Premier League clubs face points deductions over spending cap, warns Scudamore

Feb 7, 2013 11:18:00 PM

The top-flight chief executive has insisted that the English game's governing bodies are committed to enforcing new proposals controlling wage bills and transfer spend

Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore has warned clubs that they face points deductions if they fail to adhere to new spending controls.

13 out of 20 top-flight clubs voted in favour of proposals which will cap wage bills and restrict losses to £105 million over a three-year period on Thursday.

And Scudamore has insisted that sanctions will be handed down should these new guidelines not be followed.

He told reporters: "As all things in our rulebook you will subject to a disciplinary commission.

"The clubs understand that if people break the £105m we will look for the top-end ultimate sanction range - a points deduction.

"Normally we stay silent on sanctions as the commission has a free range but clearly if there is a material breach of that rule we will be asking the commission to consider top-end sanctions."

The six sides who are believed to have voted against the proposals are Aston Villa, Fulham, Manchester City, Southampton, Swansea and West Brom, whilst Reading abstained.

But Scudamore has assured those in opposition to the controls that an improvement in their circumstances is still possible.

He continued: "The balance we have tried to strike is that a new owner can still invest a decent amount of money to improve their club but they are not going to be throwing hundreds and hundreds of millions in a very short period of time.

"While it has worked for a couple of clubs in the last 10 years, and I am not critical of that, if that's going to be done in the future it's going to have to be over a slightly longer term without the huge losses being made.

"I think at £105m you can still build a very decent club with substantial owner funding but you have to do it over time, you can't do it in a season.

"In some ways that's the most significant part; this is a three-year rolling system of secure funding - it's one year at the moment."