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Just been reading about the Swindon manager having a go at Bolton. They offered a three year contract and
wages "we couldn't compete with" for Eoin Doyle. BW have also signed Sarcevic, who was Argyle's player of the season. I thought a) they were in a transfer embargo and b) they were just coming out of a dodgy period finance-wise!
Do we know if/when there is a salary cap for Leagues ! and 2?
I agree with Gazans comments. How come a club that has had a recent history that involves poor financial controls suddenly start to spend the cash. As there is no salary cap in place are they trying to beat the system before it comes. In my opinion they are heading for a fall in the near future and this again will impact on other football clubs. This is a period for clubs to take a close look at the way they are run.Do they want to be around for another 100 years plus or just here for the short term and go for glory or bust.
I was surprised to see Bolton's transfer activity. Fully agree with other comments that Bolton should have learned from its' recent history about over spending. There will be a lot of debate over setting a salary cap for Leagues One and Two, but, given the financial problems resulting from the impact of Covid 19 on clubs' revenue streams, you would think there would be great enthusiasm to set limits prior to the start of the new season.
Think the salary cap needs to include the championship as well as leagues one and two.
I agree that the Championship should be included, but I do think the Premiership parachute payments to relegated clubs would need to be accounted for. Perhaps they should cease as the level of payment would distort a salary cap. Time for Premiership clubs to include a clause in each player contract slashing salaries following relegation. Of course, given the gulf in income between Premiership and Championship clubs, would a Premiership salary cap really help the latter? Aston Villa spent £145m on mostly crap players to try and ensure survival. They will have to hope that they do receive £80m for Grealish to help balance the books should they go down. I read that Watford had not included salary reduction clauses in their contracts should relegation occur.
Somebody told me Burnley were on the edge of financial ruin. You have to think how far removed is the Premier League from reality when an average club cannot manage.
I have a slight problem with absolute salary caps as they take no account of income. It seems wrong to me that, for example, in League 1 next season that Sunderland and Accrington should have the same salary cap when one has crowds ten times that of the other. I’m all for the salaries spent being a percentage of income but then isn’t that similar to what we already have? And is that measured by gate income or total income, including sponsorship and so on?
It also doesn’t take account of the sugar daddy. I know that’s a very difficult area to police, but there are clubs like Bournemouth, Fleetwood and Forest Green (And of course Chelsea and Manchester City) where the owner has put money into the club as a ‘donation’ not as a loan and, as a result, those clubs have prospered - in the case of City a large part of East Manchester has benefited.
A far more realistic way of progressing would be to adopt the German model, where financial plans and bonds are submitted to the German FA and, if they do not meet stringent rules, then the club is relegated. It sounds harsh, but has enabled clubs with sugar daddies (like Hoffenheim and RB Leipzig) to climb the pyramid at the expense of badly run, historic names. The Alex would be fine, but there are a few clubs would have to mend their ways and no, it doesn’t involve an arbitrary salary cap.
But haven't a lot of problems been caused by 'messiah' owners who come in with money but then just lose interest or who have always had ulterior motives. As much as I dislike City's 'bought success', they are the exception when it comes to their local generosity We need a board system to mirror our own.
But to get back to the main point, a salary cap would be proportional to turnover rather than a flat figure, wouldn't it?
You would think that’s how a salary cap should work, but that’s not the way it’s being proposed - one reads articles quoting £1.5m for L1 and £1.25m for L2, for example.
On your specific point, you’re right about messiah owners, as you call them, but they come in many forms. The Glazers have left Utd with debts still at around £300m and continue to take money from the club as well as the club having to pay mortgage repayments running into tens of millions annually. However, if the rules around club ownership did not allow responsible messiahs to invest in clubs then you would never have different clubs challenging at the top of the game, for exam0e. City and, before them Chelsea, wouldn’t have been able to encroach on Utd, Liverpool and Arsenal’s hegemony. I know that it’s hard to police, but not impossible. Clubs must be transparent in their financial dealings such that loans and ‘donations’ are clearly identified. I believe that City got round FFP by having unrealistically large sponsorship deals with Etihad Airways, for example, but it’s prefectly legal, it’s just that the old guard don’t like the noisy neighbours. Well, get used to it, there’s a fair number of middle and Far Eastern people, and Americans, willing to invest in English football.