If you were to walk into a supermarket and buy some fresh milk, you would find it weird if you could mutually agree with the cashier that the milk is going off today and you can have it for free.
It seems far-fetched, but this is the transfer policy for players in the A-League and by all accounts, it’s a shambles.
Earlier this week, Central Coast Mariners midfielder Daniel de Silva, 21, was a no-show at training in an ongoing row with the club in order to break his contract in search of a new home.
The Mariners are refusing to release the player under a mutual termination agreement to join another A-League side as he still has three years left on his contract in Gosford.
It’s a terribly flawed system that has been exploited for way too long. Over the last three seasons, eighteen players have suddenly cut their multi-year deals short to pick up a contract elsewhere in the middle of the season.
There were seven incidents in the season that had just passed with Dario Vidosic, Jacob Melling, Marcelo Carrusca, Peter Skapetis, Neil Kilkenny, Ben Warland and Jacob Poscoliero all crossing the floor.
(AAP Image/Hamish Blair)
The system gives all the bargaining power to the players and puts the clubs up against the wall when the clubs must be in control as the employers.
If a player wants to leave, the owning club makes absolutely nothing as they ‘mutually agree’ to terminate the contract.
They lose an important player while a rival doesn’t break a sweat to add another name to the books.
Is it fair that a club can lose one of their most important players mid-contract and not gain anything in return?
The Professional Footballers Australia (PFA) may get involved in support of De Silva and they are only doing their job inside the guidelines, but it’s about time we tightened them.
For a professional league, our policy on transfers is far from perfect. How can any club build for the future when the ‘mutual termination’ guillotine hangs menacingly ready to swipe down at any moment?
They were strict measures introduced by the FFA when the league was introduced in 2005 to prevent the clubs from putting their financial stability in turmoil. We’ve moved on since then to the point where some A-League clubs are turning a profit or breaking even.
In 2014 Melbourne Victory posted a $600,000 profit while that figure was more than doubled in the 2015 financial year at $1.5 million.
The other A-League clubs have shown they aren’t all fledgling financially with the Western Sydney Wanderers contributing to their refurbished Pirtek Stadium while the Central Coast Mariners are pursuing the possibility of becoming sole tenants of Central Coast Stadium.
The FFA were in talks with the PFA earlier this year to rubber stamp an intrA-League loan system which would allow A-League clubs to loan players to rivals across the country which is a step in the right direction.
But we want our A-League clubs to run and conduct business like real football clubs. It would give clubs more bargaining power, more avenues for recruitment instead of waiting to jump onto the freight train and most importantly, give clubs the chance to stay competitive.
However, a free market transfer system isn’t the way to go. While there are clubs that are advancing in terms of financial stability some still have some way to go. While paying a transfer fee is half the deal, paying wages is the other.
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But we have to start somewhere.
In my opinion, while we have are scouting an intrA-League loan system, experimenting with an intrA-League and domestic transfer system is definitely an arrangement that can be introduced.
Introducing an all-tier, all-encompassing A-League and NPL transfer policy amidst the capacity of the salary cap and respective revenues of the A-League clubs is a must.
Loan with option to buy deals and 50% ownership agreements like in Italy’s Serie A are ways in which you can introduce a modest system that doesn’t create a monopoly of talent at the top.
If we are to take the league seriously clubs have to be able to conduct serious business and that means they get to cut the ribbon when crucial decisions have to be made.
Nemesis
Guest
The FFA's Annual Report for 2017 was released a while ago. I downloaded the .pdf file before Christmas 2017. The FFA's new TV deal commenced on 1 July 2017. This means nothing about the new TV deal should appear in the FY2017 Report, since the FY2017 Report refers to the Year: 1 July 2016-30 June 2017.
Arto
Guest
Not sure you can say the PFA has no interest in this - just check out some of John Didulica's comments on the transfer of players recently. Whilst I'll admit he hasn't unequivocally stated that transfer & loan fees should be introduced, he is on record as saying the whole system needs to be changed so that we get an improvement on the current problems...
Huddo
Guest
they were contributing very little to his wages so no, they wont get more out of it
MQ
Guest
The circulation of such small parcels of money between the clubs, a bit like pass the parcel, I'm not sure it makes a huge difference and whether it's even worth the paperwork. By the way, a compensation system already applies in relation to players recruited from NPL clubs (admittedly, it's a pretty small fee). I do agree that over time, with 16 team 1st and 2nd divisions, and no salary cap, that a delineation between buying and selling clubs will emerge, and the really poor clubs would certainly be able to stay afloat on the back of selling their best players to the stronger clubs.
