Wenger Not In Favour Of Salary Capping
Arsene Wenger believes the salary cap proposed by the G14 group of Europe's most powerful clubs – including Arsenal – will damage transparency in payments to players and could encourage attempts to disguise wages. He would prefer to clubs who seriously mismanage their finances relegated.
Arsene Wenger believes the salary cap proposed by the G14 group of Europe's most powerful clubs – including Arsenal – will damage transparency in payments to players and could encourage attempts to disguise wages. He would prefer to clubs who seriously mismanage their finances relegated.
Wenger was reacting to an announcement from the 18 members of the G14 group that they intend to limit their expenditure on wages to 70 per cent of turnover from the start of the 2005/06 season. Spokesman Peter Kenyon, chief executive of Manchester United, said the new measures would include a greater emphasis on performance-related pay for top players in the face of soaring costs for clubs.
But Wenger is unimpressed. He said: "I'm not a big fan of salary caps. This route is an incitement to disguise wages and put them in other departments. Clubs could put 30% of a player's wages in the commercial department for an image rights contract - or buy the player a house and get his wife a holiday."
He continued: "Salary caps mean the maximum wages are 70% of your budget. It doesn't mean players don't get more money - because if the budget gets higher, players get more money."
In his opinion, relegation would be the appropriate punishment for clubs who allowed their wages to spiral out of control. "If clubs aren't capable of respecting their budget, they should be punished – rather than incite clubs to do more crazy things than they do at the moment. I would rather reward clubs who manage well and punish clubs who don't.
"So if you cannot manage your club reasonably well, you should be punished. If clubs don't respect their debts, they should be put down a division. That's the biggest punishment you can get They have that in Italy, France and Germany. Fiorentina went down in Italy, and Marseille and Nice in France. You can get your professional license taken away - and that's a much better route."
In 2000-01, Arsenal's wage bill 2000-01 was an estimated £40.7million, representing 65% of annual turnover. Manchester United's most recent figures showed an increase in their wage bill from £50 million to £70 million – although wages accounted for no more than 48% of turnover.
The G14 clubs are Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Juventus, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Valencia, Marseille, Paris St Germain, Lyon, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Bayer Leverkusen, Ajax, PSV Eindhoven, Porto.