Cap rules overhaul would hurt big clubs
SUNDERLAND have hit out at plans to introduce a flat salary cap in League One – insisting sustainability must not mean a level playing field.
The EFL are considering proposals to restrict the size of squads, and impose salary caps of £2.5m in League One and £1.5m in League Two, as part of a drive to ensure clubs are run as viable businesses.
But Black Cats chief executive Jim Rodwell says the plans as they are set out make no sense, as they would limit a club such as Sunderland – with an average gate of just over 30,000 last season – to the same wage constraints as Accrington Stanley, whose average attendance of 2,862 is the lowest in the third tier.
Clubs in Leagues One and Two are currently subject to the EFL’s Salary Cost Management Protocol (SCMP) which limits clubs to paying a set proportion – 60% in League One – of their turnover on wages.
In a week that has seen Championship side Wigan Athletic go into administration, and chair of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport Committee Julian Knight has warned that 10-15 other EFL clubs could go the same way in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis, League One clubs held a conference call yesterday to discuss salary cap proposals.
Rodwell said: “We don’t think that the proposed flat cap on salaries makes sense. We are all for running sustainable football clubs, but sustainability is not the same as levelling the playing field.
“Next thing you know there will be conversations about sharing gate receipts like they did in the early 1980s! I think the EFL are oversimplifying the sustainability issue.
“For a lot of clubs in League One, a £2.5m cap on wages is highly attractive, but our argument is that as a big football club we can generate more revenue and therefore we should be able to spend that revenue on players while remaining sustainable.
“This issue is not supposed to be about level playing fields, it is supposed to be about sustainability and trying to avoid what has happened to Wigan this week, and to Bury [who were expelled from the EFL due to financial issues] last summer.
“We agree with sustainability, but this is not the way forward at all.”
Any wage cap introduced in the EFL would be subject to a transition period, as clubs would have to honour existing contracts.
Rodwell also insisted the club is ‘absolutely committed’ to running a Category One academy and will replace departed head Paul Reid.
The Black Cats’ U23 and U18 teams have endured catastrophic seasons and some fans questioned whether the academy – which costs around £4m per year to run – is going to being wound down.
This week, academy boss Reid left Sunderland and while acknowledging the club would have to ‘do things differently,’ Rodwell said: “We are absolutely committed to the academy and our Category One status. Having a category one academy in League One is difficult but that is what we are committed to.”
One of the problems has been that several of the club’s top youngsters have opted to join Premier League clubs rather than sign professional terms on Wearside in recent years.
Meanwhile, Bali Mumba is said to be on the verge of a move to Norwich for a fee that has been reported as a bargain £350,000, although addons could double that.
The 18-year-old is about to enter the final year of his current deal and Rodwell hinted that Mumba had indicated that he would not renew.
But the club’s CEO says part of the new academy manager’s brief will be to find ways to keep hold of the club’s brightest prospects.
“We’ve got to do more to try and keep hold of these guys, the Joe Hugills and the Logan Pyes,” Rodwell said, referring to two players who left for Manchester United.
“There are things that I think we can do, but it is difficult to get your best young players to commit longterm to a football club at this level rather than look to clubs in the leagues above.”
He added: “As for Bali, he felt that his future lay elsewhere, and that’s what has led to this situation.”
We are all for running sustainable football clubs, but sustainability is not the same as levelling the playing field