Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine

Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: JJ-AV on December 21, 2010, 05:19:49 PM

Title: Contracts and Wages
Post by: JJ-AV on December 21, 2010, 05:19:49 PM
On the back of the Sidwell and Ireland talk, it got me thinking about some of the ridiculous wages our squad are earning.

If media reports are to be believed, the weekly earnings of some of our staff are as follows:

Luke Young -  £5.5m outlay. 40k a week until he's 32.
Habib Beye - £1.5m outlay. 40k a week until he's 35.
Stephen Warnock - £6.5m outlay. 40k a week until he's 31.
Richard Dunne - £5m outlay. 60k a week until he's 33.
Steve Sidwell - £5m outlay. £50k a week. Being sold next month for circa £1m.
Emile Heskey - £2.5m outlay. £60k a week until he's 34.

I wonder how much: Hutton, Assou-Ekotto, Kaboul, Bassong, Huddlestone, Pavlyuchenko are on per week.

O'Neill totally fucked us over, even considering the profit on Milner and potential profit on Ashley.
Title: Re: Contracts and Wages
Post by: villa1 on December 21, 2010, 05:25:21 PM
I still despair at Habib Beye on £40k a week.
Title: Re: Contracts and Wages
Post by: Irreverent ad on December 21, 2010, 05:26:21 PM
On the back of the Sidwell and Ireland talk, it got me thinking about some of the ridiculous wages our squad are earning.

If media reports are to be believed, the weekly earnings of some of our staff are as follows:

Luke Young -  £5.5m outlay. 40k a week until he's 32.
Habib Beye - £1.5m outlay. 40k a week until he's 35.
Stephen Warnock - £6.5m outlay. 40k a week until he's 31.
Richard Dunne - £5m outlay. 60k a week until he's 33.
Steve Sidwell - £5m outlay. £50k a week. Being sold next month for circa £1m.
Emile Heskey - £2.5m outlay. £60k a week until he's 34.

I wonder how much: Hutton, Assou-Ekotto, Kaboul, Bassong, Huddlestone, Pavlyuchenko are on per week.

O'Neill totally fucked us over, even considering the profit on Milner and potential profit on Ashley.

Scary isn't it. What was O'Neill thinking although the board should not have been so naive though also.
Title: Re: Contracts and Wages
Post by: Shrek on December 21, 2010, 05:32:43 PM
Spurs have the right idea, a better and BIGGER squad with a smaller wage bill.

They signed Modric for 16mill and he was on 25k a week until he signed his new deal last season.

We signed Heskey at 30 and made him a top earner, he should have took a pay cutt to come to a bigger club. Our board need bollocking.
Title: Re: Contracts and Wages
Post by: Rip Van We Go Again on December 21, 2010, 05:32:55 PM
Agents certainly took the piss, they knew we had a rich owner and bumped the wage demands up accordingly.

No good just blaming MON, i'm afraid the board, who sanctioned it all, have to carry the can too.
Title: Re: Contracts and Wages
Post by: PaulTheVillan on December 21, 2010, 05:35:17 PM
I'll look on Football Manager. They are usually quite accurate with contract information.

Alan Hutton £33k
Assou-Ekotto £44k
Bassong £40k
Huddlestone £20k
Pav £50k
Title: Re: Contracts and Wages
Post by: TheSandman on December 21, 2010, 05:37:38 PM
Agents certainly took the piss, they knew we had a rich owner and bumped the wage demands up accordingly.

No good just blaming MON, i'm afraid the board, who sanctioned it all, have to carry the can too.

Agree. They all have to shoulder some of the blame. He was allowed far too much control.
Title: Re: Contracts and Wages
Post by: JJ-AV on December 21, 2010, 05:52:12 PM
I'll look on Football Manager. They are usually quite accurate with contract information.

Alan Hutton £33k
Assou-Ekotto £44k
Bassong £40k
Huddlestone £20k
Pav £50k

Pretty damning when you look at it like that. Assou-Ekotto was on a much smaller wage until lately. Got a new deal when he became a Champions League footballer.

Van Der Vaart and Ireland both cost £8million.

I'd love to see the contracts they were given.
Title: Re: Contracts and Wages
Post by: Rudy Can't Fail on December 21, 2010, 06:14:20 PM
Agents certainly took the piss, they knew we had a rich owner and bumped the wage demands up accordingly.

