04/05/2010 : Football League Blog : Levelling The Playing Field For Next Season

4 May 2010 : Levelling The Playing Field For Next Season

Two years ago Yeovil Town heavily cut back on their playing budget, in a move to downsize their expenditure. The club never put a firm figure on it, although reports in the local press suggested that the money available had been cut by around 25 percent. By early August it became clear that former manager Russell Slade was being constrained by a "one out, one in" transfer policy, and the club went into the 2008-09 season operating with just 15 recognised senior players.

Whilst the current season appears to have been a little easier budget-wise, with a larger squad, matters have still been quite tight. Not that the Glovers have been entirely alone. This season, Tranmere Rovers have operated on a small squad and that has hit them hard, turning them from a side that were pushing for the League One play-offs in 2008-09, to a side that currently lie in the relegation zone in 2009-10, although maybe their ditching of Ronnie Moore (now in the League Two play-offs with Rotherham United) and replacing him with John Barnes - since replaced again by Les Parry - probably didn't help their cause.

As the 2009-10 season closes, three other clubs have made it clear that they plan to cut back on their playing budget for next season. Bristol Rovers, Oldham Athletic and Gillingham are the three that have gone public by explicitly stating this - there may of course be others that are preferring to keep this under their hat, for fear of being accused by their supporters of lacking ambition, or portraying a club that is going backwards. In truth those clubs may well be the more stable ones - anxious to avoid the chaos that has surrounded Stockport County and Southend United this season.

Gillingham manager Mark Stimson has told the Kent News that some of his players that are out of contract this summer will be offered deals on lower wages, despite the Gills hovering dangerously just above the relegation zone and therefore needing to improve their squad for next season:

"At the end of it all it’s going to be down to finances. Someone might be offered a deal from us but they might be able to get a better deal somewhere else with more security. One or two might decide to go somewhere else because of deals we might put to them. That’s up to them; we’ll do what’s right for the club. Some are on good deals now and they might not be offered such a good deal. They might not be expecting that, so it will be interesting."

Stimson believes that clubs are able to offer cheaper deals due to the increase of free agents on the market, as other clubs have trimmed their squads down or suspended the use of a formal Reserve Team side. With more players to choose from, those wanting to sign a deal with the Kent side will find that the football club has the upper hand:

"I think clubs now are really in the driving seat because so many players out there are available. This summer will be a good one for clubs to put contracts over to players that might not be as secure as before. The only way to get that [security] is hopefully by doing what they love doing the most, by playing football matches."

Last Saturday's opponents Oldham Athletic paint a similar picture. Having previously tended to be a club pushing for the play-off places in League One, this season has seen the Latics brush with the bottom four places, and during March they recorded crowds of 2,833 and 3,126 - a slight bombshell for a club that were founder members of the Premier League in the 1990s.

Their Chief Executive Alan Hardy predicts hard times ahead and has told BBC Radio Manchester that he sees players that are coming out of contract as being offered reduced deals to cut down on their expenditure:

"It's a really bad season financially for us. We're going to lose a considerable amount of money because gates have fallen quite dramatically. Some players might not be able to earn as much with us next season as they did this time. In the next week or two we've got to sit down with the manager (Dave Penney) and look at the budgets for next season. We've got to look at the players who are coming out of their contract. We've got to take a good, hard look at the finances because it has hit us really hard this season."

Finally, Bristol Rovers are looking to downsize their overall club budgets for next season, although in this situation are far less forthcoming in how this will affect their playing budget. Rumours amongst the Gas fans were that the money available to first team manager Paul Trollope was being slashed by a third, despite the club selling striker Rickie Lambert to Southampton last summer. Rovers recorded losses of £1.7m in their last published accounts though, and quite clearly that can't be sustained.

In response to the rumours, Chairman Nick Higgs made a fairly indignant rubbishing of the claims, but reading between the lines, it would appear that Rovers will be slicing the playing budget, but that it largely comes down to how much of a slice it would be. Higgs did admit to the Bristol Evening Post that although he would try and reduce the losses by other means, that some would have to come out of the playing budget:

"Because of the losses we have made we would like to reduce the club budget overall, but that will not be totally at the expense of the playing staff. There have been a number of clubs who have run into financial problems and I am determined that we will not get into that situation. There is a limit to how much you can keep spending. At some point you have to say enough is enough and set a budget that is commensurate with the sustainability of the football club. We already have the majority of our players under contract for next season, so to a large extent our budget is set for us. There have been rumours it is being cut by a third, but because of the contracted players we have it already adds up to more than that anyway, so that is ridiculous."

Regardless of what size of budget cuts we're talking about here, the general theme is that many of Yeovil Town's peers are looking to tighten their belts this summer. Carlisle United are another club who have made more vague mutterings about their club income, although perhaps their Football League Trophy final appearance will have sent the wolves from the door for the time being at least.

In a way, this is good news for Yeovil Town. It won't change things dramatically - after all the size and spending power of clubs like Southampton and whoever fails in the League One play-offs will still be there to ensure that League Ones "haves" and "have nots" establish the strict pecking order that exists today.

But on the other hand, it's been quite clear that many of Yeovil's true peers have been overspending, making it almost impossible for the Glovers to stay in League One and balance the books. The £970,402 financial loss for the 2008-09 season provides clear evidence of that. However, if their rivals are now looking to bring their own finances in line, and reduce their own spending, then it may even out the playing field at the bottom end of League One, and that may give the Glovers a bit more of a fighting chance, both in terms of recruiting new players this summer, and in steering clear of trouble for the 2010-11 season.

Comments On This Article

Palm Beach Glover said ...

At last a blinding flash of the obvious hits clubs and players alike.....lol !! Good blog.
04/05/2010 13:48:30

YorkshireGlover said ...

I think the problem we have to deal with is the size of the budgets of the relegated Championship Clubs and the parachute payments they may enjoy. Personally I can't see Yeovil making a serious challenge for the promotion spots when Clubs like Southampton can buy a £1M striker and others can't. I fully expect Sheffield Wednesday to crush other Clubs especially if their crowds are over 20,000 each home game. Plus we will still have at least one of Charlton or Millwall to play next season.
04/05/2010 14:59:55

Cruncher said ...

With the the majority of clubs hopefully entering a new period of prudency and sanity, I wonder if just one or two notable exceptions now might see it as even more advantagious a time to overspend their way clear of an 'unenterprising' pack;-)

If clubs can move away from the bad ways of the past, perhaps we are at last on the verge of sensible football management by concensus - perhaps able in near-future to implement long-opposed regulations,etc. Just maybe the FL could pick up the momentum from this evolved situation, to turn a probable temporary return to financial sense into a possible permanent one.

04/05/2010 15:39:56

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