For much of the last 15 years in the Premier League, the ‘Big Six’ clubs of Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City and Spurs have been in a financial league of their own compared to the other 14 teams.
At the right place at the right time in the 2000s and beyond, the six sides have been able to spend lavishly on players, wages, facilities and stadiums, whilst the likes of ourselves, Aston Villa, Leicester and West Ham have each tried to break the financial stranglehold they have on the league.
But it’s often been the case that the Premier League’s own financial rules have hindered clubs like us, forcing player sales and significant salary cuts that limit our capacity to compete.
A new proposal, set to be voted on next week by all 20 Premier League clubs, could be about to change that however, which will damage Manchester United and Manchester City in particular…
According to [The Mail’s](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-15195045/Premier-League-faces-salary-cap-rule-change.html) Mike Keegan, the Premier League will vote on implementing a new ‘salary cap’, which will severely limit how much each club would be able to spend on squad costs like wages, amortisation costs, and agents’ fees.
It’s based off how much the bottom club in the league received in prize money and broadcast revenue, and forces club to spend no more than five times that amount.
Based off the 2023/24 financial year, this would have meant that clubs could only spend around £550m for the season.
This would greatly inhibit the amount of wages clubs could offer talent, with the general fear is that the top players in the league would be more likely to move to European giants like Real Madrid, Barcelona and PSG.
“Those against anchoring believe it would also reduce clubs’ incentives to invest in growth given they would be limited in how much they could reinvest into their squads.”
To no-one’s surprise, both Man City and Man Utd are said to strong oppose the measures, with the Red Devils in particular offering some of the most ridiculous wages in the division.
And if there was a salary cap the aforementioned 23-24 season, it looks we would have been at an immediate risk of breaching the rules.
According to football finance expert Kieran McKenna, our squad cost for that financial year was £605m, £55m above the threshold.
The proposed punishment for breaching the salary cap on two occasions would be an immediate six point deduction, followed by an additional point deducted for every £6.5m overspent
So in total, we could have faced a 14 point deduction for our 23-24 squad costs, so even though we’ve boosted our revenue streams since then and sold the likes of Alexander Isak and Sean Longstaff for helpful profit, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see us join a lot of the league’s financial powerhouses in voting against the measure.
14 of the 20 clubs need to vote in favour of a proposal in order for it to be ratified and made a rule, which would come into effect from the start of next season.