Shutdown offers football the chance to get its house in order and 'control expenditure'

The Cobblers chairman is as frustrated as everybody else at the current suspension of the sport, with football having been closed down since the second week in March, and still weeks or even months away from resuming again.

It is an unprecedented situation that is hitting clubs hard as they struggle to survive without their usual match day income, but Thomas feels it is also break that gives everybody in football the chance to get their house in order for the future and call a halt to 'escalating costs'.

He feels it is a chance for the game, certainly in the lower leagues, to put a tight rein on expenditure to ensure clubs operate at a sustainable level.

It's no secret that many clubs have spent, and are spending, beyond their means, and in the past 12 months alone Bury have gone out of business, and Bolton Wanderers and Macclesfield have been deducted points for financial issues.

Some chairman are predicting that a clutch of clubs will go bust in the current football shutdown, and of course it's only a little more than four years that the Cobblers were on the brink of going bust themselves.

Thomas's suggestions include player salary caps, carrying smaller squads and also limiting the escalating costs of loan deals.

He also makes it clear that the game's governing bodies in this country have to get on board and oversee any new regulations to ensure there are harsh penalties for those who may flout rules.

Asked if the current break from playing gives football the chance to reassess and rethink things financially, Thomas said: "I think it is a positive that will come out of this situation.

"I have been working with some other chairmen, and discussing some ways that we can look at the future, and we can look at ways to control the expenditure within the football club.

"It is very difficult as chairmen to say individually, 'right, we are going to be more sustainable'.

"Because then the competition down the road or somewhere else in the country doesn't have that same view.

"When that happens it is very, very difficult, because you have the conundrum of the expectations of the fans, and you want to have a winning team, but you want to do it in a financially sustainable way.

"That has always been an issue, but maybe now there is an opportunity and a real appetite to have a look at the way that football is run going forward.

"That is in terms of player costs, in terms of the escalating wages we have experienced, etc.

"I do think there will possibly be some work on the realignment of distribution of money from the Premier League funding, but that is only half the story when it comes to league one and league two clubs.

"It is okay increasing income, but we really have to control our expenditure better.

"Obviously our main costs are player costs, so as a game, and football in general, we seriously have to look at it from the top down, look at those escalating player costs and see how we can control them.

"Whether the answer to that is a salary cap, whether it is decreasing the amount of players in a squad, the costs of loan players, all of these things are on the table.

"We have to now work hard over the next few months to try and find a solution that we all sign up to."

The Football Association and EFL would have to get on board and be in control, with Thomas adding: "There would definitely have to be a punishment if a club breaks salary cap rules or whatever, just as they have seen in rugby recently (Saracens were docked points and effectively relegated).

"You would have to look at that, and the detail of that, but I think the general feeling is that we do need to get more control of our main cost, which is player costs as a whole."

"In that I include player salaries, player bonuses, agent costs, agent fees and loan fees, because the loan market has got out of control in terms of what clubs are expected to pay."

When it comes to the loan market, Thomas feels there has to be set rules for what lower league clubs have to pay to parent clubs, although he stressed that the he has been pleased with the deals the Cobblers have done for the likes of Callum Morton, Scott Wharton and Lloyd Jones.

"With loans, where it used to be a contribution towards a player's wages, it is now moving towards actually paying a fee above the wages with some clubs," said the Town chairman.

"There is definitely a conversation that needs to be had around all the player costs in general.

"We have been very lucky (with loans) because we are seen as a decent club, and a decent place to send a young player to.

"James (Whiting, chief executive) has been able to do some good deals with clubs and we are very thankful for that support.

"Callum Morton has come in and done really well for us, and we are very appreciative of what West Brom have done for us, and I think we can continue doing deals like that.

"But I think in general it would be better if we had a standard sheet that says 'if you are taking a player from this level, and he is coming to a club at this level, then this is what you pay'."