Is it Time for the Premier League to Adopt a Wage Cap?
by Gillen Reid on January 11th, 2010 390 words | 9 commentsCOS Contributor Gillen Reid wonders if the Premier League should follow the MLS’s lead?
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Its well documented that the premiership is the richest league in the world, there players are paid an astronomical amount of money, with contingents in a number of the more dominant premiership sides over the 100k per week mark, and with the Blackburn chairman recently reporting that 82% of the clubs turnover goes to wages alone, which pays testament to the size of the problem presented to the premiership. Debts mounting for smaller clubs now there are reports of more and more clubs being issued with warnings or winding up orders and so on. Michele Platini himself is planning the banning of all clubs in debt from competing in the champions league.
So what do the FA do about this I hear you ask?
Well one of the top dogs once mentioned that there is only 1 way to do this, which is to set a percentage limit in relation to turnover, say limited to 50% of money made by any one club is allowed to go to wages. This would obviously create a unfair advantage due to the varying sizes of the 20 clubs in the league.
Now I know a lot of the attraction to the premiership is based on the simple fact of money, Gareth Barry said himself he made his move to Manchester City for the very point of a massive wage rise. So I ask you what if the FA suffered the bankruptcy and loss of say for example Portsmouth, this would in theory prompt them into action. The MLS is well known for its lack of quality in terms of skill and pace. But the wage structure is very strict, each club has a set wage structure imposed by the FA, only 2 players allowed to be paid whatever they want (the david beckham rule) which in return has removed any sort of threat of clubs going into any sort of debt
So where would the premiership be with this kind of wage structure involved?
Would it take the simple task of swallowing the pride of being the richest and most exciting league in the world for the stability and integrity of the club that compete in it?
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anonymous - January 11th, 2010 at 1:43 pm
Good article and a point well made. If Platini wants to ban all clubs in debt, then Arsenal, Man Utd, Chelsea and Liverpool will face elimination from the Champions League surely? I know that the wages paid are ridiculous, but then so is a movie star getting $20 million for one film. Portsmouth is a sad situation and one which i hope never happens to Spurs…Garry Bacon
anonymous - January 11th, 2010 at 1:47 pm
He would love to do that. Some players are overhyped, overpaid, prima donnas, who don’t have a clue. For example Ronaldo, the highest paid slave in history.
jimmyk - January 11th, 2010 at 2:35 pm
deffo needed. teams like man city and chelsea are distorting the market…£15m for kaboul is the equivalent of an £80 mars bar
anonymous - January 11th, 2010 at 3:30 pm
AlexC
I think uefa or fifa should cap transfer fees so that a player can only be sold for the value of his current contract plus 50% this would make the transfer market more competitive and will result in the inflated wages and transfer fees coming down for example if Rooney or Drogba has two years left on their contract with their outstanding wage valued at £5million then the most a club could sell them for would be £7.5million.
anonymous - January 11th, 2010 at 5:11 pm
It is all very well just attempting to cap wages or cap trasnfer fees. But if you cap wages where and when do you start to cap them? what about inflation how would inflation be reflected in wages? CLubs would start paying them in other ways e.g. greater money for winning etc.
If you cap transfers the clubs will just find another way round to paying the selling or find another way of luring the player.
Its a nice idea and one I support but practically I don’t think it would work.
anonymous - January 12th, 2010 at 6:09 am
It has worked in the United States for years, across many sports.
isaac hunt - January 12th, 2010 at 4:26 pm
yes – poorer clubs will be able to compete more
no- the best foreign players would prefer moves to spain and other countries
anonymous - January 12th, 2010 at 7:21 pm
Isaac hunt- I understand that fear of losing the best players to other league’s. That is why i would want it to be introduced uefa wide i am sure that the sponsorship incentives for players would still remain and the increased revenue for clubs would come from not having to spend 70% of their turnover on wages because clubs wouldn’t pay £80,000 to £90,000 a week when the sell on value would be so low that they would certainly lose money by paying inflated wages. The fact that the t.v money and other league income i,e sponsors etc would still remain at a high level and would mean that clubs like Hull City , Birmingham could compete for the top stars in football because all they would have to pay is whats left of the players contract plus 50%.
anonymous - January 12th, 2010 at 9:44 pm
YES OR FUCKIN BLOW UP MANCITYS GROUND