Taylor critical of decision to scrap EFL’s salary cap
‘It is another sign of the mismanagement at the top level’ insists Exeter manager
EXETER City boss Matt Taylor has laid into the ‘absolute shambles’ of the scrapping of the salary cap in League Two - and clubs who have ‘claimed poverty and signed a whole host of players’.
Earlier this month an independent arbitration panel ruled the salary cap in Leagues One and Two, which clubs voted for in August, was unlawful and unenforceable.
The rules had set caps at £1.5m in League Two and £2.5m in League One, but following the judgment, they immediately reverted back to rules that link player-related expenditure to turnover.
Taylor, who takes his spromotion-seeking side to Colchester United tonight, said that it was another sign of the mismanagement of the game at the top level and judging by the amount of business clubs did in January, one that they were expecting to happen.
A total of 129 players were signed by League Two clubs either on permanent or loan deals in the January transfer window by the clubs, with Newport County, Grimsby Town, Barrow, and Bradford City bringing in nine players each, while no club signed fewer than City’s’ three.
“Judging by the amount of players a lot of clubs signed, I think a lot of people expected this,” Taylor said.
“The rumours have been there in the game for a while that it would be thrown out and scrapped, but it is another sign of the mismanagement at the top level. We’ve said enough times about whoever is managing the game, be it the FA, the Premier League, or the EFL.
“Something can get introduced and myself as a manager, I was working to a certain budget and structure for next season, and then it gets thrown out after a January transfer window. It’s a shambles. There is no other way to describe that than an absolute shambles, but all I can keep doing is working to the parameters that I am given by the board.
“But of course it affects the rest of the league and the clubs with more money. It has been interesting to see how many clubs have claimed poverty in the last 12 months and then signed a whole host of players, and we are bottom of that list.
“We are not claiming poverty, we are a relatively stable club, and it shows how sensible we have been, but it has been interesting to see, and what we expected to happen that the salary cap got thrown out and then the clubs can justify signing all these players.”
Barrow, who made nine signings in January, have subsequently also taken advantage of the Government’s job retention scheme at furloughed up to six players not considered part of the first team squad - despite chairman Paul Hornby having recently said their financial outlook was at its healthiest for decades’.
“I can’t comment on other clubs,” Taylor said, when asked for his thoughts on Barrow’s actions. “It is their decision how they spend their money, but one thing is clear that we cannot have the examples of Bury and Bolton and Macclesfield and clubs who have overspent.
“I have no problem with clubs spending a lot of money if they can afford it, but if you cannot afford it, you cannot spend it. The responsibility of that is partly the club, but also the EFL and that has to be investigated more, and more than it has been, as otherwise we will get more and more of these examples.
“Thankfully we are not in that position, but if we had spent our money unwisely or differently at different times in the past, we would be in a much worse position than we are now.”