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Glasgow Rangers went in to administration this week, providing one of the strongest arguments European football has made in years of the extraordinary benefits of a competition having a salary cap.
The obvious way to take this article would be to use it as an attack on the Gus Goulds of this world. You know, the types who use the argument that football clubs have their own administrative staff, boards and CEOs who should be intelligent and prudent enough with the club’s money to ensure they don’t overspend on players.
As much as £75 million in unpaid taxes certainly suggests the Rangers’ administrators could probably have had a ceiling placed on their player spending to ensure the basics, such as paying their taxes, were taken care of as well.
But instead, it’s the penalty Rangers will be handed from the Scottish Premier League that provides the stronger argument of the need for a salary cap.
The SPL will penalise Rangers 10 competition points as a result of going in to administration. In on-field achievements, that’s stripping them of three wins and a draw, taking them from 61 points for the season to 51.
If ever there was an argument for a salary cap, surely a club being stripped of ten competition points and consequently not only maintaining second place in the competition but also still having daylight as third is a damn strong one.
Compare what being stripped of equivalent points would do to any Aussie team placed second in any of our salary capped football codes.
Going in to round 21 of the A League, Brisbane Roar were in second spot with 35 points. If they were to be stripped of 10 points, they would free-fall out of the top six into seventh place, only clearing eighth placed Melbourne by goal difference.
In the AFL, season 2011 saw eventual premiers Geelong finish second on 76 points. If they were stripped of 14 points (the equivalent of three wins and a draw in the AFL) they would have finished the season on 62 points and thus, fourth on the table. Whilst it is impossible to argue they would not have gone on to win the premiership as they did, it would have been made that much harder as instead of playing Hawthorn in the opening week of the finals, they would have faced Collingwood.
As for the NRL, once again it was eventual premiers Manly who finished second on the ladder. Had Manly been stripped of seven points (NRL’s equivalent of three wins and a draw) their 40 points would instead have been 33, ending up in fourth place. Again, it is impossible to say what would have eventuated had this been the case but instead of facing the North Queensland Cowboys, whom they easily disposed of, Manly’s first week of finals would have been against Wayne Bennett’s Dragons.
Any sporting competition worth its salt is tightly contested, particularly at the pointy-end. When the second placed team in a competition is stripped of points worth three wins and a draw, the result shouldn’t mean they are further away from first place in points but not position. Particularly when, as is the case in the SPL, the top two teams at season’s end automatically qualify for the highly lucrative UEFA Champions League.
Of course anyone with a base knowledge of the SPL will not be surprised by this in the slightest. Since the formation of the SPL in 1998 there have been a grand total of two premiers – Rangers and Celtic.
This domination of football in Scotland dates back even further – the last time a team outside the Old Firm won the premiership in Scotland’s top league was Aberdeen in 1985.
As a result, even if you support any of the other ten teams competing in the SPL, the question of “who do you support” can only be answered one of two ways – Celtic or Rangers.
Imagine, for a moment, the reality of that in Australia.
A series of competitions in which only the two richest clubs ever had a chance at winning the competition, thus ensuring their own cycle of wealth by attracting the biggest sponsors, the most fans and the largest prize money.
As it stands the A League would only ever see Sydney FC or Melbourne Victory win – with Newcastle Jets occasionally popping up depending on how loose Nathan Tinkler’s purse strings were that year.
The NRL would simply be Canterbury against Brisbane – again depending on the Tink’s desire to win versus his desire to actually make money.
The AFL would be Collingwood against Carlton. Could you imagine the shame – half the AFL actually supporting Collingwood?
Happily, Australia’s respective football codes have a system which ensures the equal spread of talent. As a consequence, since the formation of the SPL in 1998, the NRL has had nine different premiers, the AFL have had ten and the A League (including premiers from the old NSL) have had eight.
Meanwhile the Old Firm of the SPL have dominated and even after one of these two teams has gone in to administration, tens of millions of pounds in debt and been docked ten points, there is no sign of the domination ending.
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