Would wage restrictions work?

A working party set up to investigate the viability of wage caps in football is to present its findings to League chairmen.

It is believed that the party, headed by QPR chairman David Davies, will recommend that clubs limit their outlay on players' wages to 60% of their annual turnover.

If accepted, the limits could enforced as early as next season - paving the way for even stricter controls in future years.

Should clubs impose a salary cap?

Although wage-capping should see a reduction in the outrageous amounts received by the top players, it would be a shame to see the end of such success stories as Fulham and Portsmouth, who could never have achieved the status they have with a wage cap in place.

Sometimes it's exciting to have a rich chairman plug loads of money into a club and see them have a dramatic rise up the league tables isn't it?!

Sixty grand a week is ridiculous, so I think something should be done, but then again, why punish everyone? If Mansfield Town wanted to sign an ex-Premier League man who would raise interest in the club and bring excitement to the fans, but would raise their salary output to, say, 63%, wouldn't it be wrong to stop them?
James Moore, UK/Japan

A salary cap is a waste of time. Clubs will devise methods to circumvent them. Here in Australia two big clubs (one in rugby league and the other in Australian rules) got found out.

They were financially punished, but it showed that clubs, which the salary cap was trying to protect, were prepared to payout or offer financial inducements to get the top players.
Peter Haslett, Australia

Certainly, should the proposal be viable. However, equally important, if not more so, is the policy of the importation of 'foreign' players. Scotland is the prime example of the paucity of 'home grown' players playing - eg Celtic had one Scot, repeat one Scot, on the team sheet in their recent Uefa game.

The lesser teams are likewise extremely short of Scots registered, and the quality of the foreign players sadly is according to the income which, I may add, is near poverty.

Scotland's national team is comprised in the main of youngsters with little experience from Divisions Two and lower playing in 'lesser' clubs in England, hence recent results.

A sad situation which demands immediate attention for the future of the game, but who will undertake the task of applying such legislation!!
Jim Bryce, Canada

Why should there be a wage cap? It is completely unjustifiable - no-one goes around putting wage caps on overpaid company executives or film stars (who do much less for Britain's economy than David Beckham, etc).

The only difference is that the people who have the say in these payment matters use common sense and realise they can't give out more than they earn, and only give pay rises once the money is in the bank. It is time that football club chairmen simply realised that nowadays, like it or not, they are running businesses.
Ben, England

A salary cap for clubs is the only way forward. For too long clubs have failed to run themselves in a financially responsible manner, driven on by the supporter's demands for success at any price. The collapse of ITV Digital has made people understand this, which is the only good thing to have come out of the whole mess.

A salary cap for clubs continues to reward those big and successful clubs with a large fan base, allows freedom over player's wages within a transparent overall wage budget and protects clubs from over-stretching themselves, sounds like a sensible arrangement. Mind you how long till clubs, agents & accountants find "off balance sheet" ways of paying players via sponsorship deals etc, to work around the cap?
Chris Elmes, UK

A salary cap is a great idea, as long as it is accepted by all. Here in the US, baseball tried to introduce a salary cap, and the players' union was going to call a strike to protect the players' ridiculous salaries, not to mention transfer fees.

Clubs have a annual salary charge in the region of $130m. When supporters realise the salaries, they understand the rise in cost for tickets and merchandise. It is about time the authorities do something about this all.
Sackbir, USA

Regulating the amount of debt that banks/capital markets can extend to football clubs who are listed companies would have a dramatic affect. Many clubs would then be forced to have a positive profit and loss statement - which would act to control wages should the required first team squad number be fixed at 30.

Where clubs are private and have very rich chairmen (or private consortiums) the corporate governance rules can be changed to see their investment weighted against the total raised from commercial sources (say a ratio of no more than 3:1).

This would stop over-zealous chairman and consortiums underwriting large obligations on player contracts that, when times get hard for their own non-football businesses, they then renege on their football responsibilities.

Come on, it's meant to be people's game - let's see some corporate protection put in place.
Martin, UK/Australia

How about a two-tier system of wages where the club-player contract says: if we are in the Premiership we will pay you X amount, but if we get relegated, we will only pay you Y amount, but it returns to X amount if we are promoted again?

Surely this would prevent the dire straits that some clubs find themselves in eg Bradford and Benito Carbone??
Richard Kuczma, England

In the societies we live in, sports personalities are paid far too much! Sure, they train hard and have to be in excellent physical form. But does it warrant the ridiculously huge amounts of money they make? No.

