Howe hits out at Financial Fair Play rules as 'underdog' Bournemouth face fine for heavy lossesCherries exceeded maximum permitted financial loss in course of Premier League promotion
Howe now, cash cow: The Bournemouth manager has had plenty to say about his club's FFP sanctions
Eddie Howe believes that the Football League’s Financial Fair Play rules are designed to make “the rich get richer and the smaller clubs struggle to compete”.
On Christmas Eve, it was revealed that Bournemouth face a fine of up to £10 million for breaching the regulations during their promotion-winning campaign to the Premier League last season.
The Football League announced that the club exceeded the maximum permitted loss of £6 million for Championship clubs. The precise figure has yet to be revealed.
Speaking after his team’s goalless draw with Crystal Palace on Boxing Day, Howe revealed his frustration at a structure which he feels makes the top tier less competitive.
“We do not want a league table that picks itself,” he said. “We want that smaller club that can still achieve great things. We have got an ambitious owner, we’ve an ambitious club that wants to move forward and to do that, I’m sorry, at this level and Championship level, our income is nowhere near enough to achieve success.”
The Cherries are punching above their weight among the moneyed giants of the Premier League and travel to Arsenal today with 10 points from the last 12 available, including wins over Chelsea and Manchester United. The bountiful resources of even the average Premier League side leads their impressive young manager to the conclusion that long-term success is simply not possible without significant investment.
“A few years ago, if you look back through the history of football there have been great stories where teams have achieved great things from an owner or a benefactor or whatever you want to call it,” said the 38-year-old. “They have enabled that side to push on to great things. What the FFP structure will do is stop the underdog, the smaller team, having the chance to succeed and I do not think anyone will want to see that.”
Palace appear to have few financial worries heading into the new year. The investment of Josh Harris and David Blitzer will “add an enormous amount of value”, according to the club chairman, Steve Parish, with the initial £50 million injection to be allotted to the building of a new stadium.
Rarely can a year have been as eagerly anticipated by Eagles fans as 2016. The south-east London club sit one place off the Champions League places after this draw, but Alan Pardew is faced with a growing injury list for Monday’s game with Swansea.
The problem is acute in the forward positions, with Bakary Sako, Patrick Bamford, Connor Wickham and Yannick Bolasie all unavailable on Boxing Day.
Pardew revealed that Bolasie could be out for four to eight weeks, with Wickham facing up to a month on the sidelines. “It’s up around his hip joint,” said Pardew of Bolasie’s injury. “We have to wait and see. He’s had a scan but we don’t know how long. It was a blow to lose Patrick on Friday but fingers crossed for Monday.”
Pardew has challenged Wilfried Zaha to step into the breach in Bolasie’s absence. “With Yala (Bolasie) lost he becomes even more important, and the opposition will look to snuff him out which I thought Bournemouth tried to do today.”
Ahead of Monday’s visit of Swansea, Pardew joined the growing list of sympathisers for the recently departed Garry Monk. “I thought they’d picked up a bit under Garry, to be honest,” he said. “It’ll be a tough game. I think Garry was unlucky to lose his job.”
Telegraph
