75% Tax, 100% Bad.. (For French Football, That Is)

Meet François Hollande.
He's the newly elected (well, in May) President of France. His approval grew amongst the French public after backing many policies which made him very popular at the time of his election: such as the withdrawal of French troops present in Afghanistan by the end of 2012, supporting same-sex marriage and adoption for LGBT couples, and his, erm, aggressive approach towards achieving a 0% deficit of GDP by 2017. He seemed nice. Yet recently his popularity has nosedived spectacularly...but that is not my issue, THIS IS A FOOTBALL BLOG! Well I think it is, I haven't made my mind up yet tbh

      The 'aggressive' approach I alluded to earlier has led to a quite significant step in reducing the deficit coming in to play. Earlier last month, a new tax was passed for all in France who earn over €1,000,000 a year. At a rate of 75%. That's huge. Many welcome it; y'know, ''Vive la révolution'', tax the rich and all that.. Makes sense. But, when politics is being talked about, football is *usually* irrelevant. And when something happens in our respective countries, regarding the way they are run, we sometimes forget footballers generally (don't get me started on the way footballers get off criminal charges in the PL..) abide by all the same laws we do.

     Lets be honest, the French Ligue 1 is not the best league in the world. Last night in fact, I conducted a very democratic survey on my twitter, regarding the quality of French football:

 ''QUICK QUESTION if you watch a lot of Euro football: where would you rank French Ligue1 in terms of depth/quality to rest of Europe?''

100% of responses agreed that it is very low down in the ranking of European top leagues. Replies included:

''@Omiclops: Just above Portugal''

''@joshscho9636:  5/6th''

''@JimmyGrimble10: They produce phenomenal young talent, but the play is very poor and slow''

''@SaifRubbani: ...don't rate it highly, nowhere near Premier League, Serie A or La Liga''

And my personal favourite:

''@McEverz: whats french football, lol''

     The results (although as poorly represented as a PCC election... trololol) are as conclusive as can be expected; not only do those who watch it  think its relatively poor, but that out of 400odd people on my mainly football orientated twitter, only FIVE people had an opinion on it.

     Yes, they have a few class teams, with many quality players. But in terms of money they aren't exactly raking in the TV rights cash (which is everything in football now..). They've simply not got the international exposure that England, Spain and Italy have. They have, although, been gradually increasing their global appeal/publicity over the past few years. Not least with the help of the FFP-flaunting, financial powerhouse that is Paris Saint-Germain buying some of the best players in the world and offering them substantial salaries to attract them there. Players such as Thiago Silva, Ezequiel Lavezzi, Javier Pastore and the man of the moment, the minor deity, that is Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

      It is no secret that the promise of large wages are one of the biggest draws for established stars in bigger leagues to come to France, if not THE biggest. This tax will massively impact the top levels of french football.  The clubs will simply not be able to pay the money needed to drag these players in. Not even PSG. The top income tax rates in England, Spain, Germany & Italy range between 43 and 52%, currently in France, it is 41%. French league president Frederic Thiriez says, in extreme, but justified words:

''It would be the death of french football''

      And when you take into account that this will affect an estimated 130 players, possibly creating a mass exodus of players steamrolled by the disgustingly greedy agents that cause so many problems nowadays, leaving Ligue 1 even more bereft of top world talent than it already is... then what happens? The TV deals will go. The sponsorships will go. The money coming into the league will go.

      Forget the footballers, even if they get this tax, they'll still be on at least £200,000 a year... I don't feel sorry for them. If you do you're a muppet. But who's the forgotten equation in all of this big money talk? Once again, the fans. If these players go, can you really expect any others to come in? The league will dry up. The young talent will leave at a faster rate than it already does. And pretty soon, these fans will be experiencing a level of football that those poor people in Stoke do..

So it's really not an overstatement, when you think about it.. Thiriez is right.

(But if this means that Lavezzi, Ibra, Pastore, Silva etc. can maybe make their way to the Etihad.... Then I may not be so arsed!)

Cheers for reading,

The Burnage Blue


Btw, it also means the utter bellend Barton will get a healthy pay cut. Like to see how many Nietzsche or Smiths quotes he can find to express his anger then. Knob.