THE CAP FITS
Lockdown a blessing in disguise says Scally
GILLINGHAM chairman Paul Scally is calling for the EFL to introduce a salary cap across all three divisions to help save struggling clubs.
Championship, League One and League Two clubs are facing uncertain futures during lockdown, with many fearing they could go bust.
But Scally believes it has been a timely wake-up call, and says the top wage for a player in the Championship should be £10,000 a week, with a cap of £10million a year overall for second-tier clubs.
He would like League One wage bills capped at £2m a year and £1.3m a year for League Two clubs. EFL chairman Rick Parry led a board meeting on Wednesday and League One clubs had a conference call yesterday as they look for ways to survive and a date for returning, though playing behind closed doors will do little to ease the financial strain.
“The Championship holds the key,” said Scally, “because we can’t do what we’re trying to do in Leagues One and Two without them being on board.
“It’s got to be a league effort. I think that’s what [EFL chairman] Rick Parry will try to achieve. They could make it £10,000-a-week in the Championship. In League One, if you look at our model, we’re £1.5m a year but you could make it a £2m wage cap over 20 players. That’s not unreasonable.
“That’s 20 players, £100,000 a player and, even though you wouldn’t pay everyone that much, it would be adequate. And maybe £1.3m in League Two.
“It would be £10m in the Championship. Maybe that’s too big a gap but it needs to be somewhere in that region – it can’t be £30m and £40m because that’s just ridiculous.
“If you’ve got a wage cap in the Championship of £10m a year with 21 or 22 players, there’s still going to be three winners at the top. It won’t stop anyone getting there. It would be more of a level playing field.”
Scally believes that clubs must reboot financially and stop living beyond their means and overspending. “I don’t want the virus to continue, of course, but the lockdown has given us an opportunity to re-examine our businesses and our lives,” he added.
“If this had not happened now, the train would have gone over the cliff in the next three to six months.
“There was a lot of pain in the Championship – a lot of pain in the whole of football in all divisions – but it has stopped the train in its tracks without warning.
“Now it is making people look at their businesses, look at themselves, look at the way they’re going forward.
“And if this virus was all over today and we were back tomorrow, then we’d just go back to normal in football.
“That, in many ways, would be disaster.”
RICK PARRY has written to every EFL club insisting they are determined to finish the season.
The EFL chairman said they are in talks with the Government about how to play out the fixtures but that he wanted them behind closed doors in their own stadiums.
It comes after doubts were raised at this week’s board meeting.
Parry, right, wrote: “The objective remains to play the remaining fixtures at the 71 EFL grounds. It is important that any clubs notify the EFL of issues that may prevent this as soon as possible.
“Some progress has been made in planning how matches may take place, with draft operational plans put before the board at this week’s meeting and incorporating areas such as stadium preparation, medical provisions, staffing, media access and measures needed to ensure the safety of all.
“That includes first-team players and staff, match officials, and everyone else associated with the matchday environment.”
Parry, who said the transfer window could remain open as a “one-off”, allayed fears over testing, adding: “We’re confident that, at this time, the acquisition of supplies will not be at the expense of the country’s frontline staff. That’s not an option.”
The St John Ambulance service could provide cover on matchdays.