Speaking on the Ornstein & Chapman Podcast, new Leeds United vice-chairman Paraag Marathe has shared an interesting epiphany he had when he first got involved at Leeds United.
Understandably, there was a bit of a culture shock for Marathe getting involved with English football after spending a long time working with the 49ers in the NFL.
Of course, there are plenty of differences in how American sports and European football conduct their business behind the scenes, and one thing that Marathe quickly realised was how much power the players have in this sport.
“One of my biggest epiphanies when I first got involved was how much players have a voice and have a say in terms of where they want to play, if someone doesn’t want to play there for a club within Europe you all of a sudden have to start the process to solve it or find an alternative,” Marathe said.
“In many ways the recruitment is forever continuing, whereas in American sports you tie a player into a longer contract and one way or another they’re locked into a contract. It was an interesting epiphany in terms of making sure that any contract you sign, any contract that I do with the 49ers, we want to make sure it stands the test of time.”
This is a massive difference between the NFL and the Premier League.
Transfer windows work differently, there’s no salary cap and perhaps most crucially there’s a wider range of options.
There’s also no draft, so players can sign where they like from a young age, and of course, the Bosman ruling changed the way players move at the end of their contract 25 years ago.
Marathe seems to have got to grips with the idea, and Leeds seem to be in good stead in terms of keeping their players happy, with numerous key stars such as Kalvin Phillips, Liam Cooper and Stuart Dallas signing new contracts last season.
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