SOS: Ligue 1 in Danger!!!!

By: Inara | February 1st, 2008

I woke up this morning to some very bad news. Chris emailed me to let me know of the momentous decision that took place yesterday, which is that a player under 28 years old can now buy out the last three years of his contract for the remaining salary he is owed by his club. A player under 28 can do so after only two years.

Chris describes this new “Webster Ruling” in far better detail than I’m capable of, so please head over to his post for more information.

I’m bringing this up here because this decision, made on the behalf of Scottish player Andy Webster of Hearts (shown on the left) and decided by the world’s most senior sports authority, the Court of Arbitration of Sport, has especially drastic repercussions for clubs in France (and any other non-big three league which is aspiring to become better). Even Lyon, whose financial strength among their French counterparts is undisputed, will be suffering from this.

Right now, how Lyon and other similarly statured clubs make their money is by signing very promising players to long term contracts. Throughout the next three or four years, as these players gain more attention, we keep extending their contracts. Most players accept this, but there are always a handful who don’t, those who are worried that inflated transfer fees might prevent them from joining the club of their choice. But if that’s the case, then they are sold before they can walk out for peanuts (i.e. Tiago).

Then, if a player wants to leave, Lyon sell them for maximum profit. It’s for this reason that Aulas extended Florent Malouda’s contract only six months before he signed for Chelsea. A Lyonnais walking out on a Bosman is a very rare sight indeed.

But yesterday’s Webster’s ruling now means that long term contracts are only worth the salary a player will earn. In the case of clubs like Chelsea and Real Madrid, it’s not such a big deal because they will offer their players super high wages to convince them to stay. But Lyon cannot do that. Our salary structure, still high by L1 standards, still ranks lower than many clubs in the Ukrainian leagues. And that’s not going to change as long as sporting clubs in France have to abide by French taxation laws.

So the question is, what’s going to happen to Lyon?

Lyon haven’t even touched the bulk of profits from Essien’s sale.

Much of our extra income comes from high profile transfers, such as those of Michael Essien and Mahamadou Diarra. This works because right now, only an exclusive and wealthy set of clubs can afford our players, which in turn bump up the price even more. It also has the affect of convincing promising players to join Lyon because they hope that in a few years, they can move on to very elite clubs. But if clubs like Tottenham and Atletico can now steal them away, the appeal of joining Lyon would be lessened.

Furthermore, Lyon are approaching the point where they want to stop being branded a selling club and instead want to keep their players. The money they have already earned has been earmarked for the construction of their new stadium, and whereas two years ago, Aulas might have been more receptive to mega offers for Karim Benzema, now he doesn’t want to consider it, even if it means a long term loss. But Lyon can’t think long term now if a player like Benzema can buy out his contract after three years. It won’t be even that hard since right now, he barely earns over €1M/year – if that.

It’s with some irony I now regard the latest complaints made by Bordeaux coach Laurent Blanc, who criticized Lyon’s winter transfer policy this morning by essentially claiming that Lyon disadvantage other French clubs due to their financial power (referring to the transfer-loan of Ederson).

As for the rest of L1, it’s ruinous for the clubs. The smallest French clubs such as Valenciennes and Le Mans will lose their best players to bigger French sides, who in turn will be losing their players either to Lyon or to clubs abroad, though at least clubs like Marseille, PSG, and Monaco can attempt to match some wages. But the worst off will be clubs like Toulouse, Rennes, Nice, and Lens – clubs with long term aspirations to join Lyon at the summit of French football. They are just starting to understand the transfer markets and what they can do to maximize profit from their players.

Will keeping these two become more harmful over the long term?

FIFA will be appealing the Webster ruling, and for once I’m hoping that Sepp Blatter & Friends can reverse this decision. No doubt Aulas is on the phone right now as he considers starting up the G14 once again. As for me, I’m all for players having power, but they had enough of it without a Webster decision. Contract laws even before this happened carried little enough weight, but now offering contracts seem practically worthless.

Thoughts?

Those damn Scots, always messing up French football. GRRR.