Argyle not in favour of a salary cap

[Lundan Cabbie]

Sky Sports just reported.
1. Championship clubs to discuss salary cap of £25 million for next season and a limit of 25 players. Extra help for those dropping out of the Premiership with 'players on high salaries'.

2. L1 clubs to discuss salary cap of £2.5 million!

I assume that's so they don't lose the parachute payments. :crazy: :crazy:

This is the problem for me. Ridiculous amounts of money sloshing around in the Premiership and feeding down to the Championship (TV money now adding to the Championship slosh fund). What comes from that is increased wages for those in the lower leagues whilst fans have to fund those increases. Disproportionate amount of money comes down to the lower leagues.

By all means introduce salary caps, but this has to be from the Premiership down. STOP the parachute payments - players will need to accept that their wages will not remain the same if they drop a league (perhaps that will give more an incentive to play better and not rely on "easy money" if they are relegated.

That is so easy to say but trying to attract players is so competitive that to get your man you might have to leave out that relegation clause. Whilst players hold the power, it would be difficult to put into all contracts.

 

[GTTB Resurgam]

How does £2.5m stack up against current wage budgets in L1?

 

[Ponty]

How does £2.5m stack up against current wage budgets in L1?

Impossible to answer in my opinion.

 

[pafcdje]

See below links from other clubs ( Pompeys mainly - apologies for that but their local paper provides good coverage)

https://www.eadt.co.uk/sport/ipswich-st ... -1-6749479

https://www.portsmouth.co.uk/sport/foot ... ut-2915534

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.portsm ... 3567%3famp

https://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/ ... ews/52640/

Its not just the cap in itself which is relevant ( note that it includes signing on fees , agent payments etc) but the limit on senior players to only 21 . That means for Portsmouth and Ipswich who are exceeding already the £2.5M cap they can only sign 4/5 over 21s paying them collectively no more than £500k- £550k ( the L1 average) . Given the circumstances their chances of ditching any contracted players is low. Having had a very quick look at some other L1 clubs current squads ( most have announced their retained list) on Wiki , Fleetwood already exceed the senior player cap , Sunderland are close to it , and Peterborough can sign up to 6 I think but have a number of under 21s in their squad .

So how does it affect PA at present ? I think RL said in one of his interviews that our wage budget was around £2.4 M last season . That would have included all of the loanees, Sarce, Ryan Taylor and any of the others who have left . For the purposes of calculating what we have to spend for this coming season we exclude all of the salaries etc spent on under 21s ( 7/8 I think ) , which will include Jephcott, Cooper and Randell . We've currently then got 9/10 " senior" players signed up so potentially we could add another 11/12 ! -unlikely . However it does mean that we've potentially got more budget to spend than Pompey or Ipswich and other L1 clubs who exceeded the budget last season and are over budget already or close to their senior player cap .If we assume that the wage bill this season for our current 9/10 is £1.3M then we have potentially £1.2M to sign , say 6 players ie £200k per year on average if we spend it all , whereas Pompey , Ipswich and others can only spend less than half that .

So why are Argyle are objecting ? At a guess , we are looking at beyond the next season . This season the way the cap operates may work to our favour , but as things settle down going forward , through crowds and revenue generated from the stadium , we will be restricted .

The L2 proposed cap is £1.25M . It does make you wonder how for example Bolton are going to manage as Doyle and Sarce couldn't have been cheap. However that's their problem .

It'll be interesting to see how the vote goes . It may explain though the delay on McFadzean . If the caps are voted in as is , any deal to Northern clubs may not materialise as he is a "senior" player . If it is passed it will also force Clubs to invest in their Academies as the market for under 21s from Premier and Championship clubs is going to be fierce . Player contract length will be limited to preserve flexibility . You can see why the PFA aren't keen !

 

[xmastree]

If a cap does come in this season, there will inevitably be a compromise to take account of existing contracts. Likewise there will have to be concessions for relegated clubs with contracted players on "Championship" salaries.

 

[Argylegames]

If a cap does come in this season, there will inevitably be a compromise to take account of existing contracts. Likewise there will have to be concessions for relegated clubs with contracted players on "Championship" salaries.

That was the original reason for parachute payments, so clubs could pay off players they couldn't afford in the lower division. Instead most clubs use it to keep on those players in the hope of going back up.