MQ
Guest
In latest transfer news, Milos Degenek has just signed for FK Crvena zvezda ( Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда). FK Crvena zvezda Verified account @crvenazvezdafk 9h9 hours ago Miloš Degenek je potpisao trogodišnji ugovor sa Crvenom zvezdom! #fkcz
MQ
Guest
I'm not sure when this came out, but just came across the FFA's annual report for 2017. Some good news. Annual operating revenue is up $2 mill and the operating surplus before distributions is up $700k to $32 mill. I expect they would have recorded half a season of the increase in broadcast revenue from the new deal.
Oldpsyco
Guest
How can any competition pretend to be concerned about integrity when they allow ANY player to play for more than one team during the competition. NO player should be allowed to compete for more than one team in any competition. No wonder fans are losing faith in those governing the sport!
Barca4life
Guest
Just introduce a transfer/loan system and remove the salary cap and move with how it’s done around the world. Move towards a free market and these things will won’t be prevelent as much as now.
Eamon Stocker
Roar Rookie
Clubs can negotiate this type of fee (sell-on fee) themselves anyway though - I'd say that's what a lot of them do, at least the ones who don't terminate their players' contracts.
Lionheart
Guest
oh come on, all those youngsters Arnie's been developing, grooming for SFC's future over the past few seasons, they're just primed to step up aren't they?
Nemesis
Guest
Good points, Brendo. You're right. Whenever you alter an input of for any industry, you can impact the entire ecology. In relation to clubs not having incentive to recruit players when they move past the "development levy" age, I wrote another opinion piece 18 months ago which might help. :-) https://www.theroar.com.au/2017/12/28/league-can-remove-salary-cap-keep-things-even/ Also, I doubt any ALeague clubs recruit players today with the hope of onselling for a hefty Transfer Fee. They usually only sign young players on 1-2 year deals so the time value erodes quickly and the Time Value is the only real reason we have Transfer Fees.
Lionheart
Guest
of course it's worth it, $50K is a lot of money to many clubs, not just A League but also NPL. I'd even say $10K is a good starting point for some players. I still think there will be a lot of no fee transfers as clubs will always want to release some players under our capped player numbers system.
Mark
Guest
Yep. The figures thrown around Europe can warp outlet sense of reality about what is and isn’t a good fee. $800k for a player in our league who was acquired for free and is reaching his mid 30s is very good business.
At work
Roar Rookie
$50k for a club like CCM would allow them to fly and accommodate at least 2 more support staff on away matches, something currently I bet they can't afford.
Aethelbert
Guest
In Han Berger we trust.
Redondo
Guest
Pretty tough for Corica losing all that talent in his first year.
Nemesis
Guest
"Of those 170 players, only a handful resulted in a transfer fee back to an A-League club." I haven't fully analysed every Player Transfer, but my guess would be that an insignificant percentage of players who move clubs - either within a country, or cross border transactions - attract a Transfer Fee.
MQ
Guest
That's another point in itself, if we are talking about parcels of $50k circulating between all ten or twelve clubs, you have to wonder whether it's truly worth it.
AGO74
Guest
Tend to agree. You also get a sense of players true colours when these issues emerge. Adrian was happy to take a 3 year contract and the certainty that this provide a +30 y.o. player . He has a very good season for which we as Sydney fans are all forever grateful for and then wants to completely re-write his contract and if that doesn't happen wants out for bigger paying options elsewhere. If he'd bombed in the A-League this season or even worse got injured, I'm pretty sure he'd have been making sure Sydney play him. Ninkovic when in a similar situation two years ago was offered a mega bucks deal by a middle eastern club. Sydney refused to play ball and said you have to honour your contract. Whilst Ninkovic wasn't happy, he sucked it up and ended up winning Johnny Warren medal. Its not easy and I can empathise with Adrian to some extent but there's also a way to do it. Some of his conduct in last few weeks especially with his uncryptic tweets has been lacking. We will miss Bobo - but he is 33. $800k is a good return assuming that number is true. Boy oh boy though - we now have a few big holes to fill. Fingers crossed for good recruits but I'm confident given Sydney's recruiting in recent years that we'll get it right.
Brendo
Guest
Interesting ideas Nemesis I wonder what some of the consequences would be (there are always downstream changes when you take such a different approach). If there is a little value in signing a 18/19 year old what is the incentive to play them ahead of say a 25 year hardened journey man, would we see less clubs taking a punt on younger players? In saying that you might find some clubs taking risks on longer term contracts for 18/19 years to protect their investment in them. It would certainly change the way some of the bigger clubs operate. There would be no incentive at all signing lots of 18 year olds and then loaning them out for development to lower league clubs in the hope of a pay day in future transfer fees. Whether this would be a positive only time would tell. I love the development levy though, the current system provides no reward to club to invest in juniors. Your system would see a lot of money flowing back to the grassroots and would really encourage clubs to invest in their junior development programs.