As Michel Platini has become increasingly bullish about his ‘financial fair play’ strategy which many see as targeted at the top English clubs, some fans of those clubs may feel they are justified in being paranoid. Uefa slapped a two match ban on Eduardo for diving: nothing wrong in that, except that many such offences are ignored. Then Fifa imposed a transfer ban on Chelsea for inducing a French player to break his contract and join them. Chelsea do, of course, have previous with Ashley Cole and some fans of other clubs welcomed the move.
As Michel Platini has become increasingly bullish about his ‘financial fair play’ strategy which many see as targeted at the top English clubs, some fans of those clubs may feel they are justified in being paranoid. Uefa slapped a two match ban on Eduardo for diving: nothing wrong in that, except that many such offences are ignored. Then Fifa imposed a transfer ban on Chelsea for inducing a French player to break his contract and join them. Chelsea do, of course, have previous with Ashley Cole and some fans of other clubs welcomed the move. But many Chelsea fans see it as part of an anti-English vendetta by the international football authorities. The fans suspect that these bodies resent the Premier League’s elite clubs for using wealthy owners’ money to entice the best talent. Poaching players doesn’t just happen in England. Fifa took similar action against Italy’s Roma four years ago and against a Swiss club in May. However, the global profile of the Premiership’s top four puts their player purchases under intense scrutiny.