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West Ham lead the way as salaries spiral upwards

Gilps

By Gilps
in General Football Discussion

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Gilps

Gilps

Posted
Posted

Guardian blog thingie

 

It will be dismissed as anecdotal but within English football, and specifically among agents, the following story is circulating and generating huge excitement. A player from a third-tier club who moved recently to a Championship club - one not so long ago in the Premiership - has seen his basic £1,500-a-week salary increase not five times, nor 10, but 15 times. The player's agent did not demand this sum; it was the club's opening gambit.

 

The belief that wages in football are soaring uncontrollably is understandable. In April a Professional Footballers' Association survey found that the average annual salary of a Premiership player is now £676,000 - £13,000 a week - a rise of 65% on 2000. The accountancy firm Deloitte puts the figure much higher.

 

It is repeated continually that agents are driving this inflation, and numerous chairmen and directors will support that theory. What is acknowledged less often by these chairmen is that clubs have long contributed to the situation.

 

Behind the scenes now, however, some Premiership chief executives are very anxious about wage escalation. "There's a little bit of fear out there at the moment," Nicky Hammond, Reading's director of football, said yesterday. "Everyone seems to be keeping their powder dry. The numbers being talked about this season are well in excess of last year in terms of both wages and transfers."

 

Although no one has gone public - yet - the club many are pointing the finger at is West Ham United. Their chairman, Eggert Magnusson, is now being branded "Father Christmas" by some rivals and, perhaps more worryingly, "Ridsdale" by others. "There's no doubt in my mind that West Ham has had an effect," says a senior figure at another Premiership club.

 

Annoyance stems from an open-wallet approach to the market, demonstrated on January 22 when Blackburn's Lucas Neill walked into Upton Park on a free transfer. Sources close to the deal have confirmed that Neill, by no means a star player, earns £72,000 a week in east London. He had the option to go to Liverpool but his wage there would have been "a fraction" of what he gets at West Ham.

 

Within boardrooms the Neill deal is being regarded as a landmark transfer. When asked on Tuesday about the Australian, the Middlesbrough chairman, Steve Gibson, said: "I don't know the details of Lucas Neill other than what I read. What I can comment on are the demands we have suffered from in the last three or four weeks. That would suggest agents are trying to push the barriers again. But that's the business and I am a businessman. But I have seen some of the deals that have gone through in recent weeks and I'm glad we haven't been involved in them."

 

Gibson is in a slightly tricky position. Middlesbrough, because of fashion and location, have had to pay sometimes exorbitant wages and Tuncay Sanli, whose signing was confirmed yesterday, is believed to be on £60,000 a week after his free transfer from Fenerbahce. One Istanbul sports daily printed pictures of his head on £20 notes to illustrate one reason why he is moving to Teesside. But he may be Middlesbrough's big glamour signing, whereas at West Ham and elsewhere the water-carriers are also being lavishly rewarded. One agent recounted a tale of another West Ham player - who is less regarded generally than Neill - having his wages trebled a few weeks ago.

 

Harry Redknapp knows the market better than most and the Portsmouth manager - formerly at West Ham - lamented: "Craig Bellamy would do for us. But West Ham want him and would double his wages to £100,000 a week. How do you compete with that? We've got no chance of getting Bellamy. We're all looking for strikers but the market's gone crazy."

 

A new television deal is one explanation of the sharp rise in wages but new owners are also a factor. The Icelandic owners' fortune underwrites West Ham but even so the comparison is being made with Peter Ridsdale's Leeds.

 

It was only this January that Ken Bates revealed that Gary Kelly's weekly wage at Leeds since 2001 has been £46,000 a week. "Twelve million pounds over five years," said the chairman. "I worked out that all the money that Leeds earned getting to the semi-finals of the Champions League was handed to Kelly with his new contract." Five years on, Leeds are in the third division. By 2012 they may still not have recovered. But Gary Kelly will still be a multimillionaire. As will Lucas Neill.

The Hitman

The Hitman

Posted
Posted

I love how that last paragraph seems to present Gary Kelly as some sort of villain.

If Leeds are stupid enough to pay him that much,then f*** them.The man gave that club years of fantastic service.

I can think of far less deserving players who earn more.

The Hitman

The Hitman

Posted
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Yeah.Comparatively,I'd say Gary Kelly's service to that club far outweighs the likes of Johnson.

