Club policy on wages in Times

[John Peel]

Reading ready to resume fight against game’s financial excess
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/ ... 028650.ece

[Skin]

nice fixture list too on here:
http://extras.timesonline.co.uk/pdfs/football2007/reading.pdf

[BR2]

If Revenue for this new season is say £62,000,000,ie. crudely looking at £50 million TV Revenue plus home sellouts producing about £12 million then the cap would be 60% of £62 million=around £37million on players' wages(surely way over our current commitment?).
Yes I know there are other expenses in staff costs ,travelling etc and other receipts from merchandising and entertaining but it does show yet again how much TV Revenue dominates financing of the business.
Whilst we get TV Revenue (remember ITV Digital) everything is fine but I would assume that ALL contracts now have a condition that these are reviewed if TV Revenue diminishes if not then we and other clubs are crazy.
The big 4 will always be able to negotiate some TV money but the rest of us would find our income stream reducing drastically from that source.

I'm not sure what our chairman continually moaning about the situation actually does unless others join the band-wagon.
Maybe SKY and Sentanta will in time reduce the TV rights money they pay which means that they charge us consumers less and clubs pay players less then everybody is happy....except the players.
While the gravy train exists I hope we join in but for the general good of the game and the pockets of the fans I trust that one day everybody will see sense.

[SpaceCruiser]

Don’t get me wrong, you can’t blame the players.

Oh yes, you can blame one or two who got greedy and wanted more. Steve "I have got a wife and a kid to think about" Sidwell is a perfect example.

[No Hoops]

Dragged up from an interview done last year.

Same old story, Mr Mad loves it.

As for Sidders, Spacey, give it a break!

[Stranded]

Don’t get me wrong, you can’t blame the players.

Oh yes, you can blame one or two who got greedy and wanted more. Steve "I have got a wife and a kid to think about" Sidwell is a perfect example.

Get a life Spacey. He was offered more money and took it. No person is going to turn round and say "What? That's per week? I couldn't possibly accept that much, please pay me less and keep the rest"

[Dirk Gently]

None of us would turn the money down, but many chairmen let them get away with it by not making stand.

Someone recently told me the story of Seth Johnson joining Leeds. Him and his agent were going up to Leeds from Derby, and on the way the agent says their bottom line should be £17k a week. They're in the meeting with Ridsdale and other Leeds people, who start the negotiations with "Here’s our offer - £30k a week" So they ask for a break, and during this Johnson’s agent tells him to sign before they change their mind. They go back in, and Ridsdale says "OK, £37k a week but that's our top offer."

And where are Leeds now? Such financial stupidity would bankrupt any business.

[SpaceCruiser]

Don’t get me wrong, you can’t blame the players.

Oh yes, you can blame one or two who got greedy and wanted more. Steve "I have got a wife and a kid to think about" Sidwell is a perfect example.

Get a life Spacey. He was offered more money and took it. No person is going to turn round and say "What? That's per week? I couldn't possibly accept that much, please pay me less and keep the rest"

Incorrect. We apparently offered him £25K per week, which is more than what everybody else was on, and he still turned it down. A lot of us would like £25K per week, isn't it greedy to want more?

[Stranded]

Don’t get me wrong, you can’t blame the players.

Oh yes, you can blame one or two who got greedy and wanted more. Steve "I have got a wife and a kid to think about" Sidwell is a perfect example.

Get a life Spacey. He was offered more money and took it. No person is going to turn round and say "What? That's per week? I couldn't possibly accept that much, please pay me less and keep the rest"

Incorrect. We apparently offered him £25K per week, which is more than what everybody else was on, and he still turned it down. A lot of us would like £25K per week, isn't it greedy to want more?

Last time I looked £50k was more than £25k.

[RG1 Export]

And if we cap wages, we would just see a hell of a lot of premiership players start heading towards La Liga and Serie A etc. I could happily live with that but unfortunately it's a vicious circle. The 'stars' go, attendance and viewing figures drop, revenue slows and all the work the Premiership has done over the years is gone. Never gonna happen.

[No Hoops]

Don’t get me wrong, you can’t blame the players.

Oh yes, you can blame one or two who got greedy and wanted more. Steve "I have got a wife and a kid to think about" Sidwell is a perfect example.

Get a life Spacey. He was offered more money and took it. No person is going to turn round and say "What? That's per week? I couldn't possibly accept that much, please pay me less and keep the rest"

Incorrect. We apparently offered him £25K per week, which is more than what everybody else was on, and he still turned it down. A lot of us would like £25K per week, isn't it greedy to want more?

It's greedy to want more when it is not available. If it is atainable elswhere then no, it's not greedy. It's taking advantage of the situation.

But as said before, there's and 85 page thread on this.

[Franchise FC]

Don’t get me wrong, you can’t blame the players.

Oh yes, you can blame one or two who got greedy and wanted more. Steve "I have got a wife and a kid to think about" Sidwell is a perfect example.

Get a life Spacey. He was offered more money and took it. No person is going to turn round and say "What? That's per week? I couldn't possibly accept that much, please pay me less and keep the rest"

Incorrect. We apparently offered him £25K per week, which is more than what everybody else was on, and he still turned it down. A lot of us would like £25K per week, isn't it greedy to want more?

