IPSWICH Town are still trying to work out how the Government's decision to raise the higher bracket tax payments to 50% will affect the club.

Derek Davis

IPSWICH Town are still trying to work out how the Government's decision to raise the higher bracket tax payments to 50% will affect the club.

Footballers, like all big earners, will have to pay half their wages above �150,000 a year, to the Inland Revenue as from April next year and that could impact on player transfers and personal terms.

Blues chief executive Simon Clegg said: “We are still reviewing it at the club. It will have an impact on a wide sphere of industry and the football industry will be affected, although the actual impact on Ipswich is something I have still to ascertain.”

Town could be heading back to the Premier League by then if all goes to plan and attracting players, especially from abroad, could be made even more difficult and certainly more expensive.

Clegg added: “We are not speaking to any players from outside the UK at this moment of time. That situation could change as the transfer market is a very fluid one with a potential to move very quickly.”

The Football League agreed at their conference in Albufeira in Portugal that all their 72 members would have to meet their tax requirements on time, something Clegg concurred with.

Clegg recognised that Marcus Evans' cash protects the club from financial meltdown while he remains owner.

Clegg said: “The cases were presented very well and we recognise that many clubs outside the Premiership struggle financially.

“We are in a fortuitous position at this club as a result of ME investment. We are on a sound footing financially compared to many club across the FL.

“I feel it is absolutely appropriate the FL puts in mechanisms to protect the long-term futures of clubs who otherwise have the potential to go under if they incur too many debts.

“I was impressed with the way the argument was articulated and the way the motion was carried.”

If meeting delegates from 71 other league clubs was not daunting enough for 'new boy' Clegg, then encountering a key member from the Dragons' Den added spice to the Town boss's trip.

Clegg revealed: “There was a presentation by Theo Paphitis, the former Millwall owner and Dragons' Den man, along with someone from Deloitte's, the accountancy firm, about the entire financing of football outside the Premiership and that was very interesting.”

Salary capping was also discussed and the league also introduced the naming of seven substitutes on the bench in line with the Premier League.

Clegg met a number of key figures including Brian Mulwhinney, the Football League chairman who he knew from his time with the British Olympic Association.

He said: “Overall it was a very worthwhile use of my time.”