leeds tried the gamble, threw money at it to get into the champions league, and it right royally blew up in their faces.
Spurs throw money at Redknapp and he may recoup some of it with Champions League qualification.

My instinct is that throwing money at the club without a guarantee to recoup it is - without a benefactor - a short ride to oblivion, lots of obvious cases come to mind.

Until the football authorities - at all levels - get a handle on the situation many more clubs will suffer as they take the gamble. Simply financial rules based on income and amount spent on wages etc that are strictly enforced is the only way forward. When will the FA and Premier League take the long view and sort it out.

'Fit and proper test' is easy. Give the chairman a sheepskin coat and cigar, stand him in a used car lot in Southend and ask a hundred punters if they would buy a Ford Focus from that man -  simple!

For BUFC with another decline in budget, much now rests on JL shoulders to find quality players cheaply or to be able to bring out the best in average players and young players - a true sign of a quality manager.

[Mickey Nuttells Hair]

When you say authorities get a handle on the situation, in what specific area?

From what I can see you can have a sugar daddy (with the relevant and proper checks against criminals/time wasters) and it not be a certainty to oblivion (Wigan anyone?) but really the issue that every club gets caught up in is players wages.

That is the significantly spiralling cost that has gone way above anything else.  Floodlights cost a bit more than they used to, Stewarding/policing a bit more, club staff a bit more and most other running costs (our ground rent apart!) move along at a steady pace.

Up and down the pyramid it's players wages which are the big drain (Rangers and Portsmouth just recently showing this with how critical a voluntary players wage cut was in any deal to save them) and you have to have players.  Look at the streams of talented youngsters sat on benches or in the stands because its more money to be a squad player at club A than it is to play 1st team football at club B.  Clearly players are not just going to take cuts that are putting their families at risk but if the gap at the top and as it drops down was reduced this would surely help?

So the question is how, if at all possible, can you reduce the average players wage through out the game?

[dubai camel]

Implement and enforce the % of wages quota.

Rugby union and league have a club salary cap, so do US professional sports.

[Maxross]

I'd like to see the percentage of club income plus a divsional cap introduced throughout.  Hopefully this would force clubs to live within their means. 

In theory it would also improve the standards of management and coaching as clubs would be forced to get the best from lower earning players rather than just splashing the cash when they want promotion or things go wrong.