'Owners are shooting themselves in the foot' - Why the salary cap Portsmouth fear is not football's financial answer

Having dedicated almost a decade to hammering home the necessity of sustainability within football, Ashley Brown isn’t convinced.
Pompey will be impacted by the proposed League One salary cap which critics believes won't resolve football's sustainability problem. Picture: Charlie Crowhurst/Getty ImagesPompey will be impacted by the proposed League One salary cap which critics believes won't resolve football's sustainability problem. Picture: Charlie Crowhurst/Getty Images
Pompey will be impacted by the proposed League One salary cap which critics believes won't resolve football's sustainability problem. Picture: Charlie Crowhurst/Getty Images

A pivotal Pompey Supporters’ Trust presence when fan ownership saved Pompey at the High Court in April 2013 and subsequently board member spanning four years, few are as well versed in the concept.

Yet Football League proposals to introduce a salary cap to League One and League Two have failed to satisfy his insatiable thirst to resolve football’s deep-seated financial problems.

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Brown, who remains a Fratton Park season-ticket holder, also possesses concerns.

As the Football Supporters’ Association’s head of governance, crisis club support and club liaison, his role consists of lobbying the football authorities for reform.

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However, he does not view salary cap plans as the solution football desperately requires.

Brown told The News: ‘I think the proposal is oversimplified for what is, in fact, a quite complex one in the Football League.

‘Absolutely we want clubs to move towards sustainability, that should be the focus.

‘But what we mustn't do is widen the gulf between League One and the Championship. I believe the salary cap, in its current proposed form, will do that.

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‘Quite simply, that will happen because of the restrictions around spending.

‘A Championship club can come down and not be immediately subjected to the same rules as the teams they are competing against. They are able to keep higher-paid players and the rules will not apply for them.

‘Furthermore, the proposal doesn't actually stop small clubs from overspending. So if you can’t even afford the salary cap, you are still allowed to overspend, which doesn’t solve sustainability.

‘The cap also doesn't include players under the age of 21. Now that sounds good, but it also excludes under-21 loan players.

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‘If you so wished, you can sign a handful of Premier League 20-year-olds, pay that club £5,000 a week for each of them, and it wouldn’t be included in your cap.

‘You effectively end up supporting the Premier League and their youth development, not your own – and you’re still overspending.

‘There is an element of fairness needed. Pompey and Sunderland are the two that have come out against it and with their attendances could legitimately afford to pay higher player wages than the proposed cap – and they should be allowed to.

‘Absolutely we need to change. We have to reform, we need to address solidarity and sustainability in football – but let’s do it more holistically.’

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Brown stepped down from the role of Trust chairman for a second time in September 2017, yet remains on the board.

He was replaced by Simon Colebrook, who has continued to oversee a membership of 2,200 and shares the sustainability vision.

The Trust retain a close association with Pompey, through chief executive Catlin and also the Heritage & Advisory board, which accommodates three of their members.

A chartered accountant, Colebrook is similarly unimpressed by the Football League’s salary cap proposal.

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Colebrook added: ‘The concept of the cap isn’t necessarily bad, but the way they have chosen to implement it doesn’t actually promote sustainability.

‘Clubs which currently don't have an income high enough to pay £2.5m out of their profits can be topped up by their owner. So it’s not addressing that core issue of loading debt onto clubs.

‘Let’s say, for argument’s sake, Pompey can no longer spend on wages, so instead put that money on developing the Academy or spending it on the stadium or infrastructure. Great things.

‘But, once again, any club can still do that by using debt. So we're still going to have owners debt-funding football clubs regardless of whether we have a wage cap or not.

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‘I look at AFC Wimbledon, who have done an amazing job of fundraising for the new stadium so they can return to Plough Lane.

‘Now the day that opens they won’t be able to use the extra income it will generate to improve their position on the pitch.

‘It would be the same for us. If we had a big redevelopment of the North stand which significantly increased revenue, that extra money could not be used to fund better players.

‘Then you have the issue of the three clubs down from the Championship, whose squads are going to be valued at a fraction of their true cost because they will be treated as the average wage. You’ll be handing them a massive advantage.

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‘Owners in favour of this are really shooting themselves in the foot, to be honest.’

Like Brown, Colebrook is a long-standing Pompey season-ticket holder.

He recognises the impact the salary cap would have on the Blues’ ongoing aspirations of returning to the Championship.

And, following successive play-off semi-final defeats, he has warned Pompey must escape League One in 2020-21 – or face becoming embroiled in such worrying financial changes.

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‘There’s a bit of panic from some owners. They are realising that, because of the pandemic, they cannot afford to fund the club in the way they’ve been used to,’ he added.

‘At the same time, the revenues may well collapse – so they’re clutching at whatever mechanism they can adopt.

‘What strikes me is nothing stops a club from voluntarily adopting a lower wage budget. There is no rule which says you must have a high wage budget, so why does it have to be a rule across the whole division?

‘Cut the budget, make it sustainable yourself, you don’t need to make every other club comply with the same rules that you can afford yourself.

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‘It’s clear for the last seven years since coming out of administration that Pompey have been exceptionally well run and we are sustainable, there is no doubt about that.

‘We are not in a dangerous position, we are very fortunate to have owners who have said they will support the club through the pandemic.

‘But we are in a position where we don’t need to drop our budgets to the levels being quoted.

‘This feels like a measure which isn't going to do what it’s designed to do and has very damaging long-term ramifications for League One clubs in terms of their ability to get promoted – or, if they do, to actually survive in the Championship in their first season.

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‘Promotion next season is a massive priority because of these proposed changes. You really want to get out before they bed themselves in.’

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