Record transfer spending triggers political anger
By Ian Dunt
A record-breaking bout of spending by Premier League football clubs has triggered anger among MPs.
The transfer window closed yesterday with Chelsea and Liverpool spending extraordinary sums of money in a panicky bout of buying and selling.
Chelsea broke the record by spending £50 million on Liverpool striker Fernando Torres. The player will arrive at the club with Benfica defender David Luiz, who was bought for a reported £21.3 million.
Anfield countered by buying Andy Carroll from Newcastle for £35 million and Uruguayan Luis Suarez from Ajax for £22.7 million.
The sums involved outraged many pundits and fans, especially during a period of belt-tightening across Britain.
John Leech, a Liberal Democrat member of the all-party Commons group on football, said the level of spending was “not good for football”.
He told politics.co.uk: “The problem is when you have owners like Roman Abramovich, like Sheik Mansour at [Manchester] City, £50 million is a drop in the ocean to them.
“It’s not surprising those owners are prepared to fork out that sort of money to guarantee success.
“It’s clearly not good for football,” he continued.
“I don’t think the money that’s come into football recently has all been good. It’s been good for the Premier League but for your general supporter, for teams who aspire to going up the leagues, it just means it’s completely out of reach.”
But Downing Street removed to be moved on the topic. Asked to comment on the levels of spending earlier today, the prime minister’s spokesman said: “There are enough pundits in football without me adding to what is already a lively debate.”
The comments come as a Commons committee announced details of an inquiry into football governance.
The culture, media and sport committee’s first evidence session into football governance will take place next Tuesday, with economists, sports experts and journalists answering questions from MPs.
Lord Triesman, former chairman of the Football Association (FA) and Graham Kelly, former chief executive of the FA, will also appear.
