Six games into the premier league season, the transfer window has closed, and we are starting to see which new signings are the real deal, and who might be this year’s expensive flop. A staggering £432.6million was spent on 184 players in the summer, which is an increase of 12% from 2014. Even more staggering, although not necessarily surprising, is that about one third of that total spend comes from just one club: Manchester City. Equally, it might not come as a surprise that after the first few games of the season, the club that spent the most money, Manchester City, are sitting at the top of the Premier League table. The interesting question here is, didn’t UEFA introduce some sort of financial restrictions, which were supposed to stop this excessive spending?

The answer to that question is yes. And no.

UEFA introduced Financial Fair Play (FFP) for the 2013/14 season, setting out a number of restrictions and regulations that all clubs entering their competitions must follow, with a list of potential disciplinary methods for not complying. These punishments included warnings and fines for smaller offences, to deduction of points, restrictions on players, and even banishment from competitions, for more serious offences. The main idea behind FFP is that clubs need to show that they are breaking even. Clubs are allowed to make a loss of €5million over a three year period, or €10million per year if it is covered directly by the owner. UEFA says this will stop clubs – who are looking for short-term success by spending excessively – accumulating unsustainable debt and falling into trouble further down the road. There have been some clear examples of this happening in recent years, none more so than Portsmouth. Over a number of years, they spent heavily on transfer fees and player wages, bringing them success by winning the FA Cup in 2008. In the years since then, Portsmouth found themselves in all kinds of financial trouble and twice entered into administration, whilst being relegated three times. FFP rules are effective at incentivizing long-term investment, and dis-incentivizing short-term success – investment in stadiums and youth and training facilities are not included in the break-even calculations – so a situation such as Portsmouth’s is unlikely to happen again. UEFA state: “The aim of financial fair play is not to make all clubs equal in size and wealth, but to encourage clubs to build for success rather than continually seeking a ‘quick fix’. Football clubs need an improved environment where investing in the future is better rewarded so that more clubs can be credible long-term investment prospects.” In this regard, the rules can be seen as a success.

When it comes to the larger teams FFP has not been so effective. Many had hoped the introduction of FFP would create more competition within the Premier League, as the biggest clubs, especially those bankrolled by billionaire owners, would be unable to use these private fortunes to pay excessive transfer fees and offer more lucrative wages than clubs run in a more conventional way. To begin with, it seemed FFP was having some effect, as Manchester City and French club, Paris Saint-Germain, were given hefty fines and forced into a reduced squad size for one year of Champions League football, after failing to comply with UEFA’s rules. However, earlier this year, UEFA relaxed some of the regulations, and now through loopholes and nifty accounting tricks, clubs can bend the rules without fearing punishment. Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger, who has long been a supporter of financial regulations in football and believes that clubs should live within their means, believes that the recent changes made to FFP are catastrophic, saying: “It has gone. I have seen the signs coming from UEFA for a while now. I thought for a while FFP would happen but now it is not possible.” He is, however, still resolute with his philosophy, and will not be overspending anytime soon. He said: “We continue to run our business with the resources we create. [The other clubs can] put 100 or 200 [million] on top. It is always like that. Maybe it will change one day.” Unfortunately for Wenger, and football fans who see money damaging their sport, that day of change is not close by.