Dave Whelan calls for Premiership Salary Cap

[Esky]

Wigan Athletic chairman Dave Whelan has called for urgent control over spiralling and crippling player wages.

Whelan has joined the growing debate within the Premier League about how to ensure that the 70% rise in TV income that kicks in for the 2013-14 season does not flow straight out of the game into the pockets of players and their agents.

Stoke chairman Peter Coates revealed how the issue will be top of the agenda for September's shareholders' meeting, and Whelan believes it will have the support of the top clubs.

Whelan told ESPN: "We all agree that there now needs to be controls over wages - even Manchester United agree. Manchester City have frightened everybody. They have blown everyone out of the water with the levels of salaries they are paying.

"[Manchester United chief executive] David Gill has made it clear he would support some kind of control, how the controls are put into place is the tricky bit. Personally I wouldn't be afraid to take the toughest route of all and have a ceiling on how much each club can pay in wages. A salary limit needs to be enforced.

"It would make our league even more competitive. It isn't a means of bringing the top clubs down to our level - we would have a limit that clubs like Wigan would never reach - but it would bring the top clubs closer to the middle clubs and give the bottom clubs fresh hope that they can get to the middle ground rather than fight for survival all the time.

"Let's face it - do we want to start each season knowing who will be the top four clubs? I certainly don't and I don't think that is good for football.

"There are now three leagues in the Premier League and we all know who is in the top four, the middle group and the bottom group. Only a control of salaries will change that set pattern.

"There are only seven clubs in the Premier League making profit and we are one of them. I do agree with Peter Coates when he says it is imperative for our clubs to be run on profit, not on losses, to safeguard the clubs' futures."

Did Gill and company call for a salary cap when the Big Four were, well, the Big Four?

I'd actually like to see some sort of restrictions come in down the line, but the Sky/Champions League money and Abramovich/Sheikh Mansour are too established for anything as simple as a wage cap to be workable, now.

[aaron bond]

If it's a salary cap based on a % of turnover, then of course United will agree. They have the biggest turnover!

If it's a salary cap based on actual amounts limiting what a club can pay, then United won't agree!

It's as simple as that.

[BobbyDazzler]

And then no English team will ever get near winning the champions league ever again.

[Beefymcfc]

To be fair to him, he's only looking out for himself and Wigan. The problem with wage caps is that you cannot then attract the best players unless it's agreed across all leagues. I did find this quote rather amusing though, seeing that the top 4 has now realistically disappeared.

"Let's face it - do we want to start each season knowing who will be the top four clubs? I certainly don't and I don't think that is good for football.

You're right Dave and that's why the Premier League is doing so well, now!

[jodrellblue]

I have some respect for Whelan in what he has done for Wigan but when it comes to finances he should wind his neck in, yes Wigan made a profit on paper:

http://www.wiganlatics.co.uk/page/NewsD ... 10,00.html

The Club has released its financial results for the year ended 31 May 2011 which show a net loss of £7.2m compared with a £4.0m net loss in 2010. However for the first time in five years the accounts reported a profit at EBITDA (earnings before interest,tax,depreciation and amortisation of players) of £4.9m compared with a loss of £2.9m in the previous year,

...but

Net debt including bank borrowings and loans from David Whelan and his family remained virtually unchanged at £72.2m compared with £72.6m in the previous year Since the year end £48m of debt was converted to equity which significantly reduces the Club's long term liabilities.

If Wigan paid any interest on their debts there would be no profit

http://swissramble.blogspot.co.uk/searc ... 20Athletic

City win the league and it's financial doping, Wigan stay up Wolves go down what's the difference?

[Buffalo Soldier]

Fucking rent a gob is at it again.

The guy has to give his opinion on everything hiding behind his nice Grandad facade. Why does the fact that 'even Manchester United are behind it' give the idea any more credence, anyone would think they have an unfair say in how things are run which can't possibly be true.

Sorry old Davey boy, the wages horse bolted about 15 years ago, get over it.

[Mase]

For a Chairman he talks way too much!

[DoomMerchant]

City's investment and dramatic finish to the season contributed mightily to the increased TV deal.

FFP or a salary cap doesn't accomplish what we did towards that revenue increase IMHO.

If we keep winning even scouse and arsenal will join Whelan. Clubs will only hope to sell on history to secure their future.

The NFL has done a great job finding parity. I don't believe that the Prem is ready for that. Or should be. Parity creates less glamour but higher corp profits. This league is fantastic and entertaining. Why fuck with it?

[Ted Hughes]

What's happened to his cloth cap ?

[Original Dub]

That interview is older than john68.

Fuck dave whelan and fuck all these idiots who think they can put us back to where we came, because they all seemed fine until we rose to prominance.

