17 Jun 2025 13:37:18
Any thoughts on the prospect of FIFA's 'free-agency' ruling happening?
I mean, in principle, the idea that Rashford could just go away by paying up nearly £47m sounds good.
Won't happen though. He's the type of person who considers himself a brand and he'd much rather remain grossly overpaid while loading his commercial peashooter than concede such a fortune to actually back his BS.
I wonder which of two possible outcomes, in the modern world of football that has changed a little since Lassana Diarra, might become a norm though:
A. This ruling might serve mainly as exposure and confirmation of football's blowhard mercenaries and nothing else changes.
Or
B. The subsequent impact is a shift in contract frameworks whereby the ownership of a player's commercial influence AND conduct missteps impressing upon earning capabilities within contract must be accepted by the player.
Obviously, the latter option would be my preference, but I suspect the former is rather more realistic.
Rashford telling United that he'll play in the U-21s to force the club into selling for whatever it is Barcelona want to pay, to me, would be taken as a precedent - unwilling to perform one's duties to the best of one's ability. But I'm not Manchester United and the contract would be very different.
Maybe I'm just naive, but I'm sick to death of hearing elite footballers banging on about the employment freedoms we civvies take for granted, without ever conceding that we civvies aren't able to act the way they do after signing very different contracts that provide very different protections and liberties.
Ultimately, I just wish some of these players - Rashford, Garnacho, Sancho, etc - could just shut up. If they can't be arsed to show up, but want to dish out threats to 'bully' the club, they are not deserving of any respect from the fans.
I'd love to have a time machine for many reasons, but I'd certainly love to visit Frederick Attock and tell him what became of the Manchester United that he never quite got to see replace his beloved Newton Heath L&YR and how so many players now are so unwilling to work for their money. I wonder what he'd say.
{Ed077's Note - one thing that needs to happen very soon is a move towards performance related bonuses instead of fixed base salary. Maybe even a Salary cap can be introduced of that framework is introduced and implemented strongly. But, at least clubs should try and shift towards performance bonuses instead of base salary, specially with the PSR rules affecting many clubs spending power.
17 Jun 2025 16:55:34
It's a tough one a you'll never get all clubs to agree the dictat had to come from fifa/ uefa/ epl.
I don't think sancho or rashford are doing anything wrong. They have a contract. If the club want to buy them out they can. They are within their rights to move and seek compensation or continued payment if they can't get the same terms elsewhere.
There is performance related structure in place. All the squad receive substantial up to 25% pay cuts for no European qualification.
United can settle with them and cancel their contracts if both pastries agree but then united get no fee.
It's quite complex and their are tipping points financially. I think all will be resolved in good time for sancho rashford Anthony andgarnacho. Maybe rasmus and cas will hit the road too.
17 Jun 2025 17:24:44
Ed077, there are legal restrictions that make it impossible to impose a hard salary cap. You cannot legally limit someone's earning potential.
However, they can impose a soft salary cap. By which I mean that instead of imposing a upper limit on what an individual player earns, you place a cap on what a club can pay their entire squad. It could be a set amount for the league or it could be a percentage of club turnover.
That way a club in theory could pay a player near enough whatever they wanted, however the rest of the squad would need to be paid peanuts to balance it out.
While in theory is doesn't limit an individuals earning potential, it is in the clubs interest not to over pay some individuals and throw the balance of their squad out.
The other thing I'd like to see is the capping of transfer fees.
On one hand there is the arguement that players are overpaid. Yet if the club feels that the players value to that club is 10m a year and they pay him that on a 5 year contract then the player is worth 50m in the first year of that contract, 40m in the second year, 30m in the third year and so forth.
It's madness that a club can then demand 80-100m for a player who they clearly don't value at that amount as they haven't committed to paying him that amount.
If players transfer fees were capped at the amount the player is owed over the remainder of their contract then it solves so many issues.
It stops clubs hold eachother to ransom.
It would enable players to move more freely between clubs.
It stops money being leeched out of football by shady agents.
It stops or at least discourages clubs trying to o circumvent PSR/ FFP rules by paying players a set lower wage and reimbursing them in some other way. As it would just lower the amount the clubs would receive from a buying club. This also helps with tax avoidance.
Of course it'll never happen because it's a sensible idea based in common sense and stops/ limits the opportunity for people to abuse financial rules or skim off a shady profit.
17 Jun 2025 20:05:57
Ed I really don't want wages related to performance. Any employee in any business should give their best efforts to their employer. That should be a non negotiable.
For Utd I want only players who come and give their best every game both put of respect for themselves, their teammates, the club and the fans. That's the mentality that will bring a winning team in the pitch and build harmony off it.
They already get paid a fortune in comparison to most people. About time they were reminded of that. Also the amount being paid to agents needs to be checked some of them are really greedy so and sos.
18 Jun 2025 07:15:07
Salford, I half agree. Performance related pay sounds great on the face of it. Especially for footballers whom many feel are grossly overpaid (personally if the industry generates the income then why shouldn't the key workers get the benefits of their labours) .
However, if a significant proportion of a players wages are performance related then what happens when they are injured? Or dropped from the team?
How quickly will a player become disenchanted with playing for United when their wages are regularly impacted and they feel there isn't much they can do about it. Injuries happen and players shouldn't be penalised for them. You can't ask players to put their bodies on the line for the club then punish them when they get injured do so.
Likewise, players get dropped by managers for various different reasons, tactical or personal. Sometimes their face just doesn't fit.
I think having a large proportion of a players wages based on performances risks you having a lot of players in the squad unhappy because they aren't getting the game time needed for them to meet those clauses to get their full pay.
I think there is a place for performances related pay, but it has to be done right and be fairly balanced.
18 Jun 2025 13:46:01
There is performance related pay already.