Like the players have a responsibility to protect the club anyway.

 

That's what a chairman,board and financial advisers are for.

 

Oh,and I'm looking forward to any possible investigation of Bates's "administration" by the SOCA.

Should be fun.

Earl Hafler

Earl Hafler

Posted
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Seth Johnson springs to mind - he was on 40k/week was he not?

 

Yep - wanted £20,000 and was offered £37,000. " No thanks, Mr Ridsdale. You're going to drive Leeds into the ground in a couple of years and i'd like to save the club some money " :pinocchio:

 

West Ham will go the same way. They're paying some average players extortionate sums of money and escaped relegation last season by the genius of one player and a scam by the FA.

 

If they sign Bent and he continues to score goals at the same rate then they should be o.k but Bent needs a supply line and West Ham don't have that many players.

Cam

Cam

Posted
Posted

There's been a buzz about some of our big players signing new contracts. I see it more as an example of their greed: More TV money, players grab their slice of it, season tickets still go up £40.

 

And yet they kiss the badge or patronise the fans and all is forgotten. Agents are a cancer but football would be better off without players.

Guest Finnan3

Guest Finnan3

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is Fowler still getting paid by Leeds?

Logic

Logic

Posted
Posted (edited)
Dodgy London club overpaying players with dirty Russian money.

 

Hardly original, is it??

There's nothing dirty about the money. :rolleyes:

Edited by Logic
RP

RP

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There's nothing dirty about the money. :rolleyes:

 

 

Course there isn't.

 

It's all Eggheads hard-earned cash.

Rimbeux

Rimbeux

Posted
Posted

For all the talk of money flowing to the top 4-6 clubs and that it's killing the game etc, I think it's actually in the amount paid for and to preserve mediocrity.

 

There are clubs in the PL who cant wait to spend their budgets, but can't for reasons not of cash (they will offer them loads), attract quality players, so they will get in average players, whomever they can, and pay them way too much. Wigan are an example with Bramble and Melchiot, you could say the same of Barton, Newcastle are a club who pay ridiculous wages, not becasue the next club were offering that, but seemingly because they can. Duff, Owen, Dyer, Parker, Bellamy.

Logic

Logic

Posted
Posted
Absolutely.

None of the money is dirty Russian money. Oh no.

 

Iceland, just like Cyprus, is not full of dirty Russian money.

 

Certainly not.

Don't know about Cyprus but there's very little "dirty" Russian money going on here on Iceland. Many Brits and Danish people think this though. Mostly because Icelanders are buying up everything they possibly can in both countries.

 

What happened on Iceland is that about 10-15 years ago the system was changed to help companies to grow. There were already a lot of companies that had enough money but didn't have readily available loans. When the loans were more available these businessmen already knew how to make a whole lot of profit in a small market. When they had the chance to expand abroad the profits soared.

 

But I understand how wierd it looks for people abroad when Icelanders suddenly own "national" brands like Woolworths, House of Fraser, Hamleys, Karen Millen and Oasis.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/6170062.stm

RP

RP

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Posted

You can defend it all you like - I presume you have a personal interest in doing so.

 

 

Meanwhile the rest of the developed world is well aware of Iceland's "competitive advantage" shall we call it??

Logic

Logic

Posted
Posted
You can defend it all you like - I presume you have a personal interest in doing so.

Meanwhile the rest of the developed world is well aware of Iceland's "competitive advantage" shall we call it??

awww.... c'mon. You can at least throw in one article to back up your assertion, can't you?

 

The "competitive advantage" is easily explained. Liberalisation of finance laws, deregulation of the banks and readily available loans at good interest rates combined with an almost nauseating will to prove to the outside world that Icelanders can be just as successful as any other country.

 

 

 

 

And stop making me defend Eggert and Björgólfur! I've never liked them! :bleh:

nvdm

nvdm

Posted
Posted
You can defend it all you like - I presume you have a personal interest in doing so.

Meanwhile the rest of the developed world is well aware of Iceland's "competitive advantage" shall we call it??

 

I have no personal interest in the financial matters of iceland's citizens and would love to know about their "competitive advantage".

RP

RP

Posted
Posted
I don't get it.

 

Liberal financial regulations and low interest rates = filthy russian money?

 

Can't see where I said that.

 

Google may be your friend.

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