Keith Wyness tears into Premier League chief who’s secretly agreed new deal amid Man City twist
Premier League clubs voted against introducing new Top to Bottom Anchoring regulations from the 2026-27 season.
The change would have introduced a ‘salary cap’ into the Premier League, with Man City and Man United against the proposal.
However, the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) may have challenged the new spending rules had they been voted through.
Only seven of the 20 Premier League clubs voted in favour of adopting the new anchoring rules, with 12 voting against and one deciding not to vote.
Keith Wyness slams Premier League Chair
Everton’s former chief Keith Wyness – who served as CEO at Goodison Park between 2004 and 2009 and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs – believes there is support for anchoring despite the proposal not being voted through.
Speaking on the new edition of Football Insider’s Inside Track podcast, Wyness doesn’t believe the voting structure was fair at the Premier League meeting.
He told Football Insider‘s Inside Track podcast : “Well, a few more complex things are starting to come out as we go forward. And I’m afraid it doesn’t cover my favourite person, Alison Brittain, the Premier League chairman or chairwoman in glory, in my point of view.
“Now, there are some complex issues here. And for our listeners and viewers, there were really three things that were being discussed.
“And the first one was anchoring. And this was where we tried to link the revenue coming in from the bottom club and not allowing the top clubs to spend more than five times that amount of revenue. Now that was voted down and it was voted down quite comprehensively.
“And why I’m picking on Alison Brittain today is that I understand that what was coming out now, is there was a voting procedure that they put anchoring in first and they knew that it was probably going to be failed because the majority would have gone for the second option, which was the SCR, the squad cost ratio.
“So it really wasn’t a fair open vote on all the issues is what I’m saying. So the Premier League couldn’t afford to lose both. So they put the loser up first. Now I think there was a lot of support for anchoring to be fair from what I’m hearing, even though it was voted down, it was this political way the voting was done that made it a little bit unusual.
“Once again, and we didn’t hear about Alison Brittain getting an extension on her contract yet as well, which is another thing that I was surprised about. Nothing’s leaked on that yet.
“So anyway, look, we are now at the SCR, which is aligned with the UEFA situation. I don’t know if it’s really the best way forward, but it’s a new way forward. And we’ll have to see how this tests in reality.”
Man City and Man United could have backed legal action
Man City and Man United may have joined the PFA in a legal battle against the Premier League had anchoring rules been introduced.
The Premier League currently operates under Profit and Sustainability rules (PSR) which will be replaced by a Squad Cost Ratio (SCR) system from next term.
14 Premier League clubs voted through the SCR regulations, which will mean they will be allowed to spend a maximum of 85 per cent of their revenue on squad costs.