What League One’s salary cap means for Sunderland
urally have a big effect on Sunderland in the transfer market.
Phil Parkinson’s desire to bring in ‘seven or eight’ players tallies up with the squad size limit set to be imposed upon clubs, but it is the salary capthatwillposeconcernsfor Sunderland.
Imposing this limit upon the Black Cats - and other clubs who generate far more revenuethantheirrivals,such as Portsmouth and Ipswich Town - will severely affect their ability to recruit players that they may have been able to target in previous windows, given that they will now beworkingbeneathafinancial threshold.
While in the past the bigger clubs in the division were able to go out and recruit players earning far more than the League One average - because theirincomesallowedthemto without putting the club into jeopardy - this will now prove much harder.
It’s for that reason that the vast majority of clubs are yet tolaunchmajorforaysintothe transfer market this season.
One crucial factor is how the salary cap will affect those currently under contract.
It has been confirmed that an average League One wage was calculated and applied to every player currently contracted by Sunderland for the purposes of the salary cap monitoring, making initial calculations easier and giving clubsachancetorebuildinthe market this summer.
Asanexample,aplayerlike Aiden McGeady - who we can safely assume earns far higher than the League One average - will not see his full salary count in the cap calculations. Instead, for the remainder of hiscurrentdeal,hissalarywill be counted as the League One average – which is around the £1,750 mark. His actual salary willremainthesame,butSunderland can count a far lower amount towards the salary cap.
Now in theory, this should benefit the Black Cats. Given they will have very few, if any, contracted players earning less than the League One average, it will see Sunderland given some extra flexibility to manoeuvre in the transfer marketintheshort-termgiven theywillnotseetheirfullwage bill count towards the cap.
However, the problem will come in the long-term. If Sunderland wanted to negotiate a new contract with McGeady, for example, his new agreement and therefore wage would then apply towards the cap.Simplyput,itmeansSunderland would go from having an average League One wage appliedforMcGeadytohisfull salary - which is presumably far higher and would place greater strain on the club as they look to abide by the salary cap. This could leave clubs struggling to retain some of their better players given they maystruggletooffercomparable terms due to the pressures of the salary caps.
Any player who was signed before August 7 will see their wage reduced in this manner, meaning that Bailey Wright and Aiden O’Brien’s full salarieswillnotcounttowardsthe cap.
This ‘loophole’ saw clubs rushing to complete deals before the plans were passed in order to benefit from this reduction towards the salary cap.
While initially there were plans for a grace period, these are now off the table.
They have been replaced by the plan mentioned above, where every existing contract will be counted at the League One average rather than its true value for the first season.
CEO Jim Rodwell said: “Sunderland absolutely agree that clubs should become more sustainable, but that doesn't mean a hard and fast wage cap. Sustainability is not about creating a level-playing field, it's about living within your means. If that means one club is larger than another, so be it. That's what sustainability means.”