Blues manager Paul Lambert believes players will in for a rude awakening this summer when the impact of the League One salary cap begins to have a greater effect on wages.

The cap was introduced last August meaning clubs in the third tier are limited to a wage bill of £2.5 million for their senior players, those aged over 21.

This season their squad of senior players has been limited to 22 but from next year it will be down to 20.

Contracts signed prior to the introduction of the cap will continue to be treated at a lower level, as they have been this season, as if they worth £113,000 per annum, although at a higher figure of £125,000 in 2021/22.

However, with fewer players whose deals were agreed prior to last summer, the Blues - assuming they’re still in League One - will have limited cash to put towards new terms for squad members who are out of contract at the end of this season or any close season senior signings.

The Blues have 26 players out of contract this summer, 18 of them who fit in the senior player bracket.

Skipper Luke Chambers heads the list, joined by Cole Skuse, Stephen Ward, Emyr Huws, Freddie Sears, Kayden Jackson, Teddy Bishop, Alan Judge, Toto Nsiala, Janoi Donacien, James Wilson, Gwion Edwards, Aaron Drinan, Tristan Nydam, Barry Cotter, Ben Morris, Ben Folami and Harry Wright.

Town have previously confirmed they have an option to keep Skuse, Ward, Sears, Bishop, Judge, Nsiala, Donacien, Wilson, Nydam, Morris and Folami for a further season should they choose to do so.

Among those under-21, whose contracts don’t count towards the salary cap, Idris El Mizouni, Liam Gibbs, Bailey Clements, Levi Andoh, Adam Przybek, Bert White, Kai Brown, Zak Brown and Tommy Hughes all have deals which are coming to an end, although with the club having an option to keep them all aside from Gibbs for a further year.

As previously reported, Town have offered a new extended contract to Gibbs and will almost certainly look to do the same with El Mizouni among others.

Town took up the additional year’s option on Gwion Edwards’s current contract in May - as they did with young keeper Harry Wright - meaning the winger will be out of contract come the end of the campaign and speaking on Tuesday the Welshman said that as yet there have been no talks regarding a new deal.

In the circumstances, with the Blues still eyeing a return to the Championship and the general uncertainty surrounding football finance, that's hardly surprising.

Asked about that situation and the potential effect of the salary cap going forward, Lambert said: “I think this pandemic has just ripped the backside out of everything. Salary cap, players will be in a for a really rude awakening with what happens because the money’s not going to be there anymore. I think everybody’s going to have to get their heads round that.

“I’m not sure it’s sunk in yet because nobody’s been through it. It’s a really unfortunate thing, this salary cap.

“Life’s unfortunate at the minute with what’s going on, I guess that’s the way of the world, the finances aren’t going to be the same, that’s 100 per cent, that’s for sure.”

Lambert knows that promotion to the Championship would wipe away those issues among others and insists that the Blues are still in the running, despite currently sitting in 10th.

“That would solve so many problems, without a shadow of a doubt that would solve so many problems,” he said.

“There’s still more than halfway to go, there’s a helluva lot of football to be played, there are going to be a lot of twists and turns and we have to put a run on where we’re always going to be always going to be round about that mark to get out of the league.

“It’s not given, you have to work your backside off to get into that. But the salary cap, it certainly hinders the bigger clubs [in League One].”

Photo: Matchday Images

cat added 17:38 - Jan 29 Spot on Dirty Ding. Maybe this will be the incentive the players need to finally get there arses in gear, unlikely though as the manager clearly ain't got it and is crap
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DoseOfReality added 17:52 - Jan 29 Evans will not sack Lambert. He will stay largely anonymous rest of this season. We will finish mid table. All future seasons he has justification to not invest. We will stagnate furtherunder his direction coz he doesn't know what to and trusts the wrong people.
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DoseOfReality added 17:53 - Jan 29 Evans will not sack Lambert. He will stay largely anonymous rest of this season. We will finish mid table. All future seasons he has justification to not invest. We will stagnate furtherunder his direction coz he doesn't know what to and trusts the wrong people.
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therein61 added 17:57 - Jan 29 A great chance to get rid of the overpaid so called pros who have bled this club dry for the last 4/5 seasons thank heavens they are out of contract(who the hell would by them you can't even give donkey rides on the beach in lock down) i know we have had to (apart from the 1st 3 games when he looked 1/2 decent) put up with Chambo returning to normal form but at least the premiership class no/8 is still sidelined otherwise he would be making the midfield a damn sight worse than it is, ship the rubbish out give the youngsters their heads they are the future free loaders are not!!!!!!!!!!!!

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ITFCsince67 added 18:06 - Jan 29 I'm sorry but £125K per year is going to give us a team of really crap players. Might be a lot of money to me and you but in football that wage is like a beggar outside Tesco. ME will be laughing having to pay such low wages and we ITFC are dead in this league for years.
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RobsonWark added 18:33 - Jan 29 It's all becoming VERY VERY clear now why Marcus Evans gave PL a 5 year contract. He knows PL will not get us out of this division and Marcus will have a much much lower player wage bill from next season. Marcus Evans is a GENIUS!!
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heathen66 added 19:23 - Jan 29 As some have said on here this is the ideal opportunity to finally have a clear out of the dead wood and those that won't or are unable to take this club forward (many of the 18 listed IMO). Edwards is a must to get re-signed Unfortunately I have no confidence in those making the decisions that this will happen. Player power is far too rife at this club as it is at many others but I don't care about other clubs, I care about MY CLUB and I hate seeing what is going on !!!

