CLARKE: DO IT MY WAY
League One: 3pm PETERBOROUGH owner Darragh MacAnthony has called for a wage cap of £6,000 a week to stop more League One and Two clubs going out of business like Bury. One level. There are warning signs when you hear that.
“I know football careers are short and they have to make hay while the sun shines – I am not naive and I understand how it works.
“Sometimes if you have made a few quid in football, you have got to look and think: This club is going to go under. What can I do?
“A lot of people in the game were saying about Bury that a reckoning was coming because they were handing out some massive contracts.
“I am all for a wage cap. I like the way they do things in America with the NFL.
“I think a lot of the clubs would get behind it.
“If a giant club came down, you could give them two years dispensation on the wage cap. But players have to take responsibility as well.”
Financial Fair Play rules in League One limits player expenditure to 60 per cent of turnover (50 per cent in League Two). But that has not stopped Bury’s expulsion from the EFL.
Bolton were saved just days away from liquidation, while Macclesfield players have again gone unpaid, too.
Each League One club is believed to receive £881,000 in Sky TV money plus an annual £675,000 solidarity payment paid by the Premier League.
But the financial reality is that owners like MacAnthony need to inject their own money – and sell players like striker Jack Marriott to Derby – just to keep even well-run
■ LINCOLN manager Michael Appleton has warned Peterborough his side will fight fire with fire this afternoon.
Posh’s front three Mo Eisa, Ivan Toney and Marcus Maddison have 24 goals between them so far.
“They’re very dangerous,” said Appleton
(right). “A lot of League One managers up and down the country would love to have that type of artillery. But we have got some dangerous players ourselves.” clubs solvent. “Over the years I have put in £15m,” said MacAnthony, the real estate millionaire who took over at the club in 2006.
“I have got some back so right now the club probably owes me £5-6m.”
Darren Ferguson’s side, with Mo Eisa and Ivan Toney up front, are the top scorers in the division going into today’s match with Lincoln.
“We turned down nearly £5m for one of our strikers on deadline day,” added MacAnthony.
“For any reason we don’t get promotion this season, we know we have an asset base that we can refer to.
“But I would say even a small club in League Two is probably losing upwards of £1m a year.
“If nobody starts the conversation it is just going to carry on.
“We are going to get more clubs getting into trouble, more going out of business and more heartbroken fans.
“We need action right now to ensure that another Bury does not happen.”
All 72 EFL clubs put in £30,000 to create a fund of £2m to pay clubs in short term to avoid liquidations.
Redesign loan system to cap wages at £1,000 a week in League One and £500 in League Two.
Ensure players pay the five per cent agent fees – not the clubs
Maximum wage of £6,000 for League 1 and 2 players.
Change current compensation rule to allow clubs to pay up contracts over longer period.
Separate any football debt from the stadium. League Two: 3pm DARRELL CLARKE has warned Walsall’s players must be ready to adapt if they want to play.
The Saddlers made a slow start but are up to 15th after three wins from their last four matches.
Having begun the season using wing-backs, Clarke has recently switched to a 4-4-2 and insists it is crucial his players are flexible.
“They have to be adaptable,” said the Saddlers boss, who arrived in May. “Anybody that’s followed my managerial career will know I change things if I don’t think it’s working.
“If they don’t, they won’t be playing, will they?
“Be adaptable, they’re my players, if they’re not adaptable they won’t be on the bench, they won’t be there to make changes.”