Top-flight clubs to keep £5m salary cap

By NEIL FISSLER

PREMIERSHIP clubs have rejected the chance to increase the salary cap from the £5 million after it was reduced to combat the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Premiership clubs are allowed to spend up to £5 million in wages until 2024, and a blood bath in the Champions Cup last weekend came just 48 hours before a meeting of clubs.

It couldn’t have been better timed for some clubs pushing for a return to the nearer the pre-pandemic £7 million cap with Premiership clubs struggling to compete in Europe’s premier cup competition.

There is a strong feeling that the new lower spending limit combined with a row over agent fees has seen some clubs losing players they would previously have kept.

Scotland fly-half Finn Russell said last week that he felt ring-fencing the Premiership, which was introduced last season, has also contributed to making some clubs in the top flight less competitive.

The Premiership clubs have suffered financial difficulties in recent times due to skyrocketing player salaries and increased competition for those players available.

And, while some clubs wanted to relax the financial handcuffs placed on them, the vast majority wanted to put them in place until 2024 at the very least.