The owner of Accrington Stanley has told the Guardian that he thinks a salary cap is 'absolutely essential'.
Salary caps have been introduced into League One and Two but not the National League as yet.
This is the view of Accrington owner Andy Holt:
'There had to be some controls on this Wild West that has been football. A
salary cap was absolutely essential. If we carried on with clubs going
bust, there is no doubt the government would get involved and, before
you know it, there would be regulation all over football because we
can’t have a situation where clubs keeping getting into trouble and not
paying wages. Something had to stop the madness because the regulation
up until now has not been strong enough and it has been a disaster.
You’ve seen Bury, Bolton
– it’s everywhere you look, clubs are really struggling. It is
affecting the transfer market. We make an offer and if we don’t get the
player, we look elsewhere. But we have always operated like that because
I wouldn’t operate any other way. John Coleman, our manager, has a
fixed budget, he can spend it how he wants but when he has spent it,
that’s that. But it is really difficult to keep the costs reined in when
all around you aren’t, forever outbidding each other to increase costs.
The Championship is like an arms race. Football will take every penny
you can give it, no matter what your budget is. It can take another £2m
off you if you’re prepared to let it. I get the PFA aren’t happy about
wages being restricted but the truth is if clubs keep going bust and the
EFL collapses, there will be no jobs for anybody.'