[Dida]

I presume this question has been asked or mulled over previously, but I am interested to know how fans of English football would view the implementation of a salary cap in the league.

As a fan of United States and a supporter for the advancement of Major League Soccer here, I want to ask what you think on this issue. As some may know, we have a salary cap in our game and I believe it helps add to the parity of the league. Realistically, every year, any one team has a chance to win the league. Since the institution of the FA league in 1992, there have been only 4 different champions. There seems to exist a large glass ceiling on top of the teams outside of the top 3 or 4 teams in the league.

Individual alliances aside, wouldn't it be great to know that a Wigan or Bolton can have a realistic chance of winning the league each time they enter. Wouldn't it be great not to worry during buyouts about which owner is the best choice based on monetary value.

As a fan of the NBA here in the United States, it is a great feeling after a mediocre season to know that my team has a realistic chance of being very good the next season and has a chance to contend for a title. It seems to me that most Premiership teams are just fighting to stay above the relegation zone and are not given a chance to compete against the great teams. I would sincerely like to know where the fans of the Premiership stand on this issue, looking from objective lenses. I am aware that the vast majority of football leagues in Europe and around the do not employ salary caps, so this question is more universal than I have implied. However, as one of the forerunners for football around the world, I believe the FA has the power to be a trendsetter on this issue.

[st mirren till i die]

If big clubs aren't able to pay big salaries then players will go to leagues where they can earn more. Footballers generally only get 10-15 years if they're lucky, most are out for as much money as they can get before they retire.

[Dida]

Originally Posted by st mirren till i die

If big clubs aren't able to pay big salaries then players will go to leagues where they can earn more. Footballers generally only get 10-15 years if they're lucky, most are out for as much money as they can get before they retire.

I believe that is the biggest contention for the current method. However, as I probably did not allude to well enough in my first post, and a little idealistically I might add, I would like to see a salary cap in every league. I believe a salary cap immediately places more responsiblity on the coaches and players and makes them more important than who the owner is and how much money they have to spend. I guess a subquestion then is, given the players do not want to jump to another league for money, would you prefer this system? I know this is a hypothetical case and contextually is hard to imagine, but what I am getting at is would you be more interested in the league if this system were all over the world and players would not jump to other leagues simply because the other league had no salary cap?

[Bluebirds Boyo]

A bit of consistency in life can be a good thing.

[Prenn]

It's unworkable and as I can't be arse writing a long post why I would suggest typing 'salary cap' into the search menu.

[sinner78]

wow ,another salary cap thread

http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=539812

[MNAFETSC]

Originally Posted by Bluebirds Boyo

A bit of consistency in life can be a good thing.

Whats that? The same 4 teams getting all the champions league money while the 5th place team is closer to the 10th place team than the 4th.

One thing that may work is have a soft cap like the NBA and MLB have. Set a limit on what teams can spend and if they go over it they have to pay a luxuary tax which I believe is split equally among the other teams.

[JackBastard]

Terrible idea. In L1 & L2 (not sure about the Championship?) you're only allowed to spend 60% of your income on players' wages, and they want to get that down to 50% soon. That would be much better effectively brining back the maximum wage.

[Alan_V]

All well and good, but the overriding fact is that if one country limits wages or transfer fees or any method of capping spending, the player exodus to those countries that don't do the same would be amazing. It would have to be a UEFA decision at least, if not a FIFA decision.

[RichardL]

Originally Posted by Alan_V

All well and good, but the overriding fact is that if one country limits wages or transfer fees or any method of capping spending, the player exodus to those countries that don't do the same would be amazing. It would have to be a UEFA decision at least, if not a FIFA decision.

it's not just the decision, it's the implementation. Even beyond different tax rates, whose to say each country will be equally diligent in checking that their clubs haven't broken the rules?



The game here had a salary cap until the early 1960s. It was scrapped through a combination of player lobbying, clubs realising the threat from overseas, and the knowledge that clubs were making all sorts of illegal payments anyway.