Football clubs must curtail their extravagant spending, says East Midlands MEP

Yesterday witnessed one of the single most extravagant days of spending in football history. With the £50 million outlay by Chelsea on Liverpool striker Fernando Torres and the hundred-plus other transfers that happened on transfer deadline day, I think we can safely say the spending madness truly returned (if it ever left) to football. The grand total of £134 million pounds is a figure I’m sure everyone will find horrifying, especially given the stark financial climate we are all facing at the moment.

What is more, even the richest clubs are struggling to maintain revenue and balance the books, with Chelsea – after having spent over £70 million on just two players – posting losses of, ironically, some £70 million over the past year.

Yes, these gigantic sums can bring intrigue and exhilaration for fans, but at what cost for the future direction of football and, indeed, sport more generally? How can these clubs justify such extravagant costs when it is the grassroots players in their respective communities who are in most need of investment? What is more, supporters are the biggest losers in all of this. Average ticket prices in the Premier League have risen well above the rate of consumer price inflation year on year for almost a decade now. And what do these loyal supporters get in return? The lucky ones may have new or improved stadia, but the rest watch on as the same elite clubs continue to dominate.

Clearly, even football’s governing bodies are gravely concerned.

Last week UEFA published a report containing an extraordinary statistic – half of all European professional football clubs are running at a loss, with one in five recording unsustainable deficits. What is more, the spiralling inflation of players’ and agents’ wages outstrips the increase in revenue clubs have witnessed with the increase in rights’ purchases – a situation that surely cannot continue indefinitely.

No sensible person is suggesting that we somehow levy transfers so clubs spend equally, but what we do need is an environment where smaller clubs can invest in infrastructure and training, as well as being able to at least compete with the bigger clubs in terms of expenditure.

It is time that we returned the focus of football’s elite clubs to promoting community outreach, improving grassroots infrastructure and looking after their supporters.