Picture the scene: Roman Abramovich, Peter Hill-Wood, Malcolm Glazer, Daniel Levy, Tom Hicks and George Gillett are sitting around a table at Soho Square, after being summoned by the FA. A few pensive moments pass before chief executive Brian Barwick enters the room and delivers a bombshell.

The FA are concerned about the monopoly taking over English football and, as from next season, English clubs will only be able to spend up to 50 per cent of their club’s income on players' wages with the maximum total spent on each club’s wage bill not to exceed £100m. Any club exceeding these limits will be severely punished with penalties ranging from heavy fines to points deductions. “Welcome, gentleman, to the world of salary capping.”

Salary capping in sport was first used in the USA and was introduced as a means of regulating a club’s spending and to prevent rich clubs dominating competitions by buying all the best players. Capping has had a positive effect in the US major sports leagues, NFL, NBA and NHL making it difficult to predict the winners of major titles with any number of clubs in with a chance of landing their sport’s top prize.

'Fans in the Premiership are paying top prices and should be entitled to watch the players, free from the interference of governing bodies'


And now with large-scale investment coming into the Premiership and the threat of a number of clubs, including Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur becoming untouchable, there have been calls to introduce the salary cap into English football. But could a cap really work in the Premiership?

A number of sources have cited the positive impact that salary capping has had in Rugby's Super League, suggesting that the Premiership should follow suit. It is true, that since salary capping was introduced into the Super League in 1996, a one-horse race has now become a three horse race; Wigan’s dominance being superseded by that of St Helens, Leeds Rhinos and Bradford Bulls.

However, despite salary restrictions helping the sport balance the books, the salary capping issue has developed into a power battle between Super League’s elite and the RFL, the game's governing body. The story is the same the world over; wherever salary capping exists there is always conflict as authorities try to prevent the richest clubs controlling their respective competitions. The Premiership would be no different.

Given the choice, many Premiership chairmen would prefer not to accede to the excessive demands of players and their agents, and with large amounts of money flooding into the game from TV rights and sponsorship, clubs are having to pay the market price for the best players, knowing that if they won’t, someone else will. Ultimately it is a club and their fans that generate the money and it should be their choice as to how it is spent. Fans in the Premiership are paying top prices and should be entitled to watch the players, free from the interference of governing bodies.

The latest influx of money is seeing some of the world’s elite footballers being attracted to the Premiership and this season promises to be the most competitive in the history of the competition. Clubs should be left to their own devices; otherwise G14 could become a playing reality. Salary capping is not for the Premiership.

Back to the meeting at Soho Square. Paramedics were called to assist six men who had apparently nearly died laughing. And when order was restored they moved onto Item Two - Carlos Tevez!