Are stalled contract talks now starting to affect performances on the field?

[Mike - True Blue Tinter]

We all know that with FFP rules most clubs including ours are wary about committing to long expensive contracts, but we are now just 3 weeks away from when our most valuable players could sign pre-contract agreements with other clubs.

Whilst the likes of Konchesky might be just trying to prolong a career that he is now on the ability downslope of, there are others such as Dyer, Schmeichel, Nugent, Morgan, Wasilewskiand Pearson that I think we most definitely cannot afford to lose in 2014.

I do not know if quiet assurances have been given to either some/all of the players and manager, and I do want to make excuses for a couple of poor performances, but you have to wonder if the Club's refusal to publicly declare that our most valuable players and manager will be having contract offers made is not having an effect on what has seemed up until now to be high morale in the camp. And breathe!

 

[Brown Nose]

I really don't see what choice the club has on this. We're way over the FFP allowance in terms of our wage bill. Although we've reduced spending over the last 18 months, it is still far too high for our income and we must be in line for a serious fine when the accounts are published for this season.

In that context, how can we offer players the same or similar terms to what they're on? We just can't afford to do it. The likes of Morgan, Nugent and Schmeichel must be on approx £20k a week each. They aren't going to sign new deals on £5k a week and we cannot afford to offer them any more than that without putting the club at serious risk. Unless you've just been relegated, there is no longer any money to pay big wages in the Championship.

Konchesky is in the Merc today as the latest player yawping on about wanting a new contract. I'm sure he does, but he won't get one. None of them will because to do so would be idiotic.

This season, we'll either get promoted in which case most of the out of contract players will be released because they're not good enough for the Premier League or they'll have failed to get us promoted once again and, for financial reasons, have to go or take huge pay cuts.

The position with NP is similar. Only Redknapp will be on more than him in this league and he'll either get us promoted and earn a new contract or fail. If we slip away and don't go up again this season, why would we offer him a new deal anyway? We'd either have to offer him a much reduced contract or start again with someone new.

There is a very serious reason why we've got a DofF now who is in charge of all this to put some distance between the players/manager and the finances. It's going to affect lots of clubs over the next year or two, but we're one of the most affected and it's not going to be pretty whilst football re-structures itself.

 

[Biffa Bacon]

I'm guessing that the club will be offering Nugent much reduced terms if he wants to stay. Morgan isn't one of the highest earners so is likely to be offered similar to what he has now and Pearson is in the top earning managers for the division, Dyer is unlikely to be batting off lots of offers based on what I've heard from agents. Schmeichel will almost certainly go if we don't get promotion and the club seem most worried about receiving bids for Moore that they would find hard to turn down.

 

[bocadillo]

Whilst the likes of Konchesky might be just trying to prolong a career that he is now on the ability downslope of, there are others such as Dyer, Schmeichel, Nugent, Morgan, Wasilewskiand Pearson that I think we most definitely cannot afford to lose in 2014.

The first conundrum is the decision on which division we are planning for. If we are going to be in the Premier League, can we afford to promise sums of money to players who might have to be replaced for us to have a chance at that level? I can understand the likes of Dyer, Schmeichel, Nugent, Morgan and Wasilewski wanting to secure their future but some have found four out of the five of them wanting in recent games even at the club's current status; how would they cope in a promoted line-up?

 

[fitz]

The first conundrum is the decision on which division we are planning for. If we are going to be in the Premier League, can we afford to promise sums of money to players who might have to be replaced for us to have a chance at that level? I can understand the likes of Dyer, Schmeichel, Nugent, Morgan and Wasilewski wanting to secure their future but some have found four out of the five of them wanting in recent games even at the club's current status; how would they cope in a promoted line-up?

This.

I'd also like to think that the players are bright enough to understand that how much they earn will depend on this season being a success or a failure. If the pay situation is affecting them to the point they're going to play shit then they're probably not too big a loss in the long run.

 

[Brown Nose]

This.

I'd also like to think that the players are bright enough to understand that how much they earn will depend on this season being a success or a failure. If the pay situation is affecting them to the point they're going to play shit then they're probably not too big a loss in the long run.

If you take a look at our captains' Mrs on Twitter today (Shubbzy84), who is pretty much saying that Wes and others aren't able to give 100% because of the contract situations and that the club is bang out of order, your hope about the players being above this sort of thing is a little unlikely.

Looks like we may well have found what will become this season's excuse for fecking up. Apparently, the poor little lambs don't know how to pay their bills and feed their kids. The 2014 Bentley brochures must be on their doormats and they're not sure if they can afford this years model. It must be tearing them apart.

 

[Mike - True Blue Tinter]

SCENARIO 1 - We get promoted: If our best players are not good enough to keep us in the Premier League we would need to buy 25 new, better than relegation standard, Premier League players and pay their Premier League wages. If the wages are currently approx £25000/week in the PL and £5000/week in the Championship, and we pay only an extra £15000/week per player on top of existing wages, that would come to an extra wage bill of approx £20m. That leaves approx £20m of Sky money for transfer fees or an average of less than £1m per new player we would have to sign. Are there any better than relegation standard PL players available on a free transfer AND costing less than £20000/week?