It's just not going to happen because there is nothing wrong with rich people financing a football club and putting plans in place to ensure that football club will become sell sustainable.

Got over it wenger, baconface, platini, whelan, that german cunt, redknapp, john henry....

It won't fucking happen.

[Moonchesteri]

If it's a salary cap based on a % of turnover, then of course United will agree. They have the biggest turnover!

If it's a salary cap based on actual amounts limiting what a club can pay, then United won't agree!

It's as simple as that.

Well said.
I'm just glad we made it to the top in time! Cause like you mentioned, the new rules will Not be put place unless big boys agree. And that means that the new terms are still favourable for the big clubs. Such a shame.

[Michigan Blue]

Wenger came out with something similar recently, claiming that FFP in the Premier League could help see a return to the days when the likes of Derby, Aston Villa, and Nottingham Forest could win the league. Of course the complete fucking opposite is true.

If you told Derby County that they could only spend what they bring in, they wouldn't overhaul the Rags in a thousand years.

I once was naive enough to believe that once we won the league and cooled our spending, people in football would begin to come to terms with the idea that we'd be competing at the big table for the foreseeable future. Instead, the Rags' army of servile bootlickers (Coates, Whelan, etc.) are out in force to try to protect the last bits of Rag hegemony as well as their own finances.

If Coates and Whelan want to get their books in order I'm sure they can drop down a few leagues and get the wages down. The only difference between their ambitions and ours is that only one of us is a threat to their benevolent leaders.

[leomcfc]

The wage cap should have come in when Roy keane got 100 grand a week, which was more than the whole city starting 11 put together at the time. Or when Portsmouth paid distin and James more wages so we lost them. Or andy cole said he would retire if we didn't let him go to Portsmouth were they would pay him more. Get used to it. The premiership champs have been on the receiving end. Now were in charge. There's a new sherif in town

[Ted Hughes]

The wage cap should have come in when Roy keane got 100 grand a week, which was more than the whole city starting 11 put together at the time. Or when Portsmouth paid distin and James more wages so we lost them. Or andy cole said he would retire if we didn't let him go to Portsmouth were they would pay him more. Get used to it. The premiership champs have been on the receiving end. Now were in charge. There's a new sherif in town

This.

And imo it was deliberate policy by the likes of the rags, Arsenal etc to drive up prices to a level only they could afford, hence wiping out 90% of the competition & making sure that they get into the Champion's League every year.

[Dameerto]

Im in favour of a salary cap based on finishing position in the previous season(s).

[sheikh it all about]

Even if there is merit in a salary cap it would be silly to apply only in PL. Would have to be Europe-wide. But I thought we lived in a free market, capitalist economy.

[Blue in the face]

Whelans got a fuckin cheek trying to dictate how much people earn. If this, from wikipedia is to be believed then he's been involved in a few dodgy dealings in the past.

Whelan acquired Wigan fishing and sports store JJ Bradburns (even though JJB are the initials of previous owner John Jarvis Broughton) in 1977. He renamed the company JJB Sports and soon focused purely on sports goods. By 1980, JJB had become a chain of 7 stores, and went on to expand throughout the 1980s and 1990s. It is presently the UK's second biggest sports retailer.
In 2005 JJB Sports were fined £5.5 million by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) for fixing the price of the English National Team and Manchester United shirts in 2000 and 2001.[4] Which Consumer magazine issued proceedings against JJB Sports to sue the high street retailer for damages on behalf of consumers who were affected by the price fixing.[5]
Whelan gradually scaled down his interests in the company and in 2005 he stepped down as chairman.[6] However, in October 2006 he personally intervened to overturn the settlement of a pay dispute at JJB's Wigan warehouse negotiated by new chairman Tom Knight, branding it "the equivalent of Communism", prompting a two-day strike.[7]
In January 2007 he sold £50m of shares in JJB,[8] before selling his remaining 29% stake in June 2007. This action was in contradiction of a statement that Whelan made to the stock exchange on 26 January 2007 whereby he undertook to make no further disposals for the following 12 months.[9] This action may now lead to an investigation by the Financial Services Authority.[10]

[Buffalo Soldier]

I wonder if teams in the lower leagues wanted a salary cap while Wigan were buying there way into the Premiership.

[Blue Since 76]

Unlike him to have an opinion.

Perhaps they should set the cap based on the number of fans each team takes away.

The only way to make it fair would be a fixed amount for every club of say £50m. That would ensure every club could compete. However, every single decent player would leave the league, followed by the Sky money.

The alternative is based on turnover in which case the traditional top 4 plus City and Spurs would compete.

So what's the point?

[Piccsnumberoneblue]

The only way to achieve a more level playing field is not with restrictions an salary caps alone. The real answer is a fair distribution of gate and television monies. Still interested Mr Gill? . . .. .. . . . . .Thought not.