Jake King: Salary cap could suit Shrewsbury Town
The introduction of a League One salary cap will make for a ‘level playing field’ and sort out the division’s top bosses, believes former Shrewsbury and Telford manager Jake King.
The EFL and third tier clubs are set to meet on July 29 , where it is expected they will agree to a cap that limits squad wage bills to £2.5million.
Former defensive hero King, who spent a little over two seasons in charge at Gay Meadow between 1997 and 1999, feels the new law could work in Shrewsbury’s favour.
“The thing is clubs coming down, the likes of Sunderland and others, have an advantage with all the money,” said Glaswegian King.
“It (the salary cap) is good for the smaller clubs, clubs that want to keep the wages down and maybe cut the agents out.
“I would say it will make more of a level playing field.
“There are big teams like Bolton, who have spent all the money since coming down from the Premier League, and they’ve struggled.
“Shrewsbury are run absolutely fantastically. It might give them a chance.”
King, who made 306 league appearances for Town and still lives in the area, explained how he was required to cut costs when taking over a side relegated to the fourth tier.
“We had to cut the wages by selling the best players,” he said. “When I took over, not long after the chairman came in, they were £778,000 in debt, I’ve still got all the old Shropshire Star papers here.
“When I left having got the sack there was money in the bank.
“It was hard then, there were big teams with a lot of money. But if all budgets are the same, or there is a cap, then it’s good for football.”
King added: “It will show who the best coach is, who is the best organiser, who can bring the best players in from non-league, find the next Jamie Vardy, rather than bringing in the league’s top scorer for x-amount a week.
“If you’re at Sunderland and your right-back is on 40 grand a week and you come in on three or four then you can’t have that. You need everybody roughly the same to get a good, winning team with camaraderie.”
League One big hitters Sunderland and Portsmouth have made clear their stance against a cap, and King sees their argument.
“Sunderland and Portsmouth get the bigger crowds, there are fanatical supporters at Sunderland, they would get 30,000 if they were top of the league,” he said.
“That would pay them, then there’s the big sponsorships as well. You can see their point of view, they’ve got the crowd and want to get out the division.
“But if the cap does come in then it is a level playing field.”