No good just blaming MON, i'm afraid the board, who sanctioned it all, have to carry the can too.
Sure but on reflection I think it was his way to buy their loyalty.
Title: Re: Contracts and Wages
Post by: Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air on December 21, 2010, 06:20:12 PM
The board had been telling ONeill for ages to do something about players on big contracts who were barely figuring, he did nothing. 
Title: Re: Contracts and Wages
Post by: KevinGage on December 21, 2010, 06:27:22 PM
He was the football expert.

And -in fairness- he was operating from a position of strength in 2008 and soon after,   when the worst of those deals got done. If he gave them the instruction to do whatever it takes to get those players on board it says more about his judgement than anything else.

This summer, when they did actually query his plans they get accused of Machiavellian plots to drive him out and all sorts of other bobbins.

Damned if they do, damned if they don't.
Title: Re: Contracts and Wages
Post by: Linus on December 21, 2010, 06:48:40 PM
I would imagine the Spurs players named are on contracts around the same value. Like it or not, 40k seems to be the going rate for an experienced Premiership player these days.
Title: Re: Contracts and Wages
Post by: JJ-AV on December 21, 2010, 07:02:14 PM
I would imagine the Spurs players named are on contracts around the same value. Like it or not, 40k seems to be the going rate for an experienced Premiership player these days.

The thing is they're better and younger.
Title: Re: Contracts and Wages
Post by: PaulMcGrathsNo5Shirt on December 21, 2010, 07:17:05 PM
No player is worth 40k a week, but Habib fucking Beye?

That is the reason why we pay a fortune to go and watch football.
Title: Re: Contracts and Wages
Post by: Shrek on December 21, 2010, 07:19:10 PM
Huddlestone has signed a new deal so will be on more.

But the point is, spurs had a squad on a reasonable wage when they were in our position, now they are in CL they have increased the better players contracts.

We seem to be paying the type of wages expected if we were in the CL.

But Randy and co have probably learned alot since they arrived. One being this amount of money cannot be paid in wages and to not allow the manager so much freedom.
Title: Re: Contracts and Wages
Post by: pauliewalnuts on December 21, 2010, 07:23:33 PM
Giving Habib Beye 40k a week until he reaches 35 is fucking insane.

What kind of service did he think we'd be getting out of Beye at age 35?
Title: Re: Contracts and Wages
Post by: PaulWinch again on December 21, 2010, 07:30:17 PM
It is alarming and very poor. At least Sidwell will be off the wage bill soon.
Title: Re: Contracts and Wages
Post by: Greg N'Ash on December 21, 2010, 07:42:44 PM
A combination of factors i reckon

1. If you only buy from clubs in the richest league in the world you'll pay top wages.
2. He brought a fair few players who were approaching their last big contract
3. Players like Sidwell and Dunne were always going to be on top whack at their previous clubs

Even looking at the above you still wonder how West ham reserves like MFH got the sort of deals they pocketed. All i can assume is MON made a very convincing case to the board at the time*





*threatened to walk out if he didn't get them
Title: Re: Contracts and Wages
Post by: Salsa Party Animal on December 21, 2010, 08:20:18 PM
it disgusted me the money these players earns. I think an average player in premier league should not get more than 15 grand a week.

If Steve Stride is still in the club I bet he would saved 10 millions a year off wages bill.
Title: Re: Contracts and Wages
Post by: MoetVillan on December 21, 2010, 08:29:23 PM
Heskey and Warnock look good value compared to the rest.  Assou Ekotto....funny comparison, i have watched him over a number of games and see him as their weakest link.  My question is how and why did we sign these players and wages.  I think the lure of VP may not be so high as within the M60 or M25 whether we like it or not.  Im not saying I agree.  I went to Anfield twice this year.  Once to be disappointed by being beaten by a poor Liverpool team, once to see Liverpool vs Blackpool.  I think Im right in thinking not one Blackpool player is on more than 10k a week, and their starting 11 took home less than Gerard.  And boy they played those Reds off the park.  That is hunger... but hunger for Blackpool...maybe.  Also hunger in trying to sort a bigger contract.  Taking home wages is a big carrott.  For us, its about battling the mortgage, and we are hungry to earn more, its human nature.
Title: Re: Contracts and Wages
Post by: fredm on December 21, 2010, 08:39:55 PM
He was the football expert.

And -in fairness- he was operating from a position of strength in 2008 and soon after,   when the worst of those deals got done. If he gave them the instruction to do whatever it takes to get those players on board it says more about his judgement than anything else.

