[The Deadly]

Yeah I don't like that either. The honour of being chosen for a national squad should be enough for a pro footballer. Too often now a player will retire from international football because he isn't an automatic starter. I'd cut the grass at Wembley if it meant being involved with my national side.

[Bruvva]

*deleted cos I couldn't be arsed to finish the post off before I went to work*

[dimtimjim]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21374699

[chrysostom]

"Clubs with a wage bill of £52m or over are permitted to increase the wage bill by £4m in the first season, £8m for the 2014/15 campaign, and £12m for the 2015/16 season"

This means that clubs with the highest wage bills currently are still able to remain at that level, without the need to cut costs - as their revenue is going to increase dramatically through the TV rights. If you've kept your wage bill low, then you will not be able to benefit from your saving immediately. If you've gone crazy (City/Chelsea) or have a high wage bill anyway (Arsenal/United) then it's still keeping you ahead of the clubs with a lower wage bill.

It means that we won't see another crazy takeover like City or Chelsea, but the Premier League is admitting that they've shut the door after the horse has bolted. City still have very valuable assets, whose sales (and subsequent absence from the wage bill) will swell their coffers - as financial records will be wiped clean, meaning if they sell their average (or aging) high earning players (to give you an idea - here's their list)

Carlos Tevez - £180,000
Yaya Toure - £180,000
Samir Nasri - £140,000
Kolo Toure - £120,000
Javi Garcia - £110,000
Maicon - £110,000
Joleon Lescott - £94,000
Gael Clichy - £90,000
James Milner - £85,000
Gareth Barry - £80,000
Matija Nastasic - £75,000
Aleksandar Kolarov - £65,000
Micah Richards - £60,000
Jack Rodwell - £55,000
Scott Sinclair - £55,000

Equaling £67.5m or wage budget that they can play around with, not to mention the profit from the transfer fees they'll get (which won't have the initial outlay taken into account).

It also still allows clubs with rich owners to make a loss of £5m a year, however if your owner isn't rich (I'll use Everton as the example), then you're under a much tighter budget. It's not easy to make a profit as a PL club in the current climate.

Basically it's a step in the right direction, but it's not the best news for high performing mid table clubs without rich owners.

[Yudster]

Where is United's wage bill in relation to other clubs? They have a long standing reputation of being a club that doesn't pay top wages - I remember van Persie saying that he had had better offers in financial terms from other clubs but chose to go to United, and that's not the first time I have heard that sort of thing?

[chrysostom]

This is from 2010/11 (the most recent I could find)



Van Persie was offered £300k p/w by City (Stupid money), but chose parity with Wayne Rooney at United for footballing reasons. He's still on £250k p/w at United, with a £2.5m bonus for every year of his contract. Which I guess is the going rate for the best center forward in the world.

It's worth bearing in mind that teams who play in Europe (especially the Champions league) and compete in 4 competitions need a higher number of players at the top level, so should probably have a wage bill that's 25-35% higher.

edit.

[The Deadly]

I have no problem with footballers being paid high amounts or no problem with clubs making shit loads of money. What really annoys me is the prices the Premiership teams charge for child tickets. Children are the future of these clubs and some of their profits should be put aside to take a bit of a loss on child tickets. I'd like to take both my kids to watch a game at the same time not alternate them on a game by game basis.

[Yudster]

Looking at that table it would seem the prevailing idea that United pay less is true.

[chrysostom]

They've got a much higher class of player, and many more of them than the rest of the league though. They've always paid fair market value in wages to keep their talent, probably offset by (until RVP) their strategy of buying young players with future resale value.

[Yudster]

They've got a much higher class of player, and many more of them than the rest of the league though.

So wouldn't that increase their wage bill rather than decrease it? I am confused.

[chrysostom]

Ah, I read your post incorrectly.

United may their best players handsomely, but save a lot of money by keeping their younger players (especially academy players) under a very strict wage budget (increasing their wage exponentially once they 'make it').

Only achievable at a club like Utd, with a manager like Ferguson.

[DevilsDuck]

If I understand it correctly...based on commercial and matchday incomes, man utd could actually increase there wage structure significantly more than the £4m per year and not face any penalty. I think the same for ARSEnal due to their commercial income.

[chrysostom]

If I understand it correctly...based on commercial and matchday incomes, manure could actually increase there wage structure significantly more than the £4m per year and not face any penalty. I think the same for THE Arsenal due to their commercial income.

Bantz.

[exeter4eva]

club record 10th away win of the season.... we'd be dangerous if we had any sort of home form! :\

[The Deadly]

Or home ground. You play in a cow shed! Only messing with ya, good luck to anyone who supports a lower league side.

[Yudster]

We beat Preston 1 - 0 at home today - if we get another place or so above the relegation zone the players will all get nosebleeds...

[exeter4eva]

Or home ground. You play in a cow shed! Only messing with ya, good luck to anyone who supports a lower league side.

Haha Cowshed went years (10ish?) ago unfortunately... but yes the ground is semi-terrible

[The Deadly]

Nah it's not terrible at all! It's got character and its what football grounds used to look like. The thing I like about St James' park is if a striker misses the target there is a fair chance he will hit someone's bedroom window. Classic ground.

[exeter4eva]

well it's certainly better than some of the soulless grounds that football has to offer (see Darlington)... but under no illusions that the away end is among the worst "stands" (barely worthy of that title") in the football league.
That said... would love one of the houses behind that end!

[The Deadly]

When I was a boy I'd go and watch Reading at our old Elm Park ground. Lovely little stadium full of character and now we have a knock version of the Reebok stadium. I understand there has to be progression but I think all grounds should have something unique or special about them.

[Yudster]

The unique thing about Layer Road used to be the particular strain of tetanus you had to be innoculated against if you cut yourself on the rusting corrugated iron that dotted around the place, or the hacking cough experienced by so many regulars in the "Shed" - which was roofed with asbestos.

The unique thing about The Weston Homes Community Stadium, our new ground, is how on match day each individual fan can have a whole row of seats to himself. Not much point in building a 15,000 seat stadium when we can barely average a crowd of 3,500.

[The Deadly]

The unique thing about Layer Road used to be the particular strain of tetanus you had to be innoculated against if you cut yourself on the rusting corrugated iron that dotted around the place, or the hacking cough experienced by so many regulars in the "Shed" - which was roofed with asbestos.

The unique thing about The Weston Homes Community Stadium, our new ground, is how on match day each individual fan can have a whole row of seats to himself. Not much point in building a 15,000 seat stadium when we can barely average a crowd of 3,500.

See that's what football is all about! Tetanus!

[chrysostom]

[Yudster]

Chelsea and Man City seem to be learning the hard way that while its perfectly possible to buy a group of great players, you need to add something further to that to make a great team. Or that's how it looks to me anyway.

[chrysostom]

I agree - sometimes having a player who fights hard in every match (potentially someone who actually has an affinity for the club) is better than having a player who is technically better (Jamie Carragher, Nicky Butt, all of the Swansea team etc.).

A characteristic that is incredibly hard to find.