West Ham are attending a two-day Premier League meeting over FFP rules with a big decision mooted to be on the cards.
Back in November Hammers News brought you an exclusive from the top source inside West Ham regarding the club’s FFP position.
The key senior contact revealed that West Ham had reached the maximum allowable limit over wages-to-turnover permitted under Financial Fair Play rules.
As a result the Hammers had to offload fringe players in the January window in order to make signings.
Kalvin Phillips was the only addition – on a six-month straight loan from Man City.
David Moyes insists West Ham were trying to sign an attacking player as they let Pablo Fornals and Said Benrahma leave.
West Ham attending PL meeting over FFP rules
But some cynical supporters believe the club were worried about breaching FFP – also known as Profit and Sustainability Rules. Especially in light of the points deduction dished out to Everton with potential further action pending for the Toffees, Nottingham Forest, Chelsea and Man City.
And particularly in light of the fact West Ham were placed on UEFA’s FFP “watchlist” in September 2022.
The lack of business was put into perspective by a quiet January window across the board.
Now West Ham are attending a Premier League meeting over FFP rules with a big decision on the cards.
A West Ham representative is at a two-day meeting of all 20 top flight clubs with iNews reporting that the Premier League plan to overhaul the Profit and Sustainability Rules that are seen as ‘past their sell by date’.
The meeting, which started on Tuesday, will see discussions centre around substantial changes to the current regime that limits clubs to £105m of losses over a rolling three-year cycle.
Big decision on the cards over changes
The Premier League’s regulations will look to align with Uefa’s newly introduced cost control measures. And that could have big ramifications for West Ham and the other 19 clubs.
Some critics argue the £105m cap on losses over a three-year cycle, which has been in place since 2013, is out of date in the modern game 10 years on.
“A recent viral social media post pointed out that if they had been linked to the acceleration in player wages and general inflation the allowable losses would now be £228m – a huge disparity,” iNews reports.
“What’s on the table? Major changes, basically. Uefa’s cost control measures will limit clubs competing in their competitions to spending 70 per cent of their revenue on wages and transfer fees.
“Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin justified that by saying they wanted to eliminate reckless spending and ensure clubs are sustainable moving forward. Ceferin has previously warned about the rate at which wage levels have risen and the new rules are a direct attempt to curb that.
How it will work and what it could mean
“The Premier League – who want to see the competitive balance of the division maintained – agree on reckless spending but are doing things slightly different. Their proposals will give leeway to clubs who haven’t qualified for European competition to spend 85 per cent of their revenue on wages and transfer fees. Sources tell iNews that is partly to give them the ability to spend more and catch up with the previous year’s top six.
“In practice it will work like this: Manchester City’s gargantuan revenue in 2023 was over £700m so they will be able to spend £490m on transfers and transfer wages. Newcastle’s revenue is increasing swiftly but in 2023 it was around £250m. They will have room to spend £175m on transfer costs, player wages and agent fees.”
That will be bad news for clubs like West Ham and Newcastle according to football finance expert and friend of Hammers News, Kieran Maguire.
He told the paper it could become increasingly difficult for clubs outside the elite to break into it.
iNews claims it is possible the changes will be introduced in time for the summer transfer window.
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