Manchester City and the Consequences of Financial Fair Play

This week has been a tremendous one for Manchester City. The club has collected its second title win in three seasons, and certainly possesses some of the best players in Europe. With hugely wealthy owners, a very strong supporter base and an excellent stadium, everything appears to be hunky dory for the future of the club.

Except that it isn’t. The expense required to get City into a title challenging state has naturally resulted in the club making a massive loss. Previously this would have caused them no problems whatsoever, but given that UEFA have introduced its Financial Fair Play regulations which punish such excessive expenditure, things have changed rapidly.

City have been found in breach of Financial Fair Play. The latest indications are that the club will be heavily fined - around £50m - and the squad for the Champions League will be reduced from 25 players to 21. While City will undoubtedly appeal should this be the case, and may be successful in having such a punishment reduced or negated, there is no doubt that this is a potentially debilitating issue for the newly crowned league champions.

By the time that the lawyers are finished with this punishment, it may not be as severe. But the significance of this should not be understated. City are going to be seriously hamstrung in Europe next season, and additionally their ability to add to their existing playing squad could be seriously hampered. This may not seem like such a big deal considering their existing squad is already very strong, but this overlooks a serious issue at the Etihad.

Manchester City are in possession of an ageing squad. This might not have been noticed even by the most passionate supporters of the club, but it doesn’t take much for a squad to go a little over the hill both Manchester United and Barcelona have experienced that this season.

Key players at City are getting on a bit, or are slap bang in the middle of their prime. Yaya Toure is 31, Vincent Kompany 28, Zabaleta 29, David Silva 28, Fernandinho 29, Dzeko 28, Negredo 28, Milner 28, Kolarov 28, Clichy 28, Demichelis 34. This is a squad that is all going to arrive in its thirties at pretty much exactly the same time, and if the club can’t spend big to replace them...you don’t need to be Nostradamus to predict that this could be a major issue.

However, an interesting aspect of this whole issue is that City might have to prioritise the Premier League next season. Certainly they can say for certain that if the Fair Play punishment unfolds as expected that four of their major players will not make a European appearance next year.

This means that an already strong City squad, in with an excellent chance of retaining their Premier League title, suddenly become an even better shot at doing so. While Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal will all strengthen significantly in the summer, I certainly wouldn’t bet a great deal of my own money against City retaining their title next season.

But the long-term future of the club is far less certain. If UEFA make Financial Fair Play stick.

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13/05/2014     © Frixo 2026