Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool manager has suggested if Financial Fair Play is no longer about revenues then club owners and Boards could spend a billion for tranfers.
On Monday the Court of Arbitration for Sport lifted the suspension imposed on Manchester City by UEFA’s club financial control body for breaching Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations.
The alleged breach was in relation to the overstatement of sponsorship revenue and the break-even information submitted to European football’s governing body for the period between 2012 and 2016 but CAS found most of the allegations were “either not established or were time-barred”.
Klopp insisted his objection was not against City themselves but on how the whole system would now operate.
He said:
“I don’t want them to lose money, it is just that if there are rules then I think that we all stick to it and not only some,” he said.
“If you say, ‘come on, forget it, we don’t have to look at what someone is spending’ then there will be people with a lot of money who will be very influential.
“It is not about revenues any more; if someone is ready to spend a billion a year of his own money then that is how it is.
“If you agree on a specific rule but open the gates so you can do whatever you want then we all have to find solutions for that.
“But when we agree on FFP – and that’s what we did – and you are not happy with FFP afterwards that makes no sense as well.
“There are some rules and we should try to stick to it.”
Klopp stated that he is not concerned about the consequences for Liverpool, who have kept within the guidelines and posted after-tax profits of £29m, £106m and £39m in the last three seasons.
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