Watford's chief executive has explained that whilst he agrees with the ethos of Financial Fair Play (FFP), he believes the current plans need changing.
Scott Duxbury, pictured, also highlighted the importance of not allowing the financial gap between the Premier League and Championship to become too large.
Speaking as part of an extended interview two weeks ago, Duxbury said: “I think the ethos of FFP is good. What can’t be good for the competition is having clubs who can’t afford to buy the players they are and then getting into huge debt with money they don’t have. Then, if they don’t reach the ‘promised land’, they are in financial difficulty. That can’t be good for the competition.
“However, if clubs do have the owners who have the money and are willing to invest then they should be free to do so and I’m not sure there should be a restraint on clubs who have secured funding.
“I think that the principle of FFP should be that if a club has the funding and the owners – or the ability to have secured funding – then you should be allowed to spend as you see fit.”
Several clubs have instructed the solicitors Brabners to write to the Football League to threaten a legal challenge to the FFP rules.
Watford refused to comment on whether they were one of the clubs but Leicester City, Queens Park Rangers, Blackburn Rovers and Bolton Wanderers are believed to be among them (see above).
When Duxbury was asked if he believed the FFP rules should be changed, he replied: “It certainly needs fine-tuning and that is what the Championship clubs are discussing. It is important we don’t lose parity with the Premier League and the gap between the divisions do not increase to the point that it is no longer competitive. The clubs relegated have huge parachute payments and that has to be taken into consideration.
“The Football League understands that and that is why we are having the dialogue to make sure Championship clubs are not at a disadvantage.”
Duxbury stated in the interview published two weeks ago that Watford are compliant with the current FFP regulations and the new rules currently being debated.
The Hornets’ owners, the Pozzos, have not invested large sums into the club but they are making the Golden Boys self-sufficient whilst also building infrastructure.
Duxbury was keen to stress the importance of the club’s office staff when discussing the improvements being made off the field.
He said: “There is a real core of staff who have been at the club a long time and are very talented at their jobs.
“Under recent regimes perhaps they found it difficult to truly flourish but now they have been given that freedom and, alongside other members of staff who have more recently joined the club, they are helping to really drive the club forward and I can’t praise them enough.”
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