The EPL is in urgent need of a salary cap

 
Matthew Maguire Roar Rookie

By Matthew Maguire, 26 Feb 2010 Matthew Maguire is a Roar Rookie

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Portsmouth, hoisting aloft the FA Cup just two years ago, will sink into administration today and unless the EPL introduce a salary cup, many others face a similar fate.

EPL clubs have debts totalling over A$5.5 billion, more than every other European league combined.

Average playing salaries are notoriously difficult to pin down given transfer fees skew the numbers but on the most recent figures, the average EPL wage is between A$2.1 million and A$2.4 million.

While plenty to most, it is not an unreasonable figure, albeit ten times the average AFL salary but half the going rate in the NBA.

The European season runs ten months of the year and playing to huge markets brings about greater revenue and in turn, greater salaries.

Broadcast rights from Sky and Setanta alone amount to almost A$3 billion over the last four seasons.

Opponents of such a proposal claim any cap will prompt star players to defect to fellow powerhouse leagues in Spain and Italy, yet there has not been anything approaching a mass exodus in recent years while Spain have charged players as much as 30% less than under the UK’s taxation system.

While Portsmouth’s woes may be as much about mis-management as a desire to match their EPL counterparts, it is a reality facing all but the biggest clubs.

The fate of Leeds Utd, third in the premiership in 1999/2000 but now battling away in League One, appears to have gone unnoticed as the neon warning sign it should have been to rival clubs.

Manchester Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal have built their considerable success with mammoth spending on facilities, coaching, scouting and of course, rare playing talent the likes of Portsmouth feel pressured to match.

A sensible and actively enforced salary cap, perhaps with an A-League style exemption clause to permit a marquee player outside the cap, would ease the pressure on middle and lower tier clubs and promote greater competition within the league.

Only four clubs have tasted premiership success in its now 18 year history and the FA Cup has included a proverbial ‘big four’ club in all but one final since 1991.

Under the current arrangement, fans care more about survival than success given they have no legitimate hope of snaring silverware.

For entire cities to celebrate finishing 17th of twenty, thus ensuring their survival in the premiership for one more year, should be considered a sad indictment on the EPL.

Any responsible administration would seek to not only protect its participating clubs from insolvency but also oversee and encourage their development, yet it appears any move on the introduction of a mandatory salary cap is further from realisation than ever.

Such inaction will sadly see the demise of more than just Portsmouth.

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