Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho believes it will be ‘impossible’ for clubs to compete with Manchester City’s spending power if the Financial Fair Play rule is not enforced. City have spent vastly on high quality players over the last couple of seasons during the era of the Financial Fair Play and have come under repeated critisism from Mourinho, who is keen to see the rule enforced by FIFA.
“If they (football authorities) want to make it impossible to compete with City, it’s impossible,” he said, “Chelsea are competing outside what is important for us, the ‘fair’ Financial Fair Play rule.”
The two teams showdown at the Etihad on Monday evening in one of the most eagerly anticipated games of the season, leading Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini to think that Mourinho’s comments are nothing but mind games, but Mourinho himself insists that it is a pressing matter.
Sports lawyer Adam Morallee, of law firm Mischon de Reya believes UEFA need to ‘lay down the law’ with the Finacial Fair Play rule,
“It’s a real acid test to see how UEFA look at things like income and expenditure and what classifies as allowable income,” he said, “many of the clubs have been given an exemption when they’re allowed to take off wages from previous years but when you look at City’s books they’ve managed to get another £50m of income from things like intellecutal property and image rights.”
Mourinho also said, “In my time were we accused of buying the title? No. Because our owner was Mr Abramovich, just arrived in the country. Maybe now people see City in a different way. Times change.”
