Peterborough co-owner delivers salary cap verdict as Sunderland's promotion rivals Ipswich Town sign TRIO

Peterborough co-owner Darragh MacAnthony understands why some of their promotion rivals are against the new £2.5million League One salary cap – but believes it will be positive for football in the long-term.
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While in favour of making football more financially sustainable, both Sunderland and Portsmouth were among the clubs opposed to a flat-cap salary limit for clubs.

However, a majority were in favour of the plans for the 2020-21 campaign, though the PFA union have made their objections known.

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Speaking in a recent episode of his The Hard Truth - Inside the Football Industry podcast, MacAnthony, who voted in favour of the plans, said: "I appreciate why they are complaining.

Peterborough chairman Darragh MacAnthony.Peterborough chairman Darragh MacAnthony.
Peterborough chairman Darragh MacAnthony.

“I have a great relationship with the Portsmouth CEO, Mark Catlin, and we were emailing about it.

“He’s probably got the hump with me because I didn't vote that way, but that's fine because we're very transparent with each other.”

He added: “You then have Sunderland and I have a friend who runs that, Jim Rodwell.

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“They've got the same problems and there's Ipswich - these are big clubs with big crowds so you can understand where they're coming from.

“They want to be judged on turnover, so if they have fans generating £8m-£10m more than Peterborough they want to spend that.

“That's where my original idea was based on turnover, not like the current thing we had before the salary cap came in, but a fixed turnover.

“So if we turnover £5m we can spend £2.5m, if we turnover £7m we can spend £3m and that gives a bit of leeway for the bigger clubs - that's probably what we should've done.”

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MacAnthony does, however, believe the new measures will prove to be successful in the long-term for football clubs across the EFL.

He added: “I think it’s going to work great for football.

“There’s going to be a lot of kicking, screaming and moaning about it.

“There’s going to be lawsuits, there’s going to be all sorts.

“But if we want our teams to play full seasons in pandemics and people not feigning not having money, financial issues and getting everything under control, giving a reality check to agents to players about League One and League Two.

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“I said this two weeks ago, the days of big pay days in those leagues are gone.”

Meanwhile, promotion rivals Ipswich Town have completed a hat-trick of new signings to kick the week off.

Left-back Stephen Ward, goalkeeper David Cornell and striker Oli Hawkins have all signed permanent deals with the club.

Ipswich had been battling it out with Sunderland over free agent goalkeeper Remi Matthews but they have opted to go with Cornell instead, which will provide a boost to the Black Cats.

Sunderland are looking to add another goalkeeper to provide cover and competition for Lee Burge following the exit of Jon McLaughlin to Rangers this summer.