How every Premier League club is expected to vote on controversial new salary cap TODAY

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The Premier League could introduce significant changes to the financial structure of the division during the latest shareholder meeting, with representatives from all 20 clubs set to vote on three key proposals on Friday. It has been 10 years since the league introduced financial measures, with the most recent model, profit and sustainability (PSR), drawing plenty of criticism.

The current system allows Premier League clubs to make losses of up to £105million over a three-year period, though some clubs have found ways to get around this system. Others have been punished, such as Nottingham Forest's points deduction in 2024 or Everton's points deduction back in 2023.

As a result, three new proposals have been made that could dramatically change the landscape of the Premier League, depending on how each club votes. The proposals made are called top-to-bottom anchoring (or merely anchoring for short), squad cost rules (SCR), and sustainability and system resilience (SSR).

SCR is a system already in place for UEFA competitions, where a percentage of revenue can be spent on player expenses, while SSR is a rule in place to ensure that short-term and long-term financial commitments can be met. Anchoring is the final and most controversial of the bunch, however.

Anchoring places a limit on how much a club can spend on wages - and amortisation from transfer fees - which is set based on the poorest club in the division. The amount is then five times how much is distributed to the poorest club in the division, putting a cap on the spending of all 20 clubs with the same limit.

It essentially puts a wage cap of sorts on the division, only allowing for it to grow with the revenue gained by the Premier League as a whole. That has been met with support and scrutiny across the board, with potential for legal battles to take place if it is pushed through.

Fourteen of the 20 clubs would need to vote in favour of these measures for them to go through, with some big decisions to be made on how it impacts each member and their own position. For that reason, there could well be some conflict as to whether anchoring in particular will be pushed through.

Manchester United and Manchester City are thought to be against the proposal, with The Athletic reporting that Arsenal are also expected to vote against anchoring, but could vote for SCR if the prior proposal is voted down. The report adds that champions Liverpool , Aston Villa , Everton , Sunderland and Burnley are expected to give their support to all three proposals.

The main argument from the bigger clubs in the division against anchoring is that it is an additional measure that caps their spending, on top of potential squad cost rules that they already adhere to in UEFA competitions. Man Utd co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe made his view clear when speaking to Bloomberg about the proposals back in 2024.

He said: "(Anchoring) would inhibit the top clubs in the Premier League, and the last thing you want is for the top clubs in the Premier League not to be able to compete with Real Madrid , Barcelona , Bayern Munich , PSG - that's absurd. And if it does, it then ceases to be the finest league in the world ."

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The Times reported that as many as eight Premier League clubs hold reservations over a change in the financial rules at Friday's shareholder meeting. With eight teams already expected to vote a certain way on anchoring, that leaves another 12 up in the air heading into the meeting.

On the other side, SCR could impact the likes of Brentford , Bournemouth , and Crystal Palace due to their current method of utilising the transfer market to generate revenue, which could hint at their viewpoint on the proposal, though it's unclear exactly how they will vote on all three, including the controversial anchoring proposal.

It's just the latest challenge for the Premier League in dealing with the vast wealth it has generated from becoming one of the most-watched leagues in the world. Now it's put to the clubs as to which way they will go with the latest proposals.

Friday's vote may bring clarity on the future of English football and the direction the top flight is going in, but it may also create further confusion over what is next.

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