Lot of ill-informed comments on FFP - FFP was not intended to stop spending, or indeed level the playing field, it was designed to prevent clubs getting into financial difficulties through gross miss-management ... something that was happening a lot a few years back.
Today clubs have little choice but to keep their spending in line with their income, even as income has risen hugely expense lines have been kept in check ... look at Utd and how whilst income has gone up 40% wages have only increased by 35% keeping them at less than 50% ... because they have the biggest income Utd can spend the most on wages that hasn't changed, however they have had to keep their wages at a sensible business level, and that was the planned function of FFP ...
The same goes with profits ... City have seen a huge increase in income, but only by cutting back on wages (down 3% last year) have they been able to bring profit/loss back into line with FFP .... again preventing unsustainable loss was the FFP remit
Sadly we are the exception ... in a way victims of our own success achieving high income ten years before our rivals, but we've also lost control of the wages budget .... wages have gone from 47% to 57% in just 12 months, another year with no CL will cripple us financially ... whilst City, Utd, Liverpool and Chelsea are all seeing wages percentages drop to around 50% (Spuds wages spend is just so low they don't even register) our percentage is the only one going the other way ...
Why should we worry? it's not our money? ... because wages (not bundles of cash) is now the defining factor for all clubs wanting to stay compliment with FFP ... with income levels at 400/500m it's just not possible for a Sheikh, an Oligarch or even a US Billionaire to financially dope an EPL club, UEFA FFP and the EPL's own financial rules can and will see right through illegal cash support. They already are ....
To spend more any club has to keep it's income growing and it's wages at somewhere between 45% and 55% of revenue ... in 2018 we were hit by the double whammy of falling income and big new salaries ...
this year we've already lost a chunk of that salary and with luck a few of those big earners will be moved on ... however with once again little chance of a substantial income increase in 2019 then adding much back into the salary budget is just not going happen ... so don't get your hopes up ...