Stephen Ward - Albion unwilling to match salary

[TonyW]

It's time to make a stand. I don't want to see this club - nor indeed any other - bankrupted by players' ludicrous wage demands. £13,000 a WEEK, for an Ireland international (and where did they feature in the World Cup?) who in any other walk of life would be absolutely delighted to get a 10th of that. Lunacy.

The obscenity of professional footballers' bloated pay packets was brought into sharp relief when England's prized £300,000 a WEEK superstar ballooned that pathetic corner kick way behind the Italian goal. It's got to stop. We've got to stop forking out for it, week after week. And paying players no more than their actual worth in real-world terms is the only way to bring sanity back to the game.

Yeah lets make a stand and refuse to meet the inflated wage demands of today's modern footballer.

After all, relegation isn't that bad is it - ffs!!!!!!!!!!

 

[8ace]

Save the money on his wages and use it to get another couple of midfielders in.

 

[Blues Rock DJ]

It's time to make a stand. I don't want to see this club - nor indeed any other - bankrupted by players' ludicrous wage demands. £13,000 a WEEK, for an Ireland international (and where did they feature in the World Cup?) who in any other walk of life would be absolutely delighted to get a 10th of that. Lunacy.

The obscenity of professional footballers' bloated pay packets was brought into sharp relief when England's prized £300,000 a WEEK superstar ballooned that pathetic corner kick way behind the Italian goal. It's got to stop. We've got to stop forking out for it, week after week. And paying players no more than their actual worth in real-world terms is the only way to bring sanity back to the game.

calm down.....wtf has the World Cup got to do with our transfers ? There are many good players in world football who didn't get there, Bale for instance. As far as I can see, nothing has come from the club, just a report that he's gone back to pre-season training with his club....the example you quote is not exactly going to involve us, so don't see your point tbh ?

 

[nwgull]

Yeah lets make a stand and refuse to meet the inflated wage demands of today's modern footballer.

After all, relegation isn't that bad is it - ffs!!!!!!!!!!

Stephen Ward isn't the difference between a top 6 side and relegation.

 

[Hotchilidog]

I just don't understand the concept of why we're playing in the second highest league in England, in a shiny stadium that is the envy of many, and a promising young manager, if you're going to fill a team with low rent players who, if you cross your fingers really really hard and wish on as many stars as you can, might not get us relegated.

Also, why is it we appear to be the only ****ers adhering to FFP??

Because we don't have the money! It's that simple.

The club clearly has a budget that it can afford to pay and it is quite right to stick to its guns. I'm glad we are being responsible, it must also be noted that this handicap has not stopped us getting into the playoffs two years in a row. Brighton & Hove Albion will no longer bankrupt itself chasing the dream. We will pay players well, around £300,000 - £500,000 a YEAR and get on with the job in hand. It's about time chairmen and owners finally got serious about being fiscally responsible.

 

[London Irish]

Average wage for a Championship first team player is 6k a week according to Burke ( when interviewed on The Albion Roar). Given that you'd expect this to be skewed by the salaries of star strikers and midfielders, I'd say that 13k is too much for left back, even though he did do well for us last year. I'd bet that we'd be able to get someone as good for less in the current market as the realities of FFP bite.

The problem is that there is a market within that for those clubs seriously trying to make the Prem. The average wages of those clubs will be much higher than 6k. We have to decide if we are part of that group - the faithful will always support whether we pay our left backs 1k a week but there are many others who are signing up for season tickets because we are making a credible attempt at promotion.

 

[KZNSeagull]

Do the maths. 13k a week is NOT breaking our wage structure. 20 players each on 13k a week is £13.5m a year. Our "footballing costs" in 2012/13 were over £20m. So we must be paying our players that much on average.

Ward was clearly above average and so should be paid at least the average amount. If we can't find that amount to pay our most valuable player from last season we are really going to struggle to put a decent squad together.

And yet, we are a club with an average budget and the average salary in the Championship is about 6k a week I believe (cannot find the recent figures, but it was 4k a week in 2011).

 

[bhawoddy]

If Wolves want him out, they will have to lower their demands. We are playing hardball and I think they will give in.

I couldn't disagree more.

He's a proven championship left back. He's an International with plenty of caps. £13k a week is a bargain for somebody in the current footballing climate, as long as the transfer fee isn't ridiculous.

Its going to be a tough time for us now, IMO, attracting decent, proven, players whilst tightening the wage belt. We shall see what happens, but I do not expect much in the way of big name players, at championship standard anyway. Lets hope Im completely wrong. It wouldn't be the first time. lol

 

[Pavilionaire]

It's time to make a stand. I don't want to see this club - nor indeed any other - bankrupted by players' ludicrous wage demands. £13,000 a WEEK, for an Ireland international (and where did they feature in the World Cup?) who in any other walk of life would be absolutely delighted to get a 10th of that. Lunacy.

The obscenity of professional footballers' bloated pay packets was brought into sharp relief when England's prized £300,000 a WEEK superstar ballooned that pathetic corner kick way behind the Italian goal. It's got to stop. We've got to stop forking out for it, week after week. And paying players no more than their actual worth in real-world terms is the only way to bring sanity back to the game.

But no club chairman wants to be the only club "taking a stand" because a player like Ward could easily get snapped up by a fellow promotion contender willing to pay that "immoral" extra £150K per year.

