The League Managers Association are just one of many disgruntled parties in the recent and ongoing debate about the nature of our transfer windows. The LMA have been lobbying UEFA for over two years now in the hope that they will extend the January transfer window. However UEFA argue that is an issue for FIFA and not themselves whilst there is opposition to the proposed reviews from organisations including the Premier League. LMA chief Richard Bevan told The Observer:
“Transfer windows for players do not work. Transfer windows were supposed to be reviewed by Platini in 2008 and, despite asking, we haven’t seen any review and probably it’s because the administrators around Europe don’t know how to improve what we already have. We are pushing UEFA to review. My point is: have you reviewed it? And what advice are you going to give to FIFA or to whoever it is you need to communicate?”
Platini said on the matter in 2008:
“We have to look at both the summer and winter transfer windows. The season starts in many countries in July or early in August, yet the transfer window does not close until the end of August. Then we have another window in the middle of the season.”
There are clearly issues with the current system that need to be addressed but whether the proposals on offer present the right solution is another matter. Bevan suggests that the transfer system should go back to being a ‘free-for-all’, however he does also admit that a debate is needed throughout football first. Clearly a free for all system would have its benefits: clubs would be able to address their problems as the season panned out, they could sell players if in financial trouble, and so on. However this is not the answer and there are a number of factors that need to be considered before any changes to the rules can be made.
Issues
Firstly: people like Bevan have been saying that we should go back to the way the system was before, before transfer windows. He and other supporters of this idea say that it will work because it has worked before; but football is not the same as it was before. The power of players has increased dramatically and rulings such as Bosman’s are demonstrative of the precarious position that the clubs are now in. The majority of clubs are finding it harder than ever to hold on to their players and if we were to combine the new EPPP with the idea that players could be bought and sold whenever then clubs who pride themselves on their academies are in particular trouble. Imagine Southampton producing another star of the future. Under the EPPP they would barely get any money from them and if we abolished or extended the transfer windows then said player would barely have played a few games before a larger club snapped him up.