 

[pafcdje]

"If a cap does come in this season, there will inevitably be a compromise to take account of existing contracts. Likewise there will have to be concessions for relegated clubs with contracted players on "Championship" salaries"


The compromise to take account of existing contracts is that they are treated as being set at the league average. So if you are like Pompey and Ipswich and you are over budget , and you have 18 "senior players" , you can only sign up to 3 more senior players - your budget for all 3 is set at 3 x the average L1 wage . There is no wage limit for under 21s and you can have as many as you like There will be a compromise for relegated clubs .

 

[Graham Clark]

I see the EFL meeting to decide on the League 1 and League 2's salary cap has been put back again until 6th August. If the start date is to be 12th September that leaves an extremely short period for Clubs to properly organise their close season recruitment. Given that the revised EFL salary cap proposal limit of £2.5m for League 1 included bonus payments and agent's fees that will leave very little room to manoeuvre for the better resourced teams, some of whom, may be already committed to existing contracts with higher wages.

Teams will almost have to have two budgets - one within the salary cap and one within any agreed transitional arrangements. Some will gamble and go 'gung-ho' but others like Argyle will be considered and measured and as a result announcements on new players may be temporarily delayed until there is further clarity on 6th August..

I can only see the outcome being some transitional arrangement to the imposition of a salary cap from the 2021-2022 season, or alternatively a modification of the existing salary cap arrangement (60% of turnover) embedded in the the existing EFL regulations through the Salary Cap Management Protocol (SCMP). Such a modification is, understandably, Argyle's current position as articulated recently by Andrew Parkinson.

On a wider point the current decision making processes of the EFL are fast becoming unfit for purpose. The delay on the outcome of Sheffield Wednesday inquiry should have had a profound impact on Championship relegation outcome. The same for Wigan. I am aware due process must be followed but the delays in decision making and appeals are unfair on the other teams. Equally, the uncertainties about the start date and salary cap for next season hinders proper preparation and recruitment.

It is understandable that some League 1 and 2 clubs want to push for a 3rd October start date otherwise the will have the prospect of up to three home games (one Saturday and one mid-week League games and one mid-week Carabao Cup game) played behind closed doors. Even with the anticipated reduced capacity restrictions those games would provide much needed match day income for teams.

 

[PL2 3DQ]

Salary caps to start immediately!
In effect clubs with large crowds and generate more revenue are penalised.

Promotion bonus payments are excluded so I would imagine player contracts would be incentivised, as Lowe has done with the new signings.
I suppose the spare money we have now could be spent on the Academy?

EFL statement

 

[HC Green]

Salary caps to start immediately!
In effect clubs with large crowds and generate more revenue are penalised.

Promotion bonus payments are excluded so I would imagine player contracts would be incentivised, as Lowe has done with the new signings.
I suppose the spare money we have now could be spent on the Academy?

EFL statement

Based on a squad of 25 players that equates to £100,000 per player. Not a bad salary.

The inclusion of agent fees much cause a bit of concern for some Clubs.

 

[Emu]

Where does this leave teams that have been spending alot of money on wages/transfer fees etc on new players the last few weeks. Mentioning no names but MK Dons, Salford, Bolton for example....

 

[Mark Colling]

Very mixed feelings.

I'm glad that something is being done on sustainability; it's a shame it took a pandemic to force the EFL to do anything at all.

However, a fixed sum for all clubs is far too blunt an instrument; the amount each club can afford is different.

... and there is still a free for all in the Championship

 

[Adam R]

Salary caps to start immediately!
In effect clubs with large crowds and generate more revenue are penalised.

Promotion bonus payments are excluded so I would imagine player contracts would be incentivised, as Lowe has done with the new signings.
I suppose the spare money we have now could be spent on the Academy?

EFL statement

Based on a squad of 25 players that equates to £100,000 per player. Not a bad salary.

The inclusion of agent fees much cause a bit of concern for some Clubs.

Is it 2.5m Gross or net? Does it include employers NI etc?

 

[Herts Green]

I don’t understand this cap at all, why didn’t they just better enforce the existing rules by which you couldn’t spend more than a certain percentage of income on wages? As far as I can see, all this does is allow a club like Fleetwood to continue to spend what they can’t afford, while a club like Portsmouth (and maybe even Argyle) is prevented from spending what they can afford. Unless I’m missing something?

 

[WoodsyGreen]

This is unbelievable. Salary caps are designed to ensure clubs don't spend beyond their means, yet how will this stop imposter clubs like Fleetwood and Salford from doing that? They'll be delighted with this news as it's given them the green light to continue their inorganic spending.