Great use of negative space (no, not the stuff between Wayne's ears)
Wayne Rooney didn’t have a good World Cup — not even close — but it’s not going to stop Manchester United from initiating contract talks with the potato-headed striker with a view to making him the club’s highest-paid player.
Negotiations were put on hold while he fought a court case against former reps Proactive — he won, saving £4.3m in the process — but now they’re free to work out an extension to his current £90,000/week deal. Once they get back from their North American tour, chief exec David Gill is confident that a revised deal somewhere in the region of £130,000/week can be reached, taking him above ex-Red Cristiano Ronaldo’s £120k/wk and Rio Ferdinand’s current cushy deal.
Funny, eh? While United don’t seem so forthcoming in spending on the transfer market, they’re more than happy to re-up their current squad for big money.
Compare and contrast to the Football League, whose new chairman is mulling over the idea of a salary cap.
It’s really not a bad idea, if you think about it. Several clubs below the EPL have fallen into perilous financial situations or worse (like administration), such is the craving to keep up with those few big-market teams operating in the lower leagues. The carrot dangled in front of them — work hard and one day, you could be an EPL club — has produced Icarus after Icarus, all operating beyond their modest means and sinking into oblivion. Points deductions, relegations, visits from the tax man; it’s a mire from which few escape.
Cue Greg Clarke with this plan to straighten things out and keep teams on an even keel.
The argument against is obvious; if teams like Notts County wish to flaunt the guidelines and ignore the 60% wages-to-turnover limit, they should be allowed to do so. They’re grown-ups and should be able to police themselves, and when you see that they won League Two despite racking up £6m worth of debt, you wonder what needs to be fixed. Plus, it’s a capitalist society! Teams should be able to do as they see fit, able to absorb the consequences or enjoy the rewards either way!
Clarke is finding opposition above League Two, unsurprisingly, and most of it is to do with the lopsided distribution of prize money, TV money, and general revenue throughout the entire structure from the EPL down to the Blue Square. If he can’t install a cap, then at the very least, more detailed penalties and rules will be put in place so teams that do flirt with disaster are punished accordingly.
At the end of the day, it’s not the Football League’s right to police the pocketbooks of its teams. Question is, how many teams must we see hit with winding-up orders before there’s a general consensus that something needs to be done? At least then, Clarke will be credited with a modicum of foresight.
(Photo: PAUL ELLIS/AFP/Getty Images)
