A Fresh Take On Football

Cap veto was right, but it had benefits...

- Chris Dunlavy

OPINIONS are mixed on the collapse of the salary cap in Leagues One and Two, which is hardly surprising in a competition where the richest clubs can afford to pay a single player more than the poorest side pays its entire squad.

OK, so that’s an exaggeration. But only just. According to data leaked from an official survey last year, the highest-paid player in League One takes home £16,000 a week, or £832,000 a year.

Barrow, promoted as champions of the National League last season, limp along on an annual wage bill of around £1m. Whether any cub in League One really can afford to pay somebody nearly a million quid a year is questionable, especially in the midst of a lockdown that has strangled revenue.

Nevertheless, it is an illustration of why the one-size-fits-all cap was always destined to meet implacable resistance.

The plan was initially voted through by EFL members in August, implementing a blanket cap of £1.5m per annum in League Two and £2.5m in League One. This replaced the old Salary Cost Management Protocol whereby clubs were only allowed to spend a set percentage of their turnover.