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d77sgw added 19:29 - Jan 29 I would happily see almost every player on that list depart the club with the exception of Edwards and Bishop (who will probably leave to get a better deal elsewhere). If their contracts are to be renewed then they should be at a League 1 salary, but with a major promotion incentive.
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woodster added 20:49 - Jan 29 Agree with the comments above, Evans could actually start making a profit with the new wage cap - so it probably suits him to stay in this division - no need to put any more money in as there's no point in buying players when your not allowed to pay them a salary! With c.10,000 season tickets at say a £300 average gives him £3m plus commercial / Merch / hospitality revenues etc) - he can carry on claiming the tax losses which are mostly the huge interest charges that add millions to the debt pile owed to him year on year...the rumour was that he only paid £7m to take the £35m debt off the banks in any case - & now we are £85million or so in debt to him - I'm not an accountant but this all looks like a clever tax scheme...if we ever become profitable due to the low wage bill & big money player sales he can start taking some nice debt repayments...

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billys_boots added 21:44 - Jan 29 I'm starting to like this idea. Keep the very best and most keen players. Hold summer trials for new players, there must be loads of potential around lower leagues who would be desperate to play for a professional club and who would think £50k/year was a small fortune. You'd just need to get them properly fit in time for the season to start. I feel a reality TV show coming on.

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herfie added 22:02 - Jan 29 What price getting the heart and soul of our club back? No salary cap on that - its priceless!
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shakytown added 22:08 - Jan 29 none of the players care as they either cannot or dont want to play for Shambert and his awful losing tactics. GET OUT NOW SHAMBERT!!!!!!!
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Tractor_Boy_in_HK added 03:15 - Jan 30 He's right. Players have no idea what kinda wall they're running into - massive cuts in salaries at the lower levels, and less older players getting contracts. The effect of the pandemic will be lasting.
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FrankMarshall added 07:10 - Jan 30 Shows how important this season is to our club. Might give the players a kick to do something about it. Is there an age upper limit on the salary cap? (Ie if a player is 38+ do they still count in the salary cap?). Might be very difficult for older players to find contracts if not.
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Topps added 10:27 - Jan 30 @timkatieadamitfc I've never heard so much horses**t in my entire life. Lawsuits because these players are having to get less than £125k?!! Have you opened your eyes in the past 12 months?!! We are in the middle of a pandemic mate. You know what that means don't you? Let me help you, it's the kind of movie that Hollywood used to make where loads of people die from a horrible virus. I've lost a friend and a family member to Covid-19 and it makes me sick when I hear utter nonsense from the odd person like you moaning about the poor footballers. Tell you what, let's carry on paying the players way more than the business can afford and see what happens to our club in a year or two (or we are lucky) time. Then you'd really have something to moan about!

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Marinersnose added 10:50 - Jan 30 ME is the root of our problem but at the same time is keeping the club afloat. PL like MM is an Old School manager who is stubborn and will not change his tactics. The other problem is the number of elderly below average players who are earning decent money but contributing nothing to winning football matches. It is extremely positive that we are likely to be getting rid of most of those players overage whose contracts are up. We can then focus on playing young hungry talent who want to succeed and are not just here for their pension top up. Realistically promotion under PL this season is highly unlikely.

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heathen66 added 11:45 - Jan 30 The salary cap does not mean there is a limit of £125k We can still play some players over that £200k - £250k if we wanted, but the salary cap means that the senior playing squad cannot be paid over £2.5m. As far as I am aware this does not include bonus's, therefore if we wanted (or ME wanted) we could pay the players lets say £50k-£100k but have a promotion bonus of £200k. We would probably see those with ambition (and those who genuinely want to better themselves) and those who are riding on the coat tails of seasons past

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NITFC added 11:47 - Jan 30 Topps - well said. Finally some sense and perspective
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Pilgrimblue added 12:20 - Jan 30 The headline suggests that Lambo will be on salary cap which we know is very unlikely! Sack him now Evans and make him sue for compensation. Maybe there's a clause relating to performance but doubt it somehow. Still it's not my money!
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Dissboyitfc added 12:59 - Jan 30 salary cap is wrong and heres why in my opinion. There should be a cap across all the divisions. How can it be right that 3 divisions have a restriction in place whilst the top league can do what it wants with no such rules in place. Whilst the amount players get paid is disgusting, thats a different story. my point is they should have modified the FFP system and made that work and punish those who break these rules, cant have rules for some and not others! It would be like altering the laws of the game for the premier league teams so more goals are likely to keep the paying viewer happy! So in summary, salary cap for everyone or no one, keep it as fair as possible!

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Michael101 added 13:38 - Jan 30 Well that's the first time in a long while I have agread with lambert. Players have Been getting money for nothing for years now ,think this will be a shock for many.
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