This summer, when they did actually query his plans they get accused of Machiavellian plots to drive him out and all sorts of other bobbins.

Damned if they do, damned if they don't.

I think the last couple of years has been a sharp learning curve for Randy and his staff.  I do not think he will make the same mistakes again and once GH ships the overpaid/underachievers out then a reasonable level will be enforced.

Title: Re: Contracts and Wages
Post by: JJ-AV on December 21, 2010, 08:44:37 PM
What is David Dein doing?

We could do alot worse than getting someone like that onboard.

Peter Kenyon is still free isn't he? He's a detestable ****** but decent at his job.
Title: Re: Contracts and Wages
Post by: SoccerHQ on December 21, 2010, 09:21:28 PM
I still despair at Habib Beye on £40k a week.

i know but as I keep on saying he was earning 50k+ at Newcastle so took a pay cut to join us.

Same for Sidwell probably who I estimate was again on 50k + at Chelsea given he joined them on a free transfer.

Modern football eh?
Title: Re: Contracts and Wages
Post by: SoccerHQ on December 21, 2010, 09:28:19 PM
Isn't Beye's contract up at the end of the season, I assume we gave him a 2 year deal when he signed?!

Would be interesting if someone could dig up the contract lengths for some of our players, think Carlos has 18 months to run on his deal, same for Luke Young so wouldn't surprise me if both left in the summer.
Title: Re: Contracts and Wages
Post by: sfx412 on December 21, 2010, 10:45:10 PM
so the Board are at fault for giving Mon the control he demands as at Celtic and Leicester.
The Board are at fault for telling him to curb the spending and wage bill, just as at Celtic and thus forcing him to quit.
No wonder General K reckoned his ego was bigger than the club, the guy seemingly is always blameless.


Title: Re: Contracts and Wages
Post by: VillaZogmariner on December 22, 2010, 12:22:43 AM
What is David Dein doing?


About to take over as FA Chairman I believe.
Title: Re: Contracts and Wages
Post by: The Charmer on December 22, 2010, 01:00:17 AM
[quote author=MoetVillan link I think Im right in thinking not one Blackpool player is on more than 10k a week, and their starting 11 took home less than Gerard.  And boy they played those Reds off the park.  That is hunger... but hunger for Blackpool...maybe.  Also hunger in trying to sort a bigger contract.  [/quote]

I'm sure I read that Ian Holloway has pretty-much conceded that this is a fact of life at Blackpool.
Hungry players on (comparatively) low wages, keen to do well and enjoy the whole experience whilst proving themselves in the Premier League will, inevitably, be in a permanent shop window.

Charlie Adam anyone?
Title: Re: Contracts and Wages
Post by: Rip Van We Go Again on December 22, 2010, 08:00:51 AM
All i can assume is MON made a very convincing case to the board at the time*





*threatened to walk out if he didn't get them

Thta's pretty much right from Greg.

He's got form of that from his Celtic days.

That said, the board should have realised that we were paying over the odds and put a stop to it well before they did.


Neither MON or the board come out of this looking very good.
Title: Re: Contracts and Wages
Post by: WikiVilla on December 22, 2010, 09:47:41 AM
How much is Pires on ? Is it true he's chauffered up from London each day ?
Title: Re: Contracts and Wages
Post by: darren woolley on December 22, 2010, 09:52:21 AM
I hope the board and GH dont go giving them sort of wages and contract's to people like Sidwell and Beye again.
Title: Re: Contracts and Wages
Post by: villasjf on December 22, 2010, 10:19:02 AM
How much is Pires on ? Is it true he's chauffered up from London each day ?
Yes he is driven 250 miles each day for training i would be supprised if he played more than 30 minutes once our injured players return, another Ireland but at least he has done it in the past and won things, a very strange short term signing though.
Title: Re: Contracts and Wages
Post by: WikiVilla on December 22, 2010, 10:35:11 AM
Pires was an awful signing, it makes you nervous as to what Houllier will do in Jan
Title: Re: Contracts and Wages
Post by: PaulTheVillan on December 22, 2010, 10:39:52 AM
Pires was an awful signing, it makes you nervous as to what Houllier will do in Jan

Sign players?