SCENARIO 2 - We do not get promoted: In January the top 6 clubs around us each take a punt on improving their squads for a serious promotion push this year or next and each sign one of our players in January or pre-contract for next season, Morgan to F*rest, Dyer to Burnley, whatever. Our players if tempted by 2+ years contracts sign and automatically will then be less committed to our cause because they are going to be somewhere else anyway. So we lose momentum, stabilty, dressing room spirit and inevitably slide down the table and out of any promotion chance, and the following season we just have a bunch of kids and Konchesky left.

So whether we get promoted or not, we appear to be f*cked either way!

 

[Blue Maniac]

SCENARIO 1 - We get promoted: If our best players are not good enough to keep us in the Premier League we would need to buy 25 new, better than relegation standard, Premier League players and pay their Premier League wages. If the wages are currently approx £25000/week in the PL and £5000/week in the Championship, and we pay only an extra £15000/week per player on top of existing wages, that would come to an extra wage bill of approx £20m. That leaves approx £20m of Sky money for transfer fees or an average of less than £1m per new player we would have to sign. Are there any better than relegation standard PL players available on a free transfer AND costing less than £20000/week?

SCENARIO 2 - We do not get promoted: In January the top 6 clubs around us each take a punt on improving their squads for a serious promotion push this year or next and each sign one of our players in January or pre-contract for next season, Morgan to F*rest, Dyer to Burnley, whatever. Our players if tempted by 2+ years contracts sign and automatically will then be less committed to our cause because they are going to be somewhere else anyway. So we lose momentum, stabilty, dressing room spirit and inevitably slide down the table and out of any promotion chance, and the following season we just have a bunch of kids and Konchesky left.

So whether we get promoted or not, we appear to be f*cked either way!

Are you familiar with the phrase 'false dichotomy'?

 

[Mike - True Blue Tinter]

Yes I am. Are you suggesting I have chosen just two extreme positions and ignored the fact that there is some other way in which we are not f*cked?

Please enlighten me as to the 'We are not f*cked' scenario?

 

[Blue Maniac]

Yes I am. Are you suggesting I have chosen just two extreme positions and ignored the fact that there is some other way in which we are not f*cked?

That is indeed exactly what I'm suggesting. To claim that the only possible outcomes of this season are the two you've detailed above is insane.

Please enlighten me as to the 'We are not f*cked' scenario?

Well, to make something up off the top of my head (and without plucking numbers out of thin air): Those players out of contract have got common sense and understand that their chances of a new deal - here or elsewhere - depend on a) their usefulness as perceived by the club / NP / other managers and b) how realistic they are about their earning potential. They put in the maximum of effort and ultimately win the league at a canter; the club, now with a fresh stack of Premier League money, re-signs the ones they wish to retain and release the remainder, then signs new players capable of staying in the top flight. Would we be ****ed if all that happened?

 

[Micky]

Scenario 3: The issue does not affect the players and we get promoted. Out of the goodness of mankind, the players decide to offer their services in the premier league for free. Billy McKinlay and Nicky Summerbee style!:icon_lol:

 

[M17TT C]

We'll be fine(d).

 

[fitz]

If you take a look at our captains' Mrs on Twitter today (Shubbzy84), who is pretty much saying that Wes and others aren't able to give 100% because of the contract situations and that the club is bang out of order, your hope about the players being above this sort of thing is a little unlikely.

Looks like we may well have found what will become this season's excuse for fecking up. Apparently, the poor little lambs don't know how to pay their bills and feed their kids. The 2014 Bentley brochures must be on their doormats and they're not sure if they can afford this years model. It must be tearing them apart.

Indeed, **** em

 

[spionfox]

If you take a look at our captains' Mrs on Twitter today (Shubbzy84), who is pretty much saying that Wes and others aren't able to give 100% because of the contract situations ........

I am working under administration and expecting to be out of work before Christmas. Surprising as it may seem to some it is NOT stopping me giving my best whilst I still have work to do.

****ing footballers

(Or ****ing footballers wives!)

 

[drew]

I'll be happy if we get a fine as it means we've been promoted.

 

[pork pie fox]

I imagine we aren't the only club in this division with a situation like this. Maybe footballers will have to get used to this scenario.

 

[homer]

Konchesky can go feck himself before we give him a new contract, promotion or not

Moaning, wingeing tossers

 

[Lako42]

Konchesky can go feck himself before we give him a new contract, promotion or not

Moaning, wingeing tossers

Indeed,

Some ****ing cheek from the overpaid **** heads.

I hold no special connection with any players these days, possibly Lloydy at a push.

So if they feel they can't give 100% on a contract that is actually still running and paying them handsomely in it's current form, then they can do one.

 

[Miles Away]

Bloody footballers...trying to maximise their profitability in a career span that lasts maaaybe ten years.

Kill em all, I say.

 

[M17TT C]

Indeed,

Some ****ing cheek from the overpaid **** heads.

I hold no special connection with any players these days, possibly Lloydy at a push.

So if they feel they can't give 100% on a contract that is actually still running and paying them handsomely in it's current form, then they can do one.

This though I would have said they can go **** themselves, ****s!