[Archived] 1 Billion Pound Barrier Broke

[Dreams of 1995]

With the confirmation of Mustafi's transfer to Arsenal the total money spent on transfers in the PL has just reached an epic 1 billion pound. This transfer window has broken all sorts of records - transfer fees have ballooned. It makes you ask yourself how long clubs like us have before the ship sails too far ahead. How can a club compete with vast riches? With talk of Luiz going to Chelsea for 30million, Benteke with another 30million pound move, Pogba for 89 etc etc it's fair to say that transfer fees have reached a new level of absurdity.

Can you see the bubble burst? How long can such huge amounts of money be spent on players before eventually something gives? Do you think clubs like us, and those smaller than us, will soon be unable to compete with the top clubs of the Premier League? Money has been unfairly distributed since the incoming of Sky but this season has seen it increase ten fold, with the little man once again losing out.

[MGAndy]

Shearer 3.3 million

How much in today's money?

[Jock]

Shearer 3.3 million

How much in today's money?

To get him off Jack 100 million

Venkys would sell for 3.3 plus agents fee of 96.7 mill.

[windymiller7]

With the limited experience he'd had at the time, i'd say 15-20m. By the time we flogged him to Newcastle however, that 15m would be more like £80m i'm guessing.

[tomphil]

What price Ashley Ward in todays money ?

[old darwen blue]

What price Ashley Ward in todays money ?

Three shillings and sixpence

[J*B]

Transfer fees are simply inflated due to the value of players to clubs in marketing. Pogba is worth more than 89 million quid to United over 5 years.

[Atomicrover]

Pity they can't throw a measly £50,000 to that young nurse in Knowsley so she can get life-saving treatment for breast cancer in Germany

[Paul]

It's been broken for a long time. PL football will only survive in its current form as long as Sky see a return on investment and people keep shelling out huge sums for monthly subscriptions.

If or when the market collapses the fall for some clubs will be breathtaking.

[Beta Ray Bill]

I've posted this on Facebook...

Top flight transfer fees are likely to break £1bn this window. That doesn't include the wages of over paid prima donnas that even Jeremy Corbyn would struggle not to call wealthy.

So what could you get for £1bn ?

Ensure the pension deficit for 20,000 BHS workers is closed (and still have £250m left over); this safeguarding futures for individuals likely to have earned in a year what some players earn in a day.

Or maybe fund 22,000 extra nurses for a year. And as the transfer spend spirals upwards each year, this investment is easily sustainable.

If you're more into defence, how about 2 Royal Navy frigates built in British shipyards protecting jobs for those employed there?

Or perhaps build 40 new schools?

Or keep it in football, and it's 4 times the amount the FA is investing in grassroots improvements over the next 3 years. So basically 12 years of investment in just 12 weeks.

There is something seriously wrong with the state of football finances and the disconnect to the real world.

😠

[den]

With the limited experience he'd had at the time, i'd say 15-20m. By the time we flogged him to Newcastle however, that 15m would be more like £80m i'm guessing.

We had to break the British transfer record to sign him.

[elwaxo]

I think the powers that be within football have got it all wrong, they should be trying to create a sport that is an entertaining spectacle... Instead we have a handful of clubs dominate while everyone else rummages around to find the next players for them to sell on to the big boys later. Something like the NFL draft is needed where the worst teams get the first pick of the new players! I know the situations are different, but they should try and do something... I for one am falling out of love with football very fast!

[Norbert Rassragr]

Really, football is a dead man's sport. It's as fake as Lewis Hamilton, and has no roots in reality at the top levels. None of us can comprehend the wages, transfer fees and so on, the numbers are so huge. It's now just a toy or fashion accessory for Arab billionaires or glory supporting dimwits on facebook.

Rugby (both codes) is more my thing nowadays.

[onlyonejackwalker]

Abromovich has done a billion at Chelsea. I remember signing players for 20 grand. Bonkers.

[Norbert Rassragr]

Probably all one big washing machine for money.

[Paul]

Last night I was playing with our new BT YouView box - just been sent this after renewing our BT package. As an aside this gives, free, 42 PL games, all Champions League, plus some Europa League and FA Cup matches. The package seems a good deal but I doubt we will use it.

While I was playing the box was tuned to BBC 1 with BBC Sport showing a programme covering the transfer window. Danny Murphy and two others I didn't recognise. It was drivel. At 11.00pm there was a loud clunk and the screen behind the presenter, who jumped in "surprise," turned to the word "closed." I mean come on, an unprepared presenter on the BBC?

During the last week I've caught up with bits of 5 Live, including GM's good piece on 606. Much of what I heard was padding involving ex players who actually have nothing to say.

Dumbing down can be the only description of media broadcasting of football. In a desperate rush to maintain football ratings the BBC packs some schedules with nonsense. Sky seems to provide wall to wall analysis on everything from each match to the colour of jock straps in an effort to show huge viewing numbers to advertisers. BT live games aside seems to be largely low budget re runs.

Why can't we have some quality broadcasting? Some programmes which are must watch or listen to because of their quality and what they have to say? Who is really tackling the issues? No one.

With so much money sloshing around and the media perceiving it has much to lose by not broadcasting huge output what has actually been achieved is to reduce broadcast football to wallpaper, the sports equivalent of muzak.

[Mike E]

The only must-watch footy (all on Sky):

3pm-5pm on Soccer Saturday (if not stewards a game).

Any analysis by Souness.

MNF when it had Neville.

[Iceman]

We contributed £250 000 towards that £1billion