Not just free agents like he could in November?
Title: Re: Contracts and Wages
Post by: Phil from the upper holte on December 22, 2010, 10:44:27 AM
I think at the time he was trying to strengthen I know some of those figures are alarming but if you don't pay the money you don't get the player. I suppose in Heskey's, Beye's & Sidwell's case not getting them may not have been such a bad thing
Title: Re: Contracts and Wages
Post by: Phil from the upper holte on December 22, 2010, 10:45:50 AM
Pires was an awful signing, it makes you nervous as to what Houllier will do in Jan

I think the general consensus at the time was that he was a low risk signing. If he doesn't work out you can't use him as a stickto beat the manager with
Title: Re: Contracts and Wages
Post by: WikiVilla on December 22, 2010, 10:52:50 AM
How much are we paying Pires though ?
Title: Re: Contracts and Wages
Post by: Rip Van We Go Again on December 22, 2010, 10:56:28 AM
Pires was an awful signing, it makes you nervous as to what Houllier will do in Jan

I think the general consensus at the time was that he was a low risk signing. If he doesn't work out you can't use him as a stickto beat the manager with
It would help if he occasionaly touched the ball, rather than staring in wonderment at it, like it's just rolled out of Kylie Minogue's arse.
Title: Re: Contracts and Wages
Post by: dicedlam on December 22, 2010, 11:17:26 AM
Giving Habib Beye 40k a week until he reaches 35 is fucking insane.

What kind of service did he think we'd be getting out of Beye at age 35?

It beggars belief...it really does.
Title: Re: Contracts and Wages
Post by: jembob on December 22, 2010, 11:19:18 AM
Pires was an awful signing, it makes you nervous as to what Houllier will do in Jan

Sign players?

Not just free agents like he could in November?

Indeed. With an ever increasing injury list his options were limited and he needed to draft a bit of experience into the squad. I don't really think that anybody believed Pires would make a major contribution this season, particularly when the injury crisis has receded, but at the time it was a sensible move. Outside of matches, it's useful to have somebody like Pires in the squad as he will clearly be an example for some of the younger players to look up to and learn from.
Title: Re: Contracts and Wages
Post by: TheSandman on December 22, 2010, 01:37:13 PM
How much are we paying Pires though ?

Do you know? Have you seen his payslip? No. He could be on £10K per week for all you know and considering that he was a free agent looking poised to sign for championship sides I'd doubt he would be on anything like as much as Beye or Shorey who hardly ever played. Using Pires as a stick to beat the manager with is very strange indeed. Not the best signing in the world mind but considering the zero fee and probably low wages he wasn't exactly wastage in the O'Neill league.
Title: Re: Contracts and Wages
Post by: not3bad on December 22, 2010, 02:10:31 PM
so the Board are at fault for giving Mon the control he demands as at Celtic and Leicester.
The Board are at fault for telling him to curb the spending and wage bill, just as at Celtic and thus forcing him to quit.
No wonder General K reckoned his ego was bigger than the club, the guy seemingly is always blameless.

Which person on this thread has said MON is blameless?
Title: Re: Contracts and Wages
Post by: Concrete John on December 22, 2010, 02:40:45 PM
We seem to be paying the type of wages expected if we were in the CL.

I think in order to do that we need to compare ourselves to the regular CL clubs, which are Liverpool, Chelsea, Man Utd and Arsenal.  I'd imagine we're below the first three and maybe above Arsenal, but then the way Wenger runs their transfer policy that should be accepted and understood.

In the whole 'Martin v the board' argument in relaton to the high wages, I do recall a debate on here last year (or may have been earlier this year?) about whether 'arry was to blame for the financial meltdown at Southampton and Portsmouth after he left them.  The argument against was that any manger will spend what he's given/allowed to like a kid in a sweetie shop, but it's the board who should be acting like the parents and controlling him.  Now, our situation is somewhat different, but similarly in the manager is operating within the boundaries he's permitted to and it goes wrong, then whoever set those boundaries is at least partially to blame.   

When Martin left I asked a question of the General that never really got answered, which was whether it was the total wages or the portion paid to those not featuring that caused concern?  I hope it was the latter as I don't think our wages is totally out of sync with where it needs to be with where we want to be, but we have become less efficient in our spend with too high a proportion going to aging and non-playing players.
Title: Re: Contracts and Wages
Post by: Villa'Zawg on December 22, 2010, 03:49:19 PM
We seem to be paying the type of wages expected if we were in the CL.

