Capping the wages

Whilst I am delighted to hear Admin Andy express thoughts that a salary cap will be put in place at Pompey, as we DO need some order at the club as we look to sort things out that is for sure. as much as I 'might' even surprise myself in saying this I think it 'could' be a little too low?

First and foremost my biggest concern is the timing of this announcement...

I would 'hope' that it makes little difference to how players will perform, and how much they will offer commitment wise - which is 'shouldn't really' - but maybe this would have been better off waiting until after the FA cup final?

As said I totally agree that we DO need to tighten the belts, and we DO need to put a cap on things but a wages from £5,000 to a cap of £10,000 per week, which is the maximum, on a 'like it or lump it' basis, although £40,000 per month is plenty really, even for no power league level is not really that much is it?

To be fair a lot of our younger players, that will start coming through more and more, will be on much less than that so you can argue it is not a bad base point - as if many make half that amount per week I would be surprised, I would think probably 75% of that is more likely, yet maybe something like £12,500, taking into account tax etc. 'should' be paid too, would have been more realistic, and dare I say likely to see this accept but current and future players?

Of course we MUST stabilise the club, and if we are run properly this can be looked at again and I think Burnley have the right idea - they have operated as £15,000 per week maximum wages scheme, and it works for them.

I guess we will find out soon enough the players that DO want to stay here, and not just for the money, soon enough though?

I really hope that David James, Rocha John Rocha, The Herminator - fitness permitting, Joel Ward - I suspect it would though - and maybe even Steve Finnan deem this 'acceptable', as retaining these types of players, and some of the other out of contract players, would make a lot of difference next season. I cannot see Kanu going for this though - not that I am singling him out!

On the other hand we have to take into account those that are under contract, the balance of the wage structure needs to be right as we might not be able to offload all of these that we might want to, or - maybe, although unlikely, this is being worked on the basis it would actually allow us to keep some that we 'might' have otherwise lost?

All in all though my final thoughts would be contracts run UNTIL the end of June for the out of contract players right? So, should this really be a decision that Admin Andy is making? Depending on what way you read into this it does not sound like a man that is 'confident' we will find a buyer by the end of June?

Personally I would hope that his job with us was done by then and a new owner, along with our recently appointed chief exec, were making these decisions...

That said looking at 'planning' regardless of the situation could be what is happening here, and planning both ways is important, although maybe playing out these plans in the public eye was maybe not quite as necessary?

PLAY UP POMPEY!

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