EFL clubs are edging towards embracing a salary cap – after the stunning punishment for European rugby champs Saracens “legitimised” the idea.
New EFL chairman Rick Parry confirmed bosses at the 72 clubs are now accepting there must be greater financial controls to prevent a repetition of the Bury debacle.
1
A BBC survey revealed Championship clubs lost a combined £307m in 2017-18, with spending on player and staff wages adding up to 11 per cent more than total income.
But Parry said that the clubs have already begun detailed discussions on how to keep themselves solvent and viable.
And the former Prem chief exec revealed Saracens’ recent £5.4m fine and 35 point deduction for breaching rugby’s salary cap rules had focused minds.
Parry said: “Post Bury, there is a much greater degree of realism among the clubs.
“Not just in terms of finances but in terms of the recent prosecutions of clubs.
“There’s an attitude where if people transgress and don’t pay wages on time they need to be punished. There’s definitely a changing of attitude.”
Parry added: “For the Championship to be overspending on wages, to be paying more than 100 per cent of income on wages is something that has been there for years.
“We do have quite different rules in Championship compared with salary cost management protocols lower down.
“But some clubs have looked at the Saracens decision and said ‘does that means salary caps are now legal, is that something we should explore?’
“We had always felt it was something that couldn’t be explored. But is it something that can be explored?
“To say that’s the majority view or something that is likely to happen is way off the mark. It’s part of the debate.
“What most people say that we are really worried about spiralling wages. I don’t think it’s something that separates big clubs from small ones.”
The Bury debacle made 2019 a bruising year for the EFL although Parry’s arrival appears to have stabilised the League and its relationship with the clubs.
Parry, though, conceded: “I definitely can’t say Bury will be the last, there may be more fall-out to come.
“We have seen the problems with Macclesfield which are fairly extreme and they are not the only one.
“Maybe we are going to have to go through more pain before it gets better.”
