The EFL announced changes to the Championship’s squad cost rules and to League One’s squad cost management protocol (SCMP), which will, among other things, change how much Mikheil Lomtadze is capable of funding Wycombe Wanderers’ transfer activity for the upcoming summer. 

Turnover:

Previously, League One clubs were able to spend 60% of turnover on wages, meaning that if a club made 1 million for the season, they would be able to spend 600 thousand on wages, which has now been reduced to 50%.

On top of this, the manager’s wages are now also included in this calculation, although Wycombe are unlikely to be paying millions for Michael Duff.

With Wycombe having a turnover of £7 million, they would be capable of investing £3.5m of this into wages, down from £4.2m under previous rules.

This, however, is also impacted by equity injections by the owner, which can increase the amount Wycombe are allowed to spend on wages through personal funds supplied by Lomtadze. This is detailed further below.

Wanderers do not officially reveal their wages nor even contract lengths, while websites that claim to understand wage details are often inaccurate and based on guesswork, leaving little room for in-depth study on the exact consequences of this change for Wycombe.

However, there seems little reason to feel majorly panicked by this change.

Owner Investment:

Owner investments have also changed slightly to reduce the Ryan Reynolds effect, so to speak.

It would limit the percentage allowed from any owner investments allowed to be used in wage spending to half; meaning that if an owner were to invest £1m, only £500k would be allowed to be spent on wages.

This is different from a previous system that had different proportions based on how much the owner had invested, to a flat 50% regardless of whether the owner invests £10 or £10m.

There is, however, no limit on this in the 2025/26 EFL rules, meaning that theoretically speaking, Lomtadze could dump £1bn into the club’s coffers, of which half could be used for wages.

However, a bulk of Lomtadze’s investments into the club have come in the form of infrastructure improvements, which are already allowed in SCMP in any quantity.

Not only has Marlow Road been upgraded, but Wycombe are also in the process of planning a new facility in Slough as a combined training academy and youth facility, which can continue unimpeded by the recent SCMP changes.

While this change theoretically negatively impacts Wycombe, who benefit from a billionaire owner who is content to fund the club even as it runs into debt, it is also a positive change for football, as it should prevent bad owners from being capable of throwing clubs into economic ruin and ensure clubs are capable of surviving on the basis of their own economic turnovers.