Does English Football Need a Salary Cap?

With the news that Manchester City are set to offer Chelsea and England captain John Terry an astronomical £200,000 a week in wages—virtually doubling his current measly £135,000 he picks up at Stamford Bridge—calls for a salary cap being introduced into football are starting to be heard.

However will a salary cap be able to stop owners finding ways of tempting players to join clubs which heavily rely on billionaires’ munificence?

It is generally accepted that football is financially unstable and with ever increasing player wages being the main obstacle in tackling this problem, football’s need to be self-sustaining will always be constantly threatened unless action is taken.

The age old argument of a salary cap needing to be introduced, to encourage more even competition across the leagues, seems to have been shunned by many top flight owners who prefer the unregulated system of paying players and clubs whatever wage or price they wish.

It seems that a majority of support on implementing the cap, from Premier League chairmen, directors and executives will never be found—despite the public calls from Bolton’s Phil Gartside, Blackburn’s John Williams and most recently, Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis who all wish to see a salary cap introduced and keep clubs living within their means.

Although it does seem convenient that it is only now, at a time when Arsenal’s seemingly cemented position in the top four, is being threatened by another club, that they come out with this high and almighty suggestion—like a teacher trying to ‘get down with the kids’ and relate with the rest of the league.

Nevertheless, it is positive to see a club with such a high stature, finally taking a stance on the issue.

Gazidis who has a history of commissioning in Major League Soccer in the US, has called for restraint and would like to see a similar style of ‘salary capping’ as is popular in most US sports—brought into the beautiful game in England.

He like many has called for the FA to set an example, by introducing the cap into the English leagues first. 

However, the counter argument would be a salary cap would need to be implemented by FIFA worldwide across all leagues, otherwise if the restraint was only put in place purely in the English Leagues, then the top players would simply move abroad which would leave English football in greater despair.

And even if the cap was forced upon Europe’s top leagues, you would soon find a rise in the countless number of footballing mercenaries, hopping on a plane to the Middle East proclaiming that the United Arab Emirates Football League has always been the dream league to play their trade in.

Whether this apparent premonition would allow more English talent to flourish with the added boost of more playing time and being given the chance to shine, is another matter.

However, even if the cap was introduced, fat cats with unlimited finances (and even those clubs who like to believe they do too) will undoubtedly find ways and loopholes of getting around these restrictions in order to stay ahead of the competition.

Huge signing on fee’s and added bonuses to players contracts would likely make a mockery of the cap- but something needs to be done and a way needs to be found of making sure it works and is fair.

At present, if a player wants to be paid more by a club, they will always find willing suitors ready to cater to their every need. This needs to be stopped if the game is to survive.

A system does need to be introduced, but the suggestion of linking salary caps to that of the income a club makes, is wrong. This would kill clubs with lower gate revenues who rely on television revenue to survive, but perhaps the idea of linking the cap with the amount of profit a club makes, could be a smarter suggestion.

Whatever is decided, football is in a better shape than most sports to implement a cap. Football is under such scrutiny with detailed investigations into transfers and multiple overseeing bodies in place- there is no reason why a salary cap wouldn’t work!

Although I’m sure we’re much more likely to see ‘more important’ issues, such as video replays and the introduction of the 39th game, put into action way before we embark upon this issue.