EFL CLUBS’ SALARY CAP SHOWDOWN

CHAMPIONSHIP clubs have demanded a meeting in person next week to resolve the salary cap row after being unable to agree new spending limits.

A Championship Working Party have proposed that an annual cap of £18million on player wages be introduced across the division next season.

But it is being resisted by several clubs, which has led to the demand for show-down talks to reach a solution.

The EFL are wary of potential public health implications of sanctioning a first meeting of the clubs since lockdown began in March, but have provisionally booked Nottingham Forest’s City Ground for Thursday.

Clubs have been told that they will be limited to having one delegate at the meeting, which could yet take place virtually via Microsoft Teams if the Covidsecure protocols cannot be put in place.

The salary cap proposal is under attack on two fronts, with the bigger clubs objecting to restrictions they feel could limit their scope to speculate in the hope of winning promotion to the Premier

League. The smaller clubs are opposed to the change as it would mean an end to the EFL’s profit and sustainability rules, which limit clu bs’ permitted losses to £39m over a three-year period. EFL chairman Rick Parry (left) is determined to use the crisis triggered by Covid-19 to restructure finances in the lower leagues, but the final decision will be left to the clubs. League One and League Two clubs are close to agreement on imposing respective salary caps of £2.5m and £1.5m next season, with the matter to be voted on at the end of the month.