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Financial fair play in football will result in sustainable dynasties

David Silva was astonishing for Man City.
Roar Pro
13th May, 2014
22

As Manchester United prepare to announce Louis Van Gaal as their next manager, I am reminded of the great Ajax team he controlled in the mid 1990s.

Champion Leagues winners in 1995 and runners up in 1996, the team was made up exclusively of home grown Dutch players – with the exception of Finnish playmaker Jari Litmanen and Nigerian Nwankwo Kanu.

Even more impressive was the fact that the majority of this team had come through the Ajax youth academy. Players such as Edgar Davids, Clarence Seedorf, Patrick Kluivert and Edwin van der Sar.

Ajax’s strong emphasis on developing youth ensures they are a continuing dynasty in European football.

In the blue half of Manchester, City are still in celebratory mood after clinching the English Premier League last Sunday. However, earlier in the week it emerged that sanctions could apply as result of breaking UEFA’s financial fair play rules.

Manchester City have failed to meet the requirements of limiting their financial loss between 2011 and 2013 to £37.2 million. The ramifications could be that City will have to play future Champions League campaigns with a smaller squad, a fine of £50 million and restrictions on their wages and transfers.

Is this enough of a punishment?

Certainly Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger does not think so. He believes that City should be thrown out of next year’s Champions League.

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Wenger is a strong believer in the concept of sustainability in football having successfully managed the Gunners’ costs during the construction of a new stadium in 2006. That is the core issue of financial fair play, sustainability. UEFA want clubs to be able to rely on its own revenue streams and not on rich benefactors like Manchester City and Chelsea do.

Chelsea have now had the benefit of Russian owner Roman Abramovich’s billions since 2003 but where does it leave them if he suddenly decides to pull out tomorrow?

In all those years how many top-class players have graduated to the first team from their youth academy? None.

That’s because Abramovich’s impatience in wanting instant success have left them without any continuity in management, like Manchester United had with Sir Alex Ferguson or Arsenal have with Wenger. All clubs like Chelsea and Manchester City know is buying players, not nurturing young players into their first team set up.

They have the resources to build a dynasty, to build a legacy for the club once they pass the mantle onto future owners, but they are uninterested.

Clubs like Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United and Bayern Munich may be elitists, and smaller clubs may have no hope of closing the gap, but these clubs have earned their position at the top. They have built dynasties over decades with a mixture of players brought through their youth system and players bought.

If financial fair play is a success I hope to see more Ajax Amsterdams than Manchester Citys in Europe’s elite competition.

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