The relegation from Championship issue is what makes this flat cap so unworkable. Absolutely no way a team can cut its wage bill from the Championship enough in one summer to comply, so those teams have to be given special dispensation - which immediately undermines the whole point of a league-wide wage bill. You can say ‘just get players to sign a relegation wage reduction clause in their contract’, but good luck trying to get anyone signing any kind of employment contract with such a clause. Championship wage gap looks likely to be set at 18m (if it gets passed). League 1’s will be 2.5m. That’s about 7 times higher. Assuming your relegation clause looks to reduce the players’ wages in line with the league limits, you’re basically asking a player to agree to about an 85% wage drop. What person in their right mind is going to agree to that?!
I also don’t understand what ‘any signing completed before the vote takes place will contribute to the league average’ means in practice. Would be grateful if someone could explain. Why does the league average make any difference when there’s an established flat cap?
My biggest issue with this whole thing is that it’s completely rushed and hasn’t really been called for at all. The argument that it will help clubs deal with the economic fallout of covid is totally disingenuous, surely - clubs outgoings will still be more or less the same in the short term, and it’s the short term loss of revenue that covid has caused. Who, even three or four months ago, was calling for a league-wide salary cap? Would a salary cap actually protect against the most flagrant abuses of football club ownership that we have seen recently, like with Wigan?
Finally, I would also like fans to be given a say in this, as they stand to gain or lose the most from this vote. We have not even been explained in detail what the terms of this plan are, let alone been given a chance to voice concerns and have an impact on the final decision. All we’ve had are confused sound bites from managers and journalists that leave a lot of questions unanswered. It seems mad that a decision of such monumental significance to clubs in the football league hasn’t even been properly explained to supporters of those clubs.
I also don’t understand what ‘any signing completed before the vote takes place will contribute to the league average’ means in practice. Would be grateful if someone could explain. Why does the league average make any difference when there’s an established flat cap?
My biggest issue with this whole thing is that it’s completely rushed and hasn’t really been called for at all. The argument that it will help clubs deal with the economic fallout of covid is totally disingenuous, surely - clubs outgoings will still be more or less the same in the short term, and it’s the short term loss of revenue that covid has caused. Who, even three or four months ago, was calling for a league-wide salary cap? Would a salary cap actually protect against the most flagrant abuses of football club ownership that we have seen recently, like with Wigan?
Finally, I would also like fans to be given a say in this, as they stand to gain or lose the most from this vote. We have not even been explained in detail what the terms of this plan are, let alone been given a chance to voice concerns and have an impact on the final decision. All we’ve had are confused sound bites from managers and journalists that leave a lot of questions unanswered. It seems mad that a decision of such monumental significance to clubs in the football league hasn’t even been properly explained to supporters of those clubs.