Cut the cash: Buck would support a salary cap...
but has warned the league could lose their top players
Chelsea
chairman Bruce Buck has pledged his club's support to calls
for a salary cap in football.
Though owner Roman Abramovich's arrival at Stamford Bridge in
2003 heralded an unprecedented wave of spending on transfer fees
and wages, the Russian has made efforts in recent years to balance
the books and significantly reduce his club's spending.
UEFA are to introduce the key point of their Financial Fair Play
regulations from the 2013-14 season, which will see clubs required
to achieve break-even status or be excluded from European
competition.
Abramovich is a supporter of those regulations and the Blues
would also back a limit on wages.
However, Buck voiced fears over players moving to countries
outside of the cap and stressed that any such rules must leave a
level playing field across the continent, if not the world.
'We would seriously consider a wage cap. It has to be properly
implemented,' the American told the Sunday Times.
'I'm not even sure that Europe-wide is enough. Look what
happened with cricket and the IPL (Indian Premier League): the best
players are going to go where they can make the most money.
'We have many of the best players in England and we do not want
to see them go elsewhere.'