Manchester United chief executive
Peter Kenyon today stepped into the row over FIFA's plans to reform the transfer system warning that both clubs and fans would be hurt.
The proposal from football's world governing body to allow players to quit contracts with three months' notice would harm small clubs in particular, he said in Singapore during a promotion for Manchester United's July Asian tour.
"Smaller clubs rely on transfer fees for up to 80 per cent of their revenue," he said. "It's a really serious issue."
FIFA developed the proposal following European Union complaints that the transfer system interfered with the free movement of labour under the EU's single market system.
But Kenyon said the opinion of teams and fans should also be considered.
"From a fans point of view ... a fan not only follows a club, but he also follows a player, and he will not know from one week to the next if the player is going to be there or not."
Arguing that "what we have in the transfer system is fundamentally good for the game," Kenyon said the FIFA plan "has a long way to go" if it is to see the light of day.
AFP