As the Premier League's richest clubs "contemplate their last lavish moves before the closure of the transfer window," Arsenal Manager Arsène Wenger has "lamented the failure of the FFP experiment," according to Amy Lawrence of the London GUARDIAN. Financial fair play was introduced in '09 by UEFA as an attempt to "curb excessive spending and to encourage clubs to pay out relative to what they earn," but Wenger suggested the regulations are "more or less meaningless." He said, "It has gone. I have seen the signs coming from UEFA for a while. I thought it would happen but now it is not possible. What's happened is the clubs threatened to go to civil court -- not only through sport. That brought a lot of insecurity in the decision-making of UEFA so they started to soften the rules a little bit." For a number of years, Arsenal's business plan was based on its hopes that FFP would "level the financial playing field." That is "no longer a realistic aspiration." Where does that leave Arsenal? Wenger: "Exactly the same. We continue to run our business with the resources we create." Wenger stressed that the problems that have "crushed" FFP "are not the reason for Arsenal's relative inactivity in this transfer window, with Petr Cech the only major arrival." There is a "healthy pot of money -- albeit not as deep" as, say, Man City's. Wenger: "I've said to you all the time it is not a shortage of money. At the moment it is a handicap to us because we have the resources, just shortage of players" (GUARDIAN, 8/28).
