What would you do to reform European football?

I agree in principle with everything you have written.

One thing I would add though would be the introduction of stricter controls covering the ownership of football clubs.

Banning owners with dodgy track records on human rights would be a start.

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Problem is that those are the people who tend to have the money.

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And ban those pesky players standing in front of the goals :wink:

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How would that help us? :wink:

That happens now though, and aren’t UEFA doing away with that?

I kind of expected that would be Perez next great idea, get rid of a defence and restrict the goalie to his line.

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Some very good points by @Kopstar. :clap:

My inputs regarding some of those points

Solidarity Payment: A lot of players become regulars and earn handsome wages even during their teens. It should be enforced after a player signs professional contract. Also, it should be enforceable till he is 25. Because after a period the contributions of the player himself and the most recent club/coaching team overwhelms that of his developing club/coaching team.

Education: There should be two-years custodianship period after a player is released. During this period the club will pay AND mentor the player for alternative profession. However, the priority should be sports related (physiotherapy, scouting) since that’s where the player’s heart is.

Broadcast Rights: 20% for competition pool and 20% for away team, why twice! And it looks exorbitant, in my view. I think 30% for the competition pool from where each away team can get their share is enough.

Players’ Taxes: Players should be the one paying the taxes, not their clubs. Clubs and players hiding, manipulating the tax returns should be severely punished (six points docked, six game ban). Clubs paying the taxes has been inflating the bills and led to the recent troubles.

UEFA Competition: Another reason for the recent troubles is the fact EL gives you peanuts while CL offers you a gold-pot. All money should be more evenly spread over all competitions. The bottom competition must not have less than half the money of the top competition.

Women’s Competitions:

  1. Broadcast deal for PL, CL etc. must also include broadcast of women’s games of certain stage (QF!!!).
  2. Clubs must provide the same, or at least equivalent, training facilities to women’s team.
  3. UEFA has to set up a 1 billion Euro fund to be spent
  • Over 10-12 years
  • From grassroot to top tire games
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This would actually increase the clubs bill and destroy the Ligue Un!

Not going to happen but I would go with something similar to what we had in the 90s.

Cup Winners Cup 24 Teams
Every European cup winner (or runner up) should be involved (at least in qualification stage).

Europa League 32 Teams
With one team from the very small leagues + 2 teams from all the other countries.

Champions League 32 Teams
2 teams from the bigger leagues but also every domestic European champion should be involved - it’s called the CL, right?

The two winners of the smaller competitions should qualify for next years CL.

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I miss the Cup Winners Cup.
I still feel the Europa league stuff is silly and unsustainable. Unless a benovalent mega sponsor can be found. Then again perhaps that can be said for the CWC however at least it’s romantic.

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It’s their money that is the root cause of the problem. i.e. inflated transfer fees and player wages.

Immediately after the Bosman ruling it looked as if some sanity might return to the transfer market. Unfortunately Abramovich came in with his hundreds of millions, closely followed by the Arab Sovereign wealth funds and transfer fee inflation went back into overdrive.

An effective FFP system would go a long way preventing their money from flooding into the game and distorting the market.

An effective system to exercise control over who may, and may not own a football club would serve to underpin that.

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In the UK at least, players pay income tax on their earnings. Clubs pay Corporation Tax on their profits.

Any attempt to evade tax, either by a club or individual players by means such as:

  • not telling HMRC about tax they owe (for example on business profits)
  • keeping business ‘off the books’ by dealing in cash and not giving receipts
  • hiding money, shares or other assets in an offshore bank account (‘offshore tax evasion’)

would be a criminal offence.

In many ways it echos the problem with the gap between Premier League and Championship.

Clubs are bankrupting themselves trying not to drop a level or get into the elite comp, whether that’s between CL and Europa or between the the top two tiers here.

I saw the other day that wages to turn over in the championship were 107%. That’s crazy, and it’s all because the prize of Premier League football is worth gambling the club on.

No club should be faced with financial ruin for getting relegated or dropping out of the CL. If they are then the money is not being distributed fairly.

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I think what @Iftikhar is getting at is the trend in football for players to expect clubs to cover the taxable part of their salary.

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Nice try, but still tax evasion and subject to criminal charges in the UK.

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Why would expecting the club to cover tax liability be evasion? The tax is still being paid.

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Have your say.

I’m pretty sure at the time of our flirtation with administration, RBS was nationalised, so we were kind of arms length owned by Government?

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Tax is deducted at source (PAYE). I don’t see the issue here.

I think what actually tends to happen is that clubs make their salary demands exclusive of tax. So Virgil might say I want 250k a week after tax, so the club ends up paying his his 250k and whatever he needs to cover his tax bill.

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