Quote Martin Samuels="Martin Samuels"Michel Platini, the president of UEFA, told an English newspaper that football club debt is not accepted in Germany. Wrong again, genius.
Schalke 04 were reported to have debts of £109million at the start of the season, despite a £90m sponsorship deal with Gazprom signed in 2006.
Also, it is a lot easier to stay out of the red when the government help build your stadium, as happened when Bayern Munich called on £188m for redevelopment and infrastructure around the new Allianz Arena, or when Hertha Berlin stumped up none of the £217m spent on their Olympiastadion for the 2006 World Cup final.
Platini has some big fans in Germany, though, not least Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, the chairman of Bayern Munich, who is a staunch supporter of the plan to limit spending according to income - and no wonder.
Were this to happen, Bayern would always have more money available than any other German club and would never lose their crown to minnows such as Wolfsburg, as happened last season, or fail to qualify for the Champions League entirely, as happened in 2006-07.
They would not slip to eighth in the Bundesliga, as they have now, and would certainly not lose home and away to Bordeaux, as has happened in the Champions League, with the result Bayern are likely to be doing a graveyard shift in the Europa League after Christmas.
Thanks to Platinis regulations, Bayerns supremacy would be as good as guaranteed, not by being better, just by being wealthier. Its financial fair play, apparently. '"
