By Daniel Wood
Proposals for an £18m salary cap could be implemented for the 2020/21 season – it has been announced.
Huddersfield Town will be among the Championship clubs that are meeting to talk about plans for a salary cap in the division. According to reports, this cap has been rumoured to be around the £18m mark.
Proposals were sent to clubs last month and their views regarding financial restriction was asked.
Earlier this month, six unnamed clubs were part of a group that were working on reviewing the responses given. However, Sky Sports have been reporting that the proposal will be put to all 24 Championship teams and the cap is being suggested to begin in the 2020/21 season.
Squad sizes, future financial rules and sustainability in the future are all up for discussion too. It is up in the air whether the salary cap will include agents’ fees, but it is up for discussion along with promotion bonuses and under 21 player wages.
League One and Two have also been discussing potential salary caps and these are rumoured to be at £2.5m (League One) and £1.5m (League Two).
The idea for these discussions came about as part of football’s response to the Coronavirus pandemic, which has led to struggling finances among clubs. This is especially evident when looking at Wigan Athletic, who announced that they had to go into administration, which consequently led to a 12-point deduction and relegation from the Championship.
Wigan Athletic are appealing the 12-point deduction. The appeal against the sanction is due to take place at the end of July.
It is feared that more clubs could follow in the footsteps of Wigan Athletic and that it is vital to try to help clubs below the Premier League sustain a good level of finances.
An EGM would need to take place to put any of the proposed changes into place. This is a meeting of members of an organisation, shareholders of a company, or employees of an official body that occurs at an irregular time.
Leeds United and West Bromwich Albion were promoted to the Premier League upon the completion of the Championship season yesterday. Brentford, Fulham, Swansea City and Cardiff City made the play-off places.
One of the play-off teams and Leeds and West Brom will not have to worry about the salary cap next season, but it is still important to their futures as they never know when they might drop down to the Championship again.
Charlton Athletic, Wigan Athletic and Hull City were the three clubs relegated to League One – if Wigan’s appeal is successful then Barnsley would drop into the bottom three – and these teams would fall into the proposed £2.5m salary cap, which could mean departures of a lot of key players.
Coventry City, Rotherham United and Wycombe Wanderers are the clubs that were promoted to the Championship from League One this season and will have an interest in the proposed salary cap.
And of course, Huddersfield Town, who narrowly avoid being relegated this season, will also have to potentially contend with the salary cap if it comes to pass for next season.