There are others who work just as hard, train just as hard (such as policemen, fireman etc) and they get paid next to nothing...it's time for a hard look at the way we do things and start paying decent salaries all round, not just a few!
Raj, UK

When I moved to the USA in 1999 from England I had a hard time understanding the concept of a salary cap. However, it is the most obvious thing in the world. You have a squad of 30 players and a maximum allowable payroll.

If you want to buy an expensive player on 60k a week you will have to balance the books with a few 5k players. What you end up with is a greater balance to the leagues.

The team that won the Superbowl last year, New England, were terrible the year before. The team that wins the Superbowl is usually the best-coached TEAM and not the richest set of individuals.

The team I follow back home is Leeds Utd. They have a star player in Alan Smith who is Leeds through and through. Unfortunately he may well go to another club, not because he is greedy or disloyal, but because his agent has no respect for his loyalty to his home team.

With a salary cap in place the pressure exerted by agents would diminish and maybe we would see Rios playing for West Ham all their careers.

No matter what happens, something needs to happen that creates a more level playing field. As many have voiced I would rather see my local team playing poorly than not have a local team...and that is what will happen.
Keith Beattie, USA

Wage caps are in place here in the States, with very good results. The NBA has caps on how much a player can make, while the NFL caps how much clubs spend on an entire team. The NFL also requires clubs to spend a minimum amount of money on player salaries as well.

If the Nationwide League is to impose caps, maybe they should look at the two types already in place, then adjust for football. In the long run, I believe that caps will have to be the way to go for League clubs to survive.
Ray Marcham, Spokane, USA

How would this affect a club like Portsmouth, who currently pay out around 120% of their turnover in wages? They are able to do this due to the fact that they have got a rich chairman. If they were to try and run as a proper business they would be in big trouble.
Scott Jenkins, England

The wage cap proposed by Europe's top clubs is not going to solve the problems in football. In fact, it will make things worse. Linking the salary to the club's earnings will favour clubs like Manchester United, as their turn over is far higher than most other clubs.
Noel Monks, UK

The idea of salary caps sounds like a good concept, but in reality it is unsustainable, and will be bad for the game as a whole. The League cannot play big brother to the clubs' accountants. If the clubs are stupid enough to make ridiculous financial decisions the league cannot take responsibility for that.

Let's stop being envious of good footballers who earn big salaries. It's simple supply and demand. And what's wrong with a few clubs dominating? We'll never be able to change the oligopoly situation, which is a natural by-product of capitalism and free markets.

The only way to stop this, in football, is to go back to the days when a team could only select players from it's own area - e.g. Liverpool FC could only field born and bred Scousers!
Jomo, St Lucia

A salary cap for all the leagues in Britain is long overdue. This is the only way to guarantee that clubs like Man Utd, Arsenal and Liverpool cannot always buy their way out of poor form, and will make every team compete on a more level playing field.

In recent years, the leagues have turned into a "Who's got the most money?" competition, rather than a question of commitment and skill from a team. Restricting the amounts that clubs can pay players will make sure that not all the best players will go to the same club.

I'm sure anybody with half a brain and an open chequebook could have managed Man Utd to all their recent success. I fear that Sir Alex is a tad overrated.
Steve Sullivan, England

Clubs that cannot manage their finances should go bust - end of story. Very quickly you will be left with a much sounder and stronger footing, and the poorly run clubs will disappear. This may seem harsh, but in the long run it will produce higher quality football. And that should be the ultimate goal.

The fact is - and it is a hard pill for many to swallow - for the population size of this country and the relative lack of wealth we have far too many professional clubs. Many of them simply have to die.
Hoops, UK

The salary cap is long overdue. Not only will it help slow down the financial crisis that football is currently facing, but it will also promote commitment amongst players. A player who is willing to pledge his future to a club knowing that his wages will be enforced by a cap, is a player worth keeping.

Most players today have lost the true essence of the game, and it's more to do with what car they drive than the badge on their football shirts.
Jay, UK

The problem with the proposed cap is it will continue the current polarisation towards the big clubs at the expense of the small ones. Man Utd have by far the biggest salary bill in the league, yet are comfortably within the proposed limit, thus they can continue to poach whoever they want.

