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THREAD: What would staying in League 1 for another year mean for #ITFC with the salary cap? Short Answer: Huge change, but possibly with more opportunities for our younger players. Longer Answer...
The following is the list of current players that would have to fall under the Salary Cap if at #ITFC next season. We have 11 already under contract next year currently (left-hand column) and would have upto 10 spaces to fill from the players on the right & new signings over-21.
Cornell, Dozzell & Hawkins full salaries will count in the £2.5m annual cap, as their contracts were signed after the rules came in. The other over-21 players under contract next year are counted in the cap at the lower of c£2k a week (division average) or their actual salary.
The £2.5m annual cap includes basic salary & taxes, standard bonuses & agent fees. It could be that the remaining 10 squad places could only cost c£2k a week each (my estimate) in basic salary. Therefore, the players we may want to renew could face big pay-cuts to stay at #ITFC.
The other problem is that the Championship has no squad size or salary cap currently. So, the best out-of-contract players that we want to keep or sign, will be available on a free & likely able to be paid a lot more to sit on the bench in the Champ, than stay & play in League 1.
If you're Bishop, Edwards or Jackson say, you could potentially earn 3x/4x the salary in the Championship than you would staying with us in League 1, because wages in L1 are being forced down so much.
The 2 options I can see that may enable us to renew the players we want are:
The 2 options I can see that may enable us to renew the players we want are:
1) Very large promotion bonuses. Players accept the L1 salary level but with a very large bonus if we are promoted (promotion bonuses don't count in the salary cap). These obviously aren't guaranteed for the player though, so think it is unlikely the players would go for this.
2) #ITFC run a smaller squad of over-21 players using savings on wages elsewhere. If you only had a squad of 18 over-21 players (supported by under-21 players like Lankester, Dobra, etc), that could give you an extra £6k a week to offer on contract renewals above my £2k estimate.
I think Scenario 2 is more likely, if we want to keep the likes of Bishop/Edwards etc, so a smaller but higher quality squad of over-21 players, supported by our under-21 players (e.g. Dobra, Lankester & El Mizouni) plus good quality under-21 loans too.
These are the #ITFC players who would still be under-21 & outside the salary cap next season. Therefore Dobra, Lankester & El Mizouni (we have an option to extend his contract) would not require a squad place next season, & their wages wouldn't count towards the £2.5m limit.
The big consequences of this approach are:
Greater opportunity & responsibility on our young players, so a key demand on our Manager & Coaching Staff must be the progression of young players. They must be expert at this, as it will be key for us in performing well in future.
Greater opportunity & responsibility on our young players, so a key demand on our Manager & Coaching Staff must be the progression of young players. They must be expert at this, as it will be key for us in performing well in future.
Also, with a smaller senior squad, we need to keep players injury-free & available to play much better. Could mean hard decisions on selling/releasing injury-prone players. May need to invest more in technology/staff to improve our fitness & sports science dept to help with this.
CONCLUSION: Promotion this year avoids these problems so must be top priority, particularly whether to keep/sack manager. If we don't go up, bigger focus then on progressing young players & having best setup (may need off-field investment) to keep players injury-free & available.
@Stuart_Watson @AndyWarren_ could be an interesting article for you at some point, in what the implications of the salary cap will be next year if we don’t go up.