I think in order to do that we need to compare ourselves to the regular CL clubs, which are Liverpool, Chelsea, Man Utd and Arsenal.  I'd imagine we're below the first three and maybe above Arsenal, but then the way Wenger runs their transfer policy that should be accepted and understood.

In the whole 'Martin v the board' argument in relaton to the high wages, I do recall a debate on here last year (or may have been earlier this year?) about whether 'arry was to blame for the financial meltdown at Southampton and Portsmouth after he left them.  The argument against was that any manger will spend what he's given/allowed to like a kid in a sweetie shop, but it's the board who should be acting like the parents and controlling him.  Now, our situation is somewhat different, but similarly in the manager is operating within the boundaries he's permitted to and it goes wrong, then whoever set those boundaries is at least partially to blame.   

When Martin left I asked a question of the General that never really got answered, which was whether it was the total wages or the portion paid to those not featuring that caused concern?  I hope it was the latter as I don't think our wages is totally out of sync with where it needs to be with where we want to be, but we have become less efficient in our spend with too high a proportion going to aging and non-playing players.

Arsenal's wage bill is £110m.
Title: Re: Contracts and Wages
Post by: dave.woodhall on December 22, 2010, 03:53:41 PM
Pires was an awful signing, it makes you nervous as to what Houllier will do in Jan

What did you think of Sutton and Agathe? Awful and past it, or the best we could do outside the transfer window?
Title: Re: Contracts and Wages
Post by: garyshawsknee on December 22, 2010, 04:03:31 PM
Pires was an awful signing, it makes you nervous as to what Houllier will do in Jan

What did you think of Sutton and Agathe? Awful and past it, or the best we could do outside the transfer window?
I thought most of us on here thought it wasn't too bad considering the timing of it.
Title: Re: Contracts and Wages
Post by: dave.woodhall on December 22, 2010, 04:08:10 PM
Pires was an awful signing, it makes you nervous as to what Houllier will do in Jan

What did you think of Sutton and Agathe? Awful and past it, or the best we could do outside the transfer window?
I thought most of us on here thought it wasn't too bad considering the timing of it.

My point entirely. He was the best we could get at the time, a body when one was desperately needed and who knows, he might end up as a more-than-useful coach.
Title: Re: Contracts and Wages
Post by: WikiVilla on December 22, 2010, 04:33:53 PM
Pires was an awful signing, it makes you nervous as to what Houllier will do in Jan

What did you think of Sutton and Agathe? Awful and past it, or the best we could do outside the transfer window?

Sutton did a job for us and was mobile, physical and had some good games. We wont get any of that out of Pires.
As for the kids gleaming stuff of him, they'd be better off watching Video footage of Pires from about a decade ago.
Agathe agree - rubbish
Title: Re: Contracts and Wages
Post by: dave.woodhall on December 22, 2010, 04:41:03 PM
Pires was an awful signing, it makes you nervous as to what Houllier will do in Jan

What did you think of Sutton and Agathe? Awful and past it, or the best we could do outside the transfer window?

Sutton did a job for us and was mobile, physical and had some good games. We wont get any of that out of Pires.
As for the kids gleaming stuff of him, they'd be better off watching Video footage of Pires from about a decade ago.
Agathe agree - rubbish

They were both the best we could get at the time. As is Pires.
Title: Re: Contracts and Wages
Post by: Dave Cooper please on December 22, 2010, 06:52:01 PM

As for the kids gleaming stuff of him, they'd be better off watching Video footage of Pires from about a decade ago.


Let's not bother with coaches then, if all the players have to do is watch old footage of Pele and Cruyff we'll save a fortune.
Title: Re: Contracts and Wages
Post by: Shrek on December 22, 2010, 11:17:02 PM
We seem to be paying the type of wages expected if we were in the CL.

I think in order to do that we need to compare ourselves to the regular CL clubs, which are Liverpool, Chelsea, Man Utd and Arsenal.  I'd imagine we're below the first three and maybe above Arsenal, but then the way Wenger runs their transfer policy that should be accepted and understood.


We are not a regular CL club so we can't compare too them.

We are/were a club trying to get there. I said we should look at how spurs did it, they bought young hungry players on a reasonable wage structure. Now they have made CL they have give new contracts to their top players. But we are already paying those wages without the CL money.

Ow and this notion that Arsenel have a low wage structure is a myth.

http://m.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/apr/20/arsene-wenger-arsenal-chelsea-wages?cat=football&type=article
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