Football: The era of player power

Few months back Theo Walcott made it clear about his preference of playing as a center forward as opposed to his usual place on the flanks and refused to sign a contract extension until his demands were met. Fast forward, we now see him playing, successfully, as the center forward for his club and looks set to sign a new contract. Wayne Rooney did something quite similar last season, refusing a new contract, claiming to be unhappy with the clubs ambition, only to sign a lucrative deal couple of days down the line. Acts like this are becoming quite common and have cemented the belief that the era of player power is here.

Back in the early 90’s, Jean-Marc Bosman, a player of FC Leige, wanted to move to Dunkirk after his contract with the club had ended but he was prevented from doing so by his club, who slapped a transfer fee on his head effectively stopping the move. A court case was filed and the ruling, which came in favor of the player, is called the Bosman rule. While the player and the clubs in this case were relatively unknown, the impact of this rule has been profound.

The Bosman rule lies at the heart of the new era. According to this rule, a player can move to another club at the end of his contract for free, with or without the consent of his previous club. This was not the case earlier as the club could prevent the player from playing elsewhere by slapping a transfer fee on him. This rule also allows the player in his last six months of his contract to negotiate a pre-contract with another club. With the introduction of this rule, the balance of power shifted from the clubs to the players.

Like most things, this rule too was started with the right intention in mind – to help players use their skill elsewhere if unable to do so at their clubs, by allowing them to move to other clubs at the end of their contract regardless of the previous club’s intentions. But sadly, its flipside has had a more lasting impact.

With this rule in effect, the players, and by extension their agents, have gained a lot of leverage on the club. Top players now hold the clubs at ransom asking higher wages or bargaining playing positions as in the case of Rooney and Walcott, or even force a transfer like Samir Nasri or Cesc Fabregas, both of whom left Arsenal before their contract ended under the threat of moving on a free transfer the next summer. This rule also allows a player to get a large signing-on fee if they move on a free transfer, as there was no fee involved in the move. Even the player’s agents are able to make money by requesting higher agent fees and other bonuses as demonstrated by the agent of Eden Hazard recently.

Smaller sides now find it difficult to hold on to their players as they can easily be snapped up by the bigger clubs. This has caused these clubs to sign their younger and promising players on long term contracts which may end up counterproductive due to the amount of money they earn and their youth. The higher wage bills also take its toll on these clubs, maybe even leading to bankruptcy and forcing them to sell their players at a reduced price in the end.

Despite the rule’s negative impacts, some of the transfers made by this rule have been very fruitful for the clubs. Sol Campbell (Arsenal), Michael Ballack (Chelsea), Henrik Larsson (Barcelona), etc have all been successful. The upside of these kind of transfers lie in the fact that the cubs do not suffer any losses as they were free transfers as in the case of Marouanne Chamakh, who has not enjoyed a good spell at Arsenal since moving on a free. Out of contract players are now chased by the smaller clubs who do not have large funds in their kitty to spend on transfers.

Irrespective of whether the club has benefited or lost from the Bosman rule, it has given the players a distinct advantage over their clubs. Whether they use it for good or bad is a different question, but the fact remains that the era of player power is here to stay.