Ipswich Town owner Marcus Evans says the newly-introduced League One salary cap will severely hamper the club’s ability to invest in its playing squad.
The Blues and the other 23 third tier clubs will now be restricted to spending just £2.5m per season on players’ salaries, following a vote held on Friday.
The motion passed by just a single vote, with Town owner Marcus Evans confirming the club were one of those to have voted against it.
The Blues’ owner has long championed the need for football to become more sustainable financially but admitted the new cap will severely restrict his club’s ability to reinvest their income into their playing squad in the future.
The cap means the Blues, who averaged home attendances of nearly 20,000 last season, will be entitled to spend the same amount on wages as Accrington Stanley and Burton Albion, who averaged crowds nearly seven times lower than the Blues.
“I have said before that I think football needs to press the re-set button in terms of some of the financial aspects of the game but we were against the introduction of the salary cap in this format at this stage,” he said.
“It restricts our reinvestment considerably. However a decision has been made by the majority of clubs. We accept it and will deal with it going forward.
“All clubs are in the same boat so wages are going to be facing a downward pressure.
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“It will take a little time for agents and players to realise that clubs just can’t pay more and start to accept the reality of these new levels.”
The new cap rules apply immediately, but with relief in some areas as clubs adapt their financial models to comply with the new rules.
Though the exact figure is unknown, Town’s wage bill is certainly at least double that of the new £2.5m limit, meaning reductions will need to be made in the future should they stay in League One.
However, players who signed contracts prior to the introduction of the cap will see their wages counted as the League One average for the duration of their deals, rather than their true higher figure.
Clubs relegated from the Championship will also have the same measures applied to contracts in future years.
Players under 21 at the turn of the year (2020) are exempt from the salary calculations so the likes of Andre Dozzell, Idris El Mizouni and Flynn Downes will not count towards the £2.5m figure this season but Luke Woolfenden will.
Clubs must now name squads including no more than 22 players aged 21 or more, coming down to 20 players for 2021/22, with those squads needing to be named at the closure of the transfer window. In the case of this season, that’s October.
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