The Albion have had a whole year to think about what they were going to do about Ward, this situation was entirely to be expected. One thing you can say is that we'd probably pay the money without batting an eyelid IF we were inclined to sell Ulloa, so the fact we're not caving in over Ward could be an indication that we're not likely to sell Ulloa to anyone.

 

[Icy Gull]

Stephen Ward isn't the difference between a top 6 side and relegation.

Well quite, last year was the first year in three that he'd been in the playoffs and not playing for a relegated team..

 

[Gilliver's Travels]

calm down.....wtf has the World Cup got to do with our transfers ? ....the example you quote is not exactly going to involve us, so don't see your point tbh ?

The point is obvious. The obscene amount of cash heaped upon the greedy, underperforming Rooney inevitably sets a bar of aspiration for all the other snouts in the trough. Including those of the once-Premier League Stephen Ward and his agent. And we fans are the mugs. We are all being ripped off week in, week out, to support their greed.

 

[Meade's Ball]

I thought we had a whole bunch of players on £20kpw. Isn't that what so many in the know were sure of?
It's a real shame not to bag a player i like to think we reawakened a tad last year. He was quality and i hope whatever discussions we're in with Wolves and Ward end up with us taking him. Someone else will and they'll benefit from it. Great crosser of the ball and would run his socks off for 90 minutes. Of course there could be cheaper, possibly continental, players to fill the leftback position, but i find Ward a proven pro and had a good mix of quality ball-play and intense work ethic that i trust wholeheartedly.
We have to work out our full list of possible signings soon to calculate how much Ward is really worth to us. I would not throw Chicksen in there from the snippets of him i've seen.

 

[glasfryn]

I thought we had a whole bunch of players on £20kpw. Isn't that what so many in the know were sure of?
It's a real shame not to bag a player i like to think we reawakened a tad last year. He was quality and i hope whatever discussions we're in with Wolves and Ward end up with us taking him. Someone else will and they'll benefit from it. Great crosser of the ball and would run his socks off for 90 minutes. Of course there could be cheaper, possibly continental, players to fill the leftback position, but i find Ward a proven pro and had a good mix of quality ball-play and intense work ethic that i trust wholeheartedly.
We have to work out our full list of possible signings soon to calculate how much Ward is really worth to us. I would not throw Chicksen in there from the snippets of him i've seen.

maybe those in the know are not so much in the know as they think they are
totally agree
you get what you pay for
pay peanuts and get monkeys

 

[chaileyjem]

And yet, we are a club with an average budget and the average salary in the Championship is about 6k a week I believe (cannot find the recent figures, but it was 4k a week in 2011).

Our playing budget in 2012/13 for which the last accounts were published was £22m. This, says @elpresidente puts as "about 8th-10th in the wage table of the Championship'
http://theseagulllovereview.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/200-million-reasons-to-love-tony-bloom.html

It was 7m in last season at Withdean and 14m in that first year at Amex. All the indications are that its risen for 2013/14 and will still be competitive for 14/15.
We have, even without parachute payments, highly competitive playing budgets thanks to Tony Bloom of course and to a certain extent 21K season ticket holders who buy a lot of pies.

 

[Mackenzie]

No need to spend big, just spend clever.

 

[spring hall convert]

We don't want our left back to be the highest paid player at the club, there's better value than 13k for Ward out there.

He probably will get picked up by another club, however, it didn't really work out for Reading with Bridge last year, what's to say the same couldn't happen here

 

[Joe Gatting's Dad]

If Stephen Ward wants to play for Brighton, as he says, he should accept £10K a week - after all this is half a million pounds a year! Would £13K really make that much difference and a poorer quality of life in some northern backwater?

 

[Icy Gull]

We don't want our left back to be the highest paid player at the club, there's better value than 13k for Ward out there.

He probably will get picked up by another club, however, it didn't really work out for Reading with Bridge last year, what's to say the same couldn't happen here

Don't know about you but I was very surprised at the quality of Ward who imo was player of the season last year. Bridge was a big loss but because of Ward not as big as he might have been and Bridge was always going to be suspect injury wise last season. We'd do very well to get that lucky again if we lose Ward. Although I do think Chicksen has real potential so you never know

 

[spring hall convert]

Don't know about you but I was very surprised at the quality of Ward who imo was player of the season last year. Bridge was a big loss but because of Ward not as big as he might have been and Bridge was always going to be suspect injury wise last season. We'd do very well to get that lucky again if we lose Ward. Although I do think Chicksen has real potential so you never know

I thought Ward was an excellent bit of business, no reason why we couldn't do it again.

The players at the top end of our wage structure should be match winners and as solid as he was last year, that wasn't really Ward. The money would be better sepnt on some creativity.

I hope he signs for 10k but seriously doubt he will.

 

[Icy Gull]

I thought Ward was an excellent bit of business, no reason why we couldn't do it again.

The players at the top end of our wage structure should be match winners and as solid as he was last year, that wasn't really Ward. The money would be better sepnt on some creativity.

I hope he signs for 10k but seriously doubt he will.

I'd check through just how important the goals he scored were, I think you might be surprised. Not really a full backs job to be one of the most effective goal scorers at the club, forwards apart. I seem to remember virtually every goal he scored gained us points, could be wrong though.

Where's Acker 79 when you need him?