Town boss Paul Jewell says he expects the Financial Fair Play rules which come into force next season to lead to wages dropping at Championship level. The rules, the details of which are still to be finalised, will see wage bills fall across the division with clubs forced to live within their means rather than build up debts as they speculate in order to reach the riches of the Premier League.
Jewell says that as a result player wages are likely to come down: "You would think so, maybe not dramatically, but [they will] come into line a little bit more than they are now. I think they’re out of line a little bit now, although I don’t know what the average Championship player [earns]. I think all clubs will be in a similar position.
"We’ve all got to adhere to the rules and players and players’ agents have got to be more realistic with their demands.”
The Blues boss says that the lack of detail regarding the restrictions is one factor behind deals not yet having been agreed with the club’s out-of-contract players*: "I think we have to know.
"I think Port Vale are going into administration, Portsmouth have gone into administration, this club has been in administration. The most important thing is the future of the club.
"We want to be playing in the Premier League but you’ve got to be careful not to spend money you haven’t got, or next season that you’re allowed to spend.
"We’ve got a lot of players who are coming to the end of their contracts and we’ll sit down [with them].”
He says preliminary talks took place with some of the squad as long ago as the summer: "We spoke briefly to the players whose contracts are up at the start of the season and made them offers, albeit not official offers. Simon Clegg was speaking with their agents via the owner and the players’ agents said ‘We don’t want that, let’s see how it goes’.
"So it’s not all our fault. It’s a chance some players are prepared to take but it’s not as if we haven’t spoken to anybody and not offered people contracts. We have tentatively at times during the season with next year’s Financial Fair Play rules in mind, and those offers will be less than the players are on now. But you know what players are like, they don’t like taking less money.”
Jewell says players will have to accept offers within the new restricted budget, although he’s aware their representatives will be sounding out other clubs: "We’ve only got so much to spend, only so much we can pay the players and the players have got to be realistic.
"Those that we want to sign, we’ll make them offers and it’s up to them accept. We live in a world of a free market and free enterprise and, like with Gareth McAuley and David Norris [last year], their agents are quite entitled to put their names round.
"I didn’t want to get in the situation like this again, I said that last season, but for different reasons, with the season we have had, it’s happened and we’ll just have to deal with it.”
Current stand-in skipper Carlos Edwards, who has said he wants to stay at Town, is amongst those out of contract at the end of June and Jewell says the Trinidadian has already been spoken to: "I think we’ve already offered him a new deal. We offered him a new deal this time last year and he turned that down. I know that Simon Clegg is meeting with Carlos, so I think there is an offer for Carlos there.”
The Blues boss says some clubs will have to cut their wage bills more than others, revealing that Sam Allardyce told him West Ham would have to drop theirs by £20 million from £30 million if they aren’t promoted before the rules come into play.
Town, whose wage bill totalled £13.73 million in 2010/11, are not amongst the division’s top payers, Jewell says: "Our wage bill is probably in the top 10, but no more than that.”
Meanwhile, the Town manager admits that bosses take note of who might become available at crisis clubs with Rangers set to make players redundant, former Blues keeper Neil Alexander reportedly amongst them: "We’re on the lookout to try and improve our squad all over, whether it’s lads who we can get good deals for or who are free transfers or Bosmans in the summer.
"It sounds strange people getting made redundant at football clubs. It just goes to show why we’ve got to make sure we don’t spend beyond our limits.”
*Carlos Edwards, Tommy Smith, Grant Leadbitter, Jason Scotland, Lee Bowyer, Richard Wright, Mark Kennedy, Ibrahima Sonko and Cody Cropper.
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