OXFORD United believe their advance planning means adjusting to the new salary cap will not require a major gear change.

Clubs backed the move, which limits spending in Sky Bet League One to £2.5million per season on areas such as player wages, bonuses and agents’ fees, at a meeting last week.

While the League Two poll was overwhelmingly in favour, the U’s were among those to vote against the proposals in the third tier – which only just passed.

Although players’ union the PFA have announced they will be taking the matter to arbitration, United are planning for the decision to stay.

They were among the clubs who took advantage of the uncertainty by agreeing new signings and a fresh deal for Cameron Brannagan ahead of the deadline.

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It meant those players will only have their wages calculated at the divisional average – just over £110,000 per season – for the length of their contracts.

There is still room in Karl Robinson’s £2.5m budget – which only covers players aged over 21 – for investment and although the measures involve a change of emphasis, there is no panic.

Niall McWilliams, United’s managing director, said: “As Karl says, the recruitment team led by Mark Thomas are really good at what they do, so they had different plans for different scenarios.

“Does it have an impact? Of course it does, but it just means there’s a slight alteration of transfer strategy.

“Common sense will tell you there’s a slightly different approach with a greater focus on younger players, but it’s not a significant gear change.

“If the recruitment team wasn’t so good it would have put us in an awkward position.”

As the rules include bonuses for things like goals, wins and clean sheets, there is an element of uncertainty about exactly how close clubs should go to the threshold.

It could see a scenario where teams who have a better than expected start to the season pay out more in bonuses than predicted and then have to cut back in the January window to avoid financial penalties.

McWilliams said: “You plan pessimistically in terms of budgets, so you plan optimistically in terms of your position in the season.

“It’s a complex process unless you’re so far under it that it doesn’t matter.

“If you’re the likes of us, we’re right on that borderline and it’ll need constant monitoring.”

There is also a cap on the number of players aged over 21 in the squad – fixed at a maximum of 22 this season and then 20 from next term.

Sean Clare’s signing last week took United to 19 in that category, so if they want to make more than three extra signings they would have to sell, loan players out, or the new faces would either have to be 21 or under.

The one unresolved question is whether the rules make it easier or harder for United to compete at the top end of the division.

It will probably be several months before an answer is known.

McWilliams said: “It will certainly add an extra challenge in there.

“I think the fact we voted against it would indicate we would find this process restrictive to our ambition.

“But it is what it is and we have to cope with it.”