Yo Kass answered
For many people (mainly Manchester City fans), increased investment in football is a wonderful thing. For others, all sporting competitiveness has been taken out of the game by an uneven financial playing field.
How does money effect football? To decide whether money is ruining football, I'd suggest looking at the role money plays in football overall. As much as we might hate it, sports and money are inseparable. There is no way that competitive sports would be able to continue to the level we enjoy them today without funding for facilities, training, wages and all the other overheads that running a football club incur.
On the other side of the coin, the pumping of too much money into football does has negative effects. Player and staff wages become inflated, the cost of running a football club soon spirals out of control, and financial gain becomes the main operating objective of a club (often at the cost of things like sportsmanship or community spirit).
Money and the ugly effects it can have on football The main qualms I have with the way money has effected football is in terms of player wages. Player wages for the 2011-12 Premier League season reached a record £1.6 billion pounds. This represents a 70% wages to revenue ratio, a figure that would be completely untenable in any other business.
High wages also eats away at the integrity of the game meaning that football has been ruined by money. Players are no longer loyal to their clubs, but act more like mercenaries constantly vying for a larger pay cheque.
The way big private investors and owners pump their own private funds into individual clubs makes the situation even worse. It means that teams like Manchester City or Paris Saint Germain are able to pay over the odds wages (sometimes in excess of £200,000 a week) to attract the most talented players. This leaves teams with more modest budgets picking up players from the 'leftovers pile'.
FIFA (the football governing body) will be implementing new 'financial fair play' regulations in the coming seasons, but personally I am sceptical that those in power will risk rocking a boat that has proved so profitable for them up till now.
How does money effect football? To decide whether money is ruining football, I'd suggest looking at the role money plays in football overall. As much as we might hate it, sports and money are inseparable. There is no way that competitive sports would be able to continue to the level we enjoy them today without funding for facilities, training, wages and all the other overheads that running a football club incur.
On the other side of the coin, the pumping of too much money into football does has negative effects. Player and staff wages become inflated, the cost of running a football club soon spirals out of control, and financial gain becomes the main operating objective of a club (often at the cost of things like sportsmanship or community spirit).
Money and the ugly effects it can have on football The main qualms I have with the way money has effected football is in terms of player wages. Player wages for the 2011-12 Premier League season reached a record £1.6 billion pounds. This represents a 70% wages to revenue ratio, a figure that would be completely untenable in any other business.
High wages also eats away at the integrity of the game meaning that football has been ruined by money. Players are no longer loyal to their clubs, but act more like mercenaries constantly vying for a larger pay cheque.
The way big private investors and owners pump their own private funds into individual clubs makes the situation even worse. It means that teams like Manchester City or Paris Saint Germain are able to pay over the odds wages (sometimes in excess of £200,000 a week) to attract the most talented players. This leaves teams with more modest budgets picking up players from the 'leftovers pile'.
FIFA (the football governing body) will be implementing new 'financial fair play' regulations in the coming seasons, but personally I am sceptical that those in power will risk rocking a boat that has proved so profitable for them up till now.