A man goes to work and is offered £100 per day for a job and he agrees. He then discovers that the same job description is available for £200 per day down the road. What does he do.

If you are correct then his package at Chelski is £25k per week. As Stranded said, what was he to do with the other £25k that Chelski were offering ? No thanks, I've only got one wife and kid - maybe renegotiate when I get a mistress and a string of illegitimates.

[SpaceCruiser]

Don’t get me wrong, you can’t blame the players.

Oh yes, you can blame one or two who got greedy and wanted more. Steve "I have got a wife and a kid to think about" Sidwell is a perfect example.

Get a life Spacey. He was offered more money and took it. No person is going to turn round and say "What? That's per week? I couldn't possibly accept that much, please pay me less and keep the rest"

Incorrect. We apparently offered him £25K per week, which is more than what everybody else was on, and he still turned it down. A lot of us would like £25K per week, isn't it greedy to want more?

Last time I looked £50k was more than £25k.

We didn't offer him £50K.

It's greedy to want more when it is not available.

Wasn't that kind of my point?

[Stranded]

Don’t get me wrong, you can’t blame the players.

Oh yes, you can blame one or two who got greedy and wanted more. Steve "I have got a wife and a kid to think about" Sidwell is a perfect example.

Get a life Spacey. He was offered more money and took it. No person is going to turn round and say "What? That's per week? I couldn't possibly accept that much, please pay me less and keep the rest"

Incorrect. We apparently offered him £25K per week, which is more than what everybody else was on, and he still turned it down. A lot of us would like £25K per week, isn't it greedy to want more?

Last time I looked £50k was more than £25k.

We didn't offer him £50K.

It's greedy to want more when it is not available.

Wasn't that kind of my point?

Where did I say we did. I said he was offered more money and took it. That offer was from Chelsea.

Oh and the money was available just not from his current employers.

The only way players will stop being paid so much is if all clubs agree that no-one can get paid more than say £25k per week. This won't happen because the bigger clubs are fine with the status quo and if it were brought in then at least one player would go the European Courts to challenge it and probably win.

[Dirk Gently]

But it was available - JUST NOT AT READING!!!!!!

How oxf*rd difficult is it????

[SpaceCruiser]

But it was available - JUST NOT AT READING!!!!!!

How oxf*rd difficult is it????

You need to calm down.

I'm just thinking of players who have the attitude of "Pay me more or I'm off". Sidwell was admirable in seeing out his contract and playing with full commitment despite turning down the contract offer. All too often players threaten to leave if they're not being paid more than what they currently earn and can't get more than what the club offer - ie. holding the club to ransom. It's a bit unfair when Reading offers Sidwell the top wage they can possibly offer and Sidwell smacks them in the face with the comment "I have to think about my wife and kid". What else can the club do? They not going to offer £50K a week. So I have no problems with him going to Chelsea to further his career ambitions, but to leave because we couldn't pay him more is not nice, is it?

[starbug]

indeed, it wasn't a coincidence Sidwell ended the season with no contract, it was all planned from the start of the last season if not before - more likely from the day we got promotion unfortunately.

[Forbury Lion]

Don’t get me wrong, you can’t blame the players.

Oh yes, you can blame one or two who got greedy and wanted more. Steve "I have got a wife and a kid to think about" Sidwell is a perfect example.

Actually, The problem is clubs willing to pay stupid wages.

If Steve Sidwell wasn't able to find a club willing to pay him £50k a week he wouldn't be on £50k a week.

I suspect you Mr Cruiser would be more than happy to leave your present employers if an identical position came up offering double your present salary, even if you did not need the extra cash.

[Huntley & Palmer]

indeed, it wasn't a coincidence Sidwell ended the season with no contract, it was all planned from the start of the last season if not before - more likely from the day we got promotion unfortunately.

Him and his agent took a huge gamble the season before we got promoted when the original offer was on the table. It paid off in this instance and fair play to them.

Reference Madejski's viewpoint on wages, it is very admirable. However our main problem is going to stem from attracting players to the club if our wage structure remains too low to entice them here. I notice Jagielka has gone to Everton for £4 million which I would think is well within our price rangev transfer fee wise. I suspect that other than remaining in the North, wages would have been a big factor. If I remember correctly we had a bid for Lescott accepted and assume our package was not as good as Everton.

Quite simply, we cannot compete with the wages around us for these sorts of players unless we take a huge gamble. I personally can not see that happening and as such we will lose out on players like this when competing with similarly positioned clubs in the league. Whether this is a good thing or not I do not know, especially should our own players begin to doubt their ability to earn at RFC and look to the Sidwell situation as a means of leaving.

[Dirk Gently]

indeed, it wasn't a coincidence Sidwell ended the season with no contract, it was all planned from the start of the last season if not before - more likely from the day we got promotion unfortunately.

Him and his agent took a huge gamble the season before we got promoted when the original offer was on the table. It paid off in this instance and fair play to themx

And to the club, who took great advantage of the situation.

Quite apart from not giving into his wage demands which would have resulted in the whole squad demanding similar increases. By keeping Sidwell on a lower contract and in a position where he knew he was in the shop window, he was challenged to prove to other clubs he was worth the money. We won from that as much as he did.