The "Webster" Ruling

It's not quite a Bosman but it looks as though the ruling will allow big money players like Ronaldinho, Messi etc to walk away owing the club only the equivalent of the final year's salary. Just now you can't predict what effect this will have on the transfer market but it doesn't look like it's going to take the transfer market up another notch if it's the case. Fraser Wishart and Tony Higgins of the Scottish players union claim to have had a list of unspecified big names from all over the world ringing and asking for advice on the ruling. There should be some interesting developments from this one. How many of you know what this is about though? If like most people you got lost somewhere in the middle here is a brief summary: this could be even more significant than the Bosman ruling. Before Webster a player was still at least tied to his contract. Andrew Webster of Hearts could go down in history in the same way Jean-Marc Bosman has.

"It means Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the hottest properties in world football, could theoretically walk away from Old Trafford in 2010, then aged 25 and arguably at his peak, for £12m. Cesc Fabregas could leave Arsenal in 2010, then aged 23, for a similar sum. Under the rule, any footballer aged between 23 and 28 is entitled to walk away from a club, so long as he has served three years of a four or five-year contract. But, more controversially, any player aged 28 or over can also now terminate his contract so long as he has served two years of its duration. Article 17, in effect, goes some way to abolishing huge transfer fees. For example, if a 29-year-old player wishes to leave one club for another – such as was the case with Thierry Henry last season – the only compensation due would be the value of his wages left on his contract."

From the Independant and the Guardian

From a Rangers persective this can only be a good thing. In the near future we may be unable to compete in the transfer market with some Championship clubs nevermind those in the Premiership as they would spend knowing they would get a return on future transfers. Now that is no longer the case transfer fees will fall. Hutton could be back in three years time for £1.5M. From another perspective though this menas that players may need to be paid what they are effectively worth meaning wages could spiral even further out of control for the average footballer. Theoretically transfer prices will go down but wages will go up. It's like any fixed term employment contract now. the same benefits the rest of us have always had. In fact I'm surprised you can't walk away earlier as long as you pay compensation.

However this rule does not apply to teams within the same country/league and must be cross border or abroad. It will have to be outwith the country in a similar manner to the deal Rangers done with Wigan which is already slightly suspicious in reptrospect. This will probably lead to a lot more rows about clubs "tapping up" players. Clubs will have to be thinking "Is it wise to spend £7M on a striker if he can walk away in 2 or 3 years time - when he's in his late 20's - for a years salary?"

The players and agents are certainly going to benefit from this though first and foremost. The player will now get an increase every time he wants to negotiate an updated contract and also has the option of walking away easier. That's positives and negatives depending on how you look at it. I think this only applies when a player signs a four year contract or more. Then after three years they can decide to do a Webster. What you may find now is clubs will sign players on three year contracts with a one year option. Players will no longer be tied down to a club for that long without receiving new contracts that will have significant bonuses added into them to make them stay.

But what happens with all the youngsters that each and every club produce on their own? Could Alan Hutton under the new ruling have been going for next to nothing? Does that mean that it will be very difficult for us in the future to try and build a team of our younger players? I don't know if it is that good for clubs like Rangers when you look at it that way. This is not a decision by FIFA they will hate this decision just as much as every other big club including Rangers. That is the end of the transfer market as we know it, no clubs will pay over £5million for a player now. Aswell as a Bosman they can now cite a Webster, just handed full control of the transfer market to players and their agents. Yes, it's in the last year of a contract, so instead of people moving on a Bosman, it means they can now immediately resign, as long as they give enough notice. This will avoid players playing from early January to the end of season knowing they're off, and perhaps not trying as hard as they could - or the fans thinking that certainly. At least now they only have to give a minimal notice period - not sure how long, but only a couple of weeks or so - before they enter the last year of their contract.

Luke Moore was linked with Rangers in a £3.5m deal. He can now give notice in the summer and unilaterally break the last year of his contract. The maximum payment due to Villa will be his salary for that last year. What is he on ? Presumably less than £20k per week, so less than £1m compensation. Likewise, Nakamura can move on in the summer for one year's salary. And a whole host of players in all probability.

Everybody said the Bosman ruling would kill tranfsers. It didn't. Make no bones about it, this weeks 'Webster' decision has blown a huge hole through the transfer system. The only certainty at this point is that agents will be delighted with this ruling. We'll just have to see how the first few years of players and agents being able to exploit this from here on in goes.