Chelsea refused to accept any blame for driving up fees

• zocoss

  9 Oct 08, 10:39

  CHELSEA PASS THE BUCK

  

  Chelsea last night refused to accept any blame for driving up fees and wages and causing football’s debt mountain.

   

  Club chairman Bruce Buck claimed instead that the Blues were victims of their own bulging wallet, with other clubs bumping up prices just for them. He said: “From the start there was a transfer market for everyone else and then one for Chelsea.

   

  “When a player was being sold, if we were interested then the price doubled. The problem is that everyone wants to charge Chelsea more than anyone else. “The guy that delivers the milk, the guy that sells us pencils, clubs that sell us players. We have resisted that. In August we resisted with Robinho and said ‘no’. That price was too high.”

   

  Football Association chairman Lord Triesman sent shockwaves through football when he revealed English football is sitting on a financial black hole of £3billion of potential debts. Spiralling fees and wages that have caused such debt have led many to point the finger at Chelsea and their owner Roman Abramovich – especially with his early seasons of massive spending.

   

  More than £100million was spent on new players in that period – and more than £600m on the club in all over the past five years. Chelsea are among the most indebted of English clubs, owing some £736m. But they owe that to  Abramovich and not to the banks.

   

  Buck claimed that their debt was ‘irrelevant’ – just as UEFA general secretary David Taylor warned that clubs with excessive borrowing might be thrown out of the Champions League and UEFA Cup. Taylor wants to prevent clubs’ borrowing spiralling out of control and said: “We will not flinch if we have to exclude clubs from Europe’s elite competition.”

   

  However, unlike some of their rivals, Chelsea do not have any external debt and Buck insists the club have not simply hoarded “a bunch of galacticos” but were instead looking to identify and develop English talent.

   

  Buck said: “One of our priorities is finding young English players. “They settle more quickly and understand the culture and dynamics of the English game. Money goes a long way but it doesn’t necessarily get you over the line.”

• Jeromethewarrior

  9 Oct 08, 14:18

  its almost a global phenomenon, so everyone's involved, not just chelsea man