Salary cap voted in

Sunderland fans going apeshit on twitter. Calling to boycott any clubs who voted for it. That lot could have a salary cap of £5 billion and they’d still fcuk it up.

The League One and League Two salary cap will be the beginning of the end for clubs like ours. However well-intentioned to try and combat the temporary financial consequences of Covid and the ineffectiveness of the EFL's policing of FFP, it is a complete farce that will bring huge negative changes for the fans of many clubs in those divisions.

Looking at it macroeconomically, the  EFL Leagues One and Two aren't the only leagues in the world that can offer that standard of player a wage, the quality will certainly drop as players look to ply their trade abroad or pick up more money in Scotland or even non-league. Everyone goes on about a level playing field as if it's fair.. but it isn't. Why should a club with income like Portsmouth not be able pay more for players than Rochdale? Why should a club that's been really good at raising external investment and adept at attracting a new fanbase like Lincoln be restricted to offering the same player wages as a club like ours if we were in the same division? And why should a club like Harrogate who will be able to meet the 1.5m wage cap due to visiting fan income (when they return) be able to compete on level financial terms with us? And further down the road doesn't it make us even more vulnerable as a club by setting the wage cap so low than pretty much every Conference club and some below that will be able to compete with us on a level playing field? Clubs like ours could have one bad season and never return to the EFL and the EFL could be filled with Harrogates, Fyldes, Ebbsfleets and Solihulls. If all wages are going to be the same then players will pick their clubs on where they want to live rather than the club's potential because every club's potential will be the same. Where would that leave us? Travel to work costs will become even more of a game changer if wages are much lower.

And then there would be the greater reliance on clubs like ours loaning players from the bigger clubs giving them even more power and us reaching out for handout bowls more than ever before. Special feeder club relationships will form as bigger clubs will be able to offer players at a snip of their salary to their favoured lower league club.

And finally.. with restrictions like this in place, how long will it be before the Championship clubs break away to form a Premier League Two because a drop into League One would mean a club like Stoke or Sheffield Wednesday wouldn't be able to out-compete a Harrogate or Crawley? Where would it leave the ambitions of our club like ours? Why would any child in NE Lincs choose to support GTFC if the limit of aspiration would be a salary capped tilt at the League One title with nowhere else to progress upwards as we'll not meet the criteria of a Premier League Two in the unlikely event of a promotion spot offered? It's ok for the current core of our fanbase to have a weakened club to watch for the last decade or two of their lives, but what about the kids and what about the future of our club when this board has long gone? Where would the attractiveness of taking over a club be if the investors couldn't effect any real change on the pitch?

Better governance is needed at the EFL rather than unprogressive clubs like our crassly trying to grab a level playing field because it suits their lack of ability in certain areas or because they arrogantly believe their way is the only way to run a football club. Salary caps seem like a feasible short term fix but they will lead to a long term demise for the game we love in this country and it will adversely affect more than the odd Bury now again and millions of fans across the length and breadth of this country. I'm ashamed that our club has put itself at the forefront of a move to salary caps..Our board can choose to spend within its own means for our club to survive under their tenure (which will eventually end at some time in the future) if it wants to, but imposing a rule on more progressive clubs or clubs with higher incomes than ours is morally wrong in my opinion..It's grabbing an advantage by holding others back..and eventually it will hold boards of GTFC back in the future too by being unable to tap into the potential of our fanbase and invest it into the product on the pitch..

League One and League Two football is being unnecesarily ruined before our very eyes under the veil of "good governance".  I'm nearly done with it and how our board seem intent on dragging us to the lowest common denominator. Mark my words in a few years time.. this vote will be a dark day for English football and GTFC..

We already have rules in place so clubs can't over extend themselves. The EFL are ineffective in enforcing that, so why bring in another rule that is not needed, puts League One and League Two clubs at a disadvantage to the rest of the world, and i guess the EFL will struggle to enforce the wage cap like FFP. Back to the old days of brown paper envelopes and "jobs" for the wives and girlfiends then..

Our Chairman has already stated before this vote, that GTFC have their own unofficial cap of £1.5 million anyway, so the fact that it has now been voted in doesn't change our clubs way of operating one bit. We have proven in years gone by that we don't spend beyond our means, and it isnt going to start now. Ollie will have known this when he joined the club so will have known all along what Fenty, and now Day, were willing to give him for transfers and wages etc.

Only TWO teams voted against it in our league, so that goes to prove that League 2 Chairman's across the land are probably now happy that they don't have to dig any deeper in their pockets, just to fork out for 'just one more striker'

The EFL said the cap would cover basic wages, taxes, bonuses, image rights, agents’ fees and other fees and expenses paid directly or indirectly to all registered players.

At least they have covered all the bases so the chances of clubs offering lower wages with the offer of expenses and bonuses at the end of a season all has to be taken into consideration.

I hope they keep a tight eye on clubs finances and fine any clubs that try to work their way round it.

So Scunthorpe have signed 6 players already say on £100,000 each a year, but for working out their salary cap those six players are only counted as earning £75,000 a year (Average for league two), as are any player still under contract that earns more than £75,000 a year.

So the teams relegated from league one could have 10 players under contract on £200,000 a year each (£2,000,000 total) but that will only be counted as £125,000 each (£1,250,000) for there salary cap, so they could still sign more players as they would still have £250,000 left of their cap!
So little league two club can only spend £1,500,00 on players, but the relegated club could spent £2,250,00. That's a extra £750,000, 50% more!

I know this is an extreme case but it shows how unfair a salary cab could be.

Quoted from WayneBurnettsJockstrap

Our Chairman has already stated before this vote, that GTFC have their own unofficial cap of £1.5 million anyway, so the fact that it has now been voted in doesn't change our clubs way of operating one bit. We have proven in years gone by that we don't spend beyond our means, and it isnt going to start now. Ollie will have known this when he joined the club so will have known all along what Fenty, and now Day, were willing to give him for transfers and wages etc.

Only TWO teams voted against it in our league, so that goes to prove that League 2 Chairman's across the land are probably now happy that they don't have to dig any deeper in their pockets, just to fork out for 'just one more striker'

The EFL said the cap would cover basic wages, taxes, bonuses, image rights, agents’ fees and other fees and expenses paid directly or indirectly to all registered players.

At least they have covered all the bases so the chances of clubs offering lower wages with the offer of expenses and bonuses at the end of a season all has to be taken into consideration.

I hope they keep a tight eye on clubs finances and fine any clubs that try to work their way round it.

I know what you're saying here is right, but where is this money coming from?  We've sold ZERO season tickets, and don't even know who the 1st game is against, OR whether fans will be allowed in at all for the entire season.

One thing I would query is whether the players are still on furlough?  I know people will say no, but are they working, really?  Presumably businesses get their employees to work to bring in money, but they're not playing football for the next 2 months so are contributing nothing in reality.  They've been training at home for 5 months and that didn't count as work, so do the club actually have to pay the players right now?  I'd imagine the answer is yes, but it seems unfair on football clubs.

Whoever voted for this has just signed a death warrant for the lower leagues . Well done guys .

Just another way that leagues 1 and 2 will be cast adrift in the ever widening gap from top to bottom of the English game. How can it be right that we have 1.5 million to spend on an entire squad for an entire season, yet one Premier League player can "earn" that amount in one month and he is just one player in a massive squad. It's completely fooked up and will just make it even harder to aspire to anything other than dicking around the lower reaches on a par with teams that once wouldn't have been anywhere near us. It just reflects society today where the rich get richer and the poor can fook off. I'm about done with football.

I suspect the naming rights to Glanford Park have just become very very expensive.

Quoted from ginnywings

Just another way that leagues 1 and 2 will be cast adrift in the ever widening gap from top to bottom of the English game. How can it be right that we have 1.5 million to spend on an entire squad for an entire season, yet one Premier League player can "earn" that amount in one month and he is just one player in a massive squad. It's completely fooked up and will just make it even harder to aspire to anything other than dicking around the lower reaches on a par with teams that once wouldn't have been anywhere near us. It just reflects society today where the rich get richer and the poor can fook off. I'm about done with football.

Leave the premier league to the tourists. It means absolutely intercourse all to me.

Quoted from marinerdazza

Leave the premier league to the tourists. It means absolutely intercourse all to me.

It is devouring the game whether you ignore it or not. Our league will be full of young loanees from there, graciously offered on the cheap. I can foresee a time when half the team or more are not our players.