Also, what sanctions would be applied if, for some reason, a club's turnover drops and they are in breach of the agreement?
Giles Daman, UK

Yes, players should have their wages capped. Football is in danger of bankrupting itself due to the unjustified amounts of money players are paid. They have become greedy, have no loyalty and should only be earning a maximum wage of �5,000 per week - even Premiership players.
Simon Isaacs, England

The idea is a step in the right direction, but I can't see how it will work. If a rich club wants to flex its muscles to get the right player, how can they be legally be restricted from using their assets and financial strength to better themselves?

The problem lies with poor management from the Football League, right through to club chairmen and managers. A solution along the lines of large bonds being placed by every club would ensure short-term security to cover wages, unpaid fees etc.
Malcolm, England

I'm amazed that the chairmen feel the need to collectively discuss this. Whose fault is it that so many clubs are in trouble? It isn't the players or their agents for demanding the wages, it's the club chairmen for agreeing to them.

Football clubs are a business, just like any other. They have no God-given right to be bailed out by anyone, as appears to so often be the attitude. If you can't balance the books you go under - it's that simple. And once a few do go under, then all parties might suddenly start living in the real world. A salary cap is merely another way to try and stave off this unpleasant reality.
John T, England

There has been a glaringly obvious problem of unstable financial situations at clubs for some time now and something needed to be done. This is a good start, and hopefully will lead to more reform within the football league for the better.

The sooner it is implemented through the whole of English football, the fairer the competition will be.
Wayne Parisi, United Kingdom

Limiting clubs to a percentage of their revenues is unfair in favour of the bigger clubs, who obviously have bigger revenues. This would reduce the ability of the smaller teams to compete and making things very boring and predictable.

An across-the-board salary cap would level the playing field and make things more interesting.
Steve, UK

Salary caps are probably essential in the game as the number of clubs whose wage bills have rocketed over the last five years is astounding. Only a few of these clubs are able to pay top-tier wages and this cannot be good for the game as a whole.

Footballers love the game and play with that love, a salary cap wouldn't take anything away from this fact and players would still earn a salary high enough to live a very comfortable life.

Let's not forget that the elite Premiership players earn more in a week than most the population earns in a year.
Sab, UK

The excellent side-effect if a salary cap is introduced universally throughout the Nationwide League is that, while the first few season will seem hard going for some clubs to get the players they need, eventually the players will have to demand less if they want work.

This means the problem is simultaneously attacked on two fronts. Clubs have better constructed finances, and players come to their senses in terms of wage demands. Hopefully this will one day become a Uefa ruling for all of Europe.
Gareth Rippingale, England

If a salary cap is introduced it should not be dependant on the club's turnover. The amount should be the same for every club in the league. The smaller clubs might not have the money, but if they have 50% the turnover of larger clubs in their league what difference will a salary cap make?

Surely this would make the changes weighted more towards increasing the competition between the clubs, instead of having the big four, the middle 12, and the relegation favourites.
Doctor Bartlovic, England

For the long-term future of the game, I think this is the only sensible option. Clubs need to be working to sensible budgets that allow them the resources to develop other aspects of the club.

If they are not able to impose restrictions on themselves - as any good company should - a salary cap is a positive way forwards.
Simon Squires, UK

If the big names are bringing in the fans and the profits from merchandising, where is the problem? Any club that cannot balance the economics of running a business by introducing a pay-for-performance system needs a new chairman - not a salary cap.
Rikki Ferguson, Russia

The question about football players' salaries is a moral issue in line with the question of capitalism being healthy or evil. As for the practical matter of football clubs losing financial ground, it would probably be more relevant to prevent the clubs from taking loans in order to finance salaries.

It's all about being able to keep in touch with a realistic budget. Players will take what they can get, so the clubs have to make sure they're not giving away what they don't have. The football-market needs to be ruled by existing fortunes instead of fortune-telling, and dreams of television-money to come.
Jkn, Copenhagen, Denmark

Wage restrictions will surely fail. Football is commercial, and big clubs want to remain at the top for obvious reasons. Unless this proposal is implemented worldwide, players will surely move to countries where they can earn big wages.
Johnson Ajayi, Nigeria

The issue is not salary caps but accountability - what right do the directors of the club have to jeopardise the viability of our local team by making foolish salary deals? We would rather see local football than bankruptcy.
Steve Sullivan, UK

A wage cap is a good idea, but it should be for the whole world - not just the Nationwide League. Football players are on ridiculous wages and it's time that some control is taken.
Mike Tyler, England