A League One squad salary cap of £2.5 million has reportedly been proposed by the EFL.
According to the Daily Telegraph, the EFL’s Financial Controls Working Party met last week and their recommendations were subsequently submitted to clubs and will ultimately go to a vote.
The proposals would see clubs in League One limited to paying £2.5 million to their players and sides in League Two £1.25 million. Squad sizes will be limited to 20 senior players aged over 21 with eight homegrown.
The salary caps are aimed at dealing with a £200 million hole in lower league clubs’ finances caused by the coronavirus crisis.
It’s said the plan is to introduce the cap - which doesn’t include bonuses for promotion - in 2020/21 with clubs given a year to reduce their squad numbers with 22 players permitted for one season. Sides relegated from the Championship would be given a transition campaign.
The proposals, which would need to be ratified by a 75 per cent majority, also reportedly stipulate that clubs failing to pay their players on time would face points deductions.
The suggested levels of the caps are lower than anticipated and would require clubs such as Town to cut their wage bills significantly.
Last season in the Championship the Blues’ overall wage bill was £18.95 million with player wages understood to have made up around £11 - £12 million of that figure.
After relegation, many players’ salaries dropped as a result of clauses in their deals, by as much as 60 per cent in some cases, however, the Blues’ player wage bill is almost certainly more than double, perhaps three times higher than the proposed £2.5 million limit and will be one of the largest in the division.