Andy Pilley: Football's big changes will help to build a 'sustainable' Fleetwood Town

Earlier this month the Highbury club’s statement of accounts for the 12 months to June last year showed losses of close to £6m, with debts to Pilley’s companies having risen to £17m. The accounts noted that: “The company requires continuing financial support from its director, Andy Pilley.”

But speaking to The Gazette yesterday, Pilley said: “I can certainly see the scenario whereby the football club becomes sustainable.

“I think football is going to have to change. I think the game has got the opportunity to press the reset button.

“I think it’s very, very likely that it will become a rule that there is a salary cap.

“If there is to be a rescue package (funding to keep clubs in business in these times of minimal revenue) – and I do think there will be – I think one of the consequences will be a covenant whereby clubs have to live within an agreed salary cap.”

After 16 years as chairman, Pilley is optimistic that all his investment will be rewarded with a more self-sufficient club.

He added: “What you must remember about Fleetwood as a business is you have to speculate to accumulate.

“I have invested heavily to create revenue streams, and I believe the revenue streams will ultimately bring in enough revenue if we bring the wages down, which we need to do. That’s the direction football is going in.”

And he does not accept that attendances at Highbury are any barrier to success.

Town have averaged 3,130 for home games this season, the third-lowest figure in League One, but Pilley dismissed the notion that crowd numbers are all-important as “a big myth in football”.

He explained: “A lot of people think it’s all to do with the number of supporters through the gates. Those days went decades ago.

“Now it’s about different revenue streams, and how creative and inventive you are... and we are both.”