Anchoring
Also called
Anchoring worked from a single league-wide number rather than each club's own revenue. The bottom club's central broadcast and commercial distribution would have been multiplied by five, and no club could spend more than that on its squad, however large its own income.
It was intended to stop the wealthiest clubs pulling away, and was trialled in shadow form alongside the squad cost work. Critics argued it was a hard cap in all but name and vulnerable to legal challenge.
Premier League clubs voted it down on 21 November 2025, by 7 votes to 12. The Squad Cost Ratio was adopted instead, tying each club's limit to its own adjusted football revenue rather than to the bottom club's cheque.
No re-tabling has been reported since. It is included here because the term still appears in coverage of the rules that were actually adopted.