THE TRUE COST OF FINANCIAL FAIR PLAY

I FIND it ridiculous that a club like Middlesbrough are struggling at the bottom end of the Championship.

This is a club with a chairman in Steve Gibson who would happily spend his own money to fight for promotion. Unfortunately, Financial Fair Play rules mean he isn’t allowed.

We’ve already seen QPR fined a huge amount of money for breaking FFP rules.

Last season, Birmingham City were docked nine points.

How can a club be fined and sanctioned because an owner wants to invest his own money in the business? It’s ludicrous.

If I’m a multi-billionaire and I want to go and buy my team – Bolton Wanderers – and I’m happy to lose money to make them great, that’s my right.

That’s what business is. You have to be prepared to make an up-front loss to make a long-term gain. If you aren’t allowed to make that loss in the first place, how is the business going to grow?

People talk about the clubs that struggle, but what about the ones that thrive? Lots of clubs are exceptionally run and successful.

Look at the small clubs in the Premier League. At the moment, you’ve got Crystal Palace, Bournemouth, Sheffield United, Burnley and Brighton. In terms of fanbase and infrastructure, they shouldn’t be there.

With the exception of Sheffield United, they’ve all held their own for several years, much like Bolton did a few years ago.

Why? Because they invested up front, took the losses, built slowly and were sensible enough to say ‘This is what we are’. A club like Palace knows what it is, and so do the supporters. They don’t lose sight of what the club is capable of and demand more, more, more.

People see a couple of clubs in crisis and they think ‘Why would anyone get involved with a football club?’. But if you get involved and do things properly, you can make millions of pounds and bring a lot of happiness and success. All FFP does is prevent that happening.