Financial reform is welcomed by lavish Town chief

Even fewer provide the kind of financial backing that has seen millions of pounds poured into the Terriers in an attempt to propel the club he has supported since childhood up the Football League.

Considering the size of his investment, the Town chief could be forgiven for viewing the looming spectre of a League salary cap as a bad thing.

Not only will the likely changes to the existing rules lead to the playing budget at the Galpharm Stadium being drastically reduced to around £3m per annum, they would also erode the advantage created by Hoyle’s deep pockets.

Ask the Town chairman, however, about the bid to introduce some form of wage control to all three divisions of the Football League and he could not be more in favour.

“I honestly believe it would be a positive move for football,” explained Hoyle, whose club yesterday signed Reading defender Sean Morrison on loan until the end of the season. “Football has got out of hand and wages have got too inflated.

“The fan in the street is starting to feel alienated. I admit some people may find this an odd thing to say due to the money I have put into this club, much of which has gone into the squad and an increase in the wage bill.

“But, speaking as someone who is a football fan as well as the Huddersfield Town chairman, I can see the long-term benefits of making changes.

“Apart from supporters in the Premier League, many of whom live in cuckoo land, I think football fans are finding it increasingly hard to relate to players who are paid thousands and thousands of pounds every week.

“It is turning a lot of fans away from football and that has to change. I think a salary cap will bring the game back to the fans. It could also lead to a return to fan ownership as the figures involved will be much more realistic.

“You won’t need a rich benefactor any more, as clubs will not lose lots of money as they are doing now.”

The problem of debt has troubled the game’s power brokers for many years, the long-standing financial problems having last week been underlined to the Parliamentary select committee looking into football governance when MPs were told that 81 clubs have been placed in insolvency/administration since 1986.

It is a staggering figure and one that prompted Football League chairman Greg Clarke to recently declare the level of debt to be “absolutely unsustainable”.

With that in mind, Clarke made it a priority on taking the helm at the League last year to try to bring about change.

The matter was discussed at last summer’s annual meeting of clubs, where it was decided that three working parties should be set up to investigate the best way forward for all three divisions.

League Two clubs have operated under a rule whereby their player wage budget has been capped at 55 per cent of turnover since 2003. The League polices this on a month-by-month basis, meaning clubs in the past have been stopped from making a signing due to the proposed extra wages tipping their budget beyond the threshold.

In the Championship and League One, however, no such limits exist – meaning, in theory, clubs can spend an unlimited amount on wages.

Hoyle said: “The possibility of change is not so much being driven by League One clubs, it is more the chairmen in the Championship. Some have pumped in millions over recent years and got nowhere.

“They recognise that something has to be done. We don’t know what form this will take, that is why the working parties were set up last summer. They are due to report to the next summer conference of clubs (in June).”

League One clubs, who did adopt the 55 per cent rule for one year in 2005, have been shadowing the basement division’s rules on player wages this season – basically as a way of preparing for likely change in the future.

Hoyle added: “Our thinking is that if any change comes in it will probably be in time for the 2013-14 season. Any quicker would be difficult.

“If the rules are changed then a limit of 60 per cent (of turnover) seems likeliest – which for us would mean (a wage bill of) £2.5m to £3m (per year). It would be a big drop and something we could not do overnight.”

Even if Huddersfield do win promotion this season, it seems the future will bring some form of wage restrictions.

The view of many in the game is that a similar system to that being introduced by UEFA will be among the recommendations of the working party set up to look into the challenges specifically facing Championship clubs.

Under the UEFA rules, clubs will face bans from European competition for failing to break even over a three-year period.

Also included in the legislation for Europe’s top teams, which are due to come into force from 2012, is an allowance for owners to pump in money up to £12m providing the investment takes the form of equity and not a loan. Clubs will also be allowed to spend as much as they want on stadiums, training facilities and youth football.

On the possible changes to the Football League, Hoyle added: “What it will do is bring teams like ourselves into line with the rest. At the moment, we live beyond our means – that is my choice as I provide the finance.

“But we also have to bear in mind that we are not too far away from some form of salary cap being introduced and that every club is going to have to cut its cloth accordingly very soon.”