[Archived] John Williams In Favour Of A Salary Cap.

[den]

LINK.

Thought this was worth a thread of it's own, being that it's tied to the salary cap issue.

Williams saying that a salary cap that opened up the competition in the Prem league is what he's working for.

[ABBEY]

if they did imagine the size of the brown paper bags changing hands under the egg and bacon tables in the transport cafe.

[T4E]

It's encouraging that talk of this seems to be gathering pace a little bit.

[Amo]

What a flattering picture. The caption should read 'EUUUUUUUUU!!' under it.

A salary cap won't work in English football. Clubs and agents will find ways around it.

[CrazyIvan]

IF it could be made to work, and that is a big IF, it could make the Premier League a better league for clubs like us. The worry for Premier League bosses is that the 'best' players would all leave and go to Spain/Italy/France/Germany/USA etc. for more money unless it was introduced on a more widespread and fair basis (differing tax rules etc taken into account...). Think it'll happen? Depends if the talk gets translated into action. I've not seen much of that from UEFA recently. FIFA would need to take a lead I think.

[T4E]

It wont happen any time soon. Football is far too precious, especially in this country, to be capable of making a decision as big as this and implementing it within 10 years. Same goes for video replays, kick ins replacing throw ins, and anything else on a relatively large scale that is continually shied away from.

I bet the 39th game happens before all of this stuff.

[philipl]

It wont happen any time soon. Football is far too precious, especially in this country, to be capable of making a decision as big as this and implementing it within 10 years. Same goes for video replays, kick ins replacing throw ins, and anything else on a relatively large scale that is continually shied away from.

I bet the 39th game happens before all of this stuff.

Talking of which....

I am nervous about a salary cap.

Fixed monetary upper limits across UEFA OK but anything linking salaries to income would be a killer for Rovers with the second lowest gate revenue in the Premier League.

[Eddie]

Yep, it can't be turnover related, it needs to be a flat rate that applies to every team. I'm not worried about whether or not it is applied across Europe, I think the rest will follow if it is introduced. The best players will still want to play for United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal and even if you greatly reduced our expenditure on wages it would still compete with midtable sides in Europe's larger leagues.

[The Harwood Yankee]

I wrote to the then Rovers chairman Robert Coar about this issue about 3 years ago and suggested that a salary cap was the best option for making the Premiership fairer and to stop the Top 4 monopoly. He telephoned me at home to chat about it, which i thought was good of him - I couldnt see many other Premiership chairmen bothering to do that - but he pretty much ruled it out as an option saying it would put the English league behind the rest of Europe and if we introduced a salary cap and the rest of Europe didnt all the best players would just disappear over there & our league would be the worse off for it. I suppose I could see his argument, but I would still prefer an English league which was competitive & fair, minus the big-time charlies, rather than the current predictable 4-horse race.

[Frisky Jim]

I wonder if Williams would be calling for a salary cap if Jack was still around?

Williams makes a prat of himself yet again.

[92er]

I wonder if Williams would be calling for a salary cap if Jack was still around?

Williams makes a prat of himself yet again.

I suspect so; even Uncle Jack couldn't compete with these guys.

[CrazyIvan]

I wonder if Williams would be calling for a salary cap if Jack was still around?

Williams makes a prat of himself yet again.

I was wondering when the terets like response about JW would come from FJ

[brightonrover]

Of course a salary cap is a good idea but it's as likely to happen as clubs with debt being barred from the Chumpions League.

[LeChuck]

Of course a salary cap is a good idea but it's as likely to happen as clubs with debt being barred from the Chumpions League.

Why would you ban clubs with debt? Debt isn't necessarily bad - most people live with mortgages, that doesn't mean they're in bad shape financially.

I'd love a salary cap to come in but, as others have said, if it was linked to income then it would probably just make matters worse. Unfortunately I think that is the most likely outcome if anything happens, the talk has risen again because of the debt some clubs are in, not because people want to attempt to level the playing field.

[Blue n White Rover]

I wonder if Williams would be calling for a salary cap if Jack was still around?

Williams makes a prat of himself yet again.

Well, the FACT is that Uncle Jack is not around. The FACT is we can't dwell on our past and have to look at the future. So stop with your "ifs" because its reality and we get on with life with the day to day problems we face. Currently in the financial crisis Rovers may not be able to compete in the top flight and thats why a Salary Cap is one of the most sensible option we have.

[scotchrover]

First of all somebody look at what the average salary in the prem was when Sky came in for the football rights and now look at the average salary.

If we don't cap the wages of footballers soon then there will be no limit to what a footballer gets. Can you imagine another 10 years of wages being like this.

I predict in another 10 years if football continues on the money path its on now, we will see the number of clubs go out of existance boom along with the number of clubs starting on negative points like Rotherham and Luton.

The only way we are going to see clubs control their finances is with an ITV Digital collapse to the premier league and I feel that setanta will be the first mirrored ITV Digital collapse.

[BuckyRover]

I'm not totally in favour of a salary cap.

Other top sportsmen (Golf, Basketball, F1, Baseball) all get ludicrously high salaries.

That is just the way it is.

If it is not going to the players it will just be going to the chairman.

We will see what happens

[dave birch]

Salary caps do work, but only if you want them to and are prepared to accept the short term consequences should other leagues not go down the same path.

My idea would be for all clubs to be given the same spending limit, not based on turnovers or profit or any other criteria. It would be an amount that the PL arrived at that ensured that all clubs were not putting themselves in financial danger.

Would it be a big thing if some of the foreign superstars left? It would mean more local players and could, conceivably improve the national squad.

It works well in the AFL (in conjunction with a "draft" system for players) and in the NRL (without the "draft" system). Admittedly the NRL loses players to Union and the English super league, but it doesn't detract from the spectacle of the game here and certainly doesn't hinder the national side (not that there's much international competition anyway)

[Foxxx]

Cant see it happening, not with there being a chance to be relegated.

There are not many competitions that have a salary cap & relegation, Super League is the only one i can think of, and they have moved to franchises now. And a few years ago, Wigan had a horrible season in the Super League, and had the chance to get relegated, they broke the salary cap to ensure they didnt get relegated that season, and were docked points for breaching the cap the next season.

[dave birch]

Foxxx, Sort of agree with you about the relegation issue, but if you think about it, there would be less financial hurt if a team was relegated when a cap was in place, than the present situation.

I suppose the only thing that everyone agrees on is that something has to be done.

[Alan75]

Foxxx, Sort of agree with you about the relegation issue, but if you think about it, there would be less financial hurt if a team was relegated when a cap was in place, than the present situation.

I suppose the only thing that everyone agrees on is that something has to be done.

bet the players dont

[CAPT KAYOS]

I'm not totally in favour of a salary cap.

Other top sportsmen (Golf, Basketball, F1, Baseball) all get ludicrously high salaries.

That is just the way it is.

If it is not going to the players it will just be going to the chairman.

We will see what happens

And look what is being mentioned about the spending in F1 by Mosley chappie.

Conversely, look at the '1 off Stanford' cricket match where $1m is up for grabs for each winning player - fair do's that's for actually winning something - but will it stop there?

Money is turning sport into something totally opposite to what it is supposed to be about.

[thenodrog]

I am nervous about a salary cap.

Fixed monetary upper limits across UEFA OK but anything linking salaries to income would be a killer for Rovers with the second lowest gate revenue in the Premier League.

Don't link them to income then. £25 max wage had nothing bto do with income had it?

Otherwise gunner you are unwittingly arguing for Lancs Utd!

but I would still prefer an English league which was competitive & fair, minus the big-time charlies, rather than the current predictable 4-horse race.

You could always join burnley bob at t'turf. The Championship must be about the most competative league in Europe.

[philipl]

Don't link them to income then. £25 max wage had nothing bto do with income had it?

Otherwise gunner you are unwittingly arguing for Lancs Utd!

Don't be daft.

Why not do something useful and suggest a line of argument for a fixed maximum wage which would win at least 14 votes at a meeting of Premier League Chairmen?

[thenodrog]

Don't be daft.

Why not do something useful and suggest a line of argument for a fixed maximum wage which would win at least 14 votes at a meeting of Premier League Chairmen?

Indeed so why did you not suggest that in your earlier post?

Anyway you'd do well to get 14 to agree. The likes of the big 4 would surely be joined by spurs, Villa, Everton, S'land and Newcastle in linking wages to income / attendance.