Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Portsmouth: Mark Catlin hits out at planned Football League salary cap
Portsmouth chief executive officer Mark Catlin has hit out against the Football League’s plan to utilise a salary cap.
Pompey missed out on promotion to the Championship via the play-offs this term, losing to Oxford United in the semi-finals. That will now see manager Kenny Jackett look to bounce back next season and potentially look to bring in a number of new faces in an attempt to bolster his squad.
Approaching the return to pre-season, some transfer gossip is now starting to emerge, but a salary cap of £2.5m per season could restrict many moves and Catlin has now reacted to the potential of that rule being approved by the EFL.
Speaking to Portsmouth News, Catlin said: “Should salary caps come in, those clubs with a 40,000 average attendance and generating huge commercial revenues will be only allowed to spend the same as clubs with a 2,000 attendance and no commercial income. How can that be right?
“It is an absolute disgrace. I have been fighting this behind the scenes and will be fighting it even more strongly over the coming weeks and months.
“Outline proposals have been sent out, although there has not been a formal document. There are a few clubs, including ourselves, that are totally against restricting salaries.
“It’s a crazy proposal which is supposed to be about sustainability, yet Pompey are going to be unable to spend what we can afford.
“However, this still encourages almost three quarters of the league to use their owners to put money in to get to our wage structure. Basically, it caps the top clubs that can afford it.
“I have been arguing for a cap linked to turnover, a cap linked to operational profit, a cap linked to anything which allows the larger clubs to operate properly. It makes no sense to me.”
The potential salary cap would see every club in League One forced to stick with the £2.5m rule, whilst clubs in League Two would be allowed a maximum of £1.5m.
Failure to gain promotion from League One followed by the introduction of a salary cap could be drastic for Portsmouth, especially considering that they will likely want to bring in some new faces this summer.
With Football League clubs hit by the absence of matchday revenue because of behind-closed-doors matches, their finances could be extremely tight and, with fans still not allowed in stadia, it remains to be seen how the transfer window develops this summer.
Do you think Portsmouth can bounce back and seal promotion next season? Let us know in the comments section below…
