John Textor called for the Premier League spending rules to be relaxed at the FT Business and Football summit — or ditched altogether — so that rich owners can pump their own money into clubs and cut the gap with the top teams. He also wants a World Super League, although participants might be surprised by the facilities at Selhurst Park.
Textor’s Eagle Football Group owns Olympique Lyonnais, RWD
Molenbeek, Botafogo and is the largest shareholder in Crystal Palace. Textor
said spending limits stopped ambitious clubs from upgrading their squads in the
transfer market and amounted to “anti-competitive behaviour”. He cited the
example of Nottingham Forest’s billionaire owner Evangelos Marinakis. Forest
were charged by the Premier League earlier this year for breaching spending
rules.
“Has this really been a problem, that everyone is going
bankrupt? The sustainability issue is a fraudulent issue. Somebody shows up and
tells Marinakis, an incredible guy in terms of resources and assets . . . and
says we know you have [the money], but we’re worried about you Mr Marinakis.
Don’t spend it.”
He went on to say that linking spending to revenue would
merely make the Premier League less and less competitive and people would lose
interest.
“I’ve got to somehow find a way to put Crystal Palace
against Erling Haaland [of Manchester City]”, he said. “If you get an injury
you don’t get to pull a £15mn player off the bench you’ve got to take somebody
from your academy because you can’t afford to have that player on your bench.
That’s not sport. Is anyone really having fun with this?”
He added: “Don’t tell me if Leicester City can do it,
anybody can do it. It